Rhodes Scholar. Rugby star. Ranger helicopter pilot. Janitor. Oil rig worker. Songwriter. Singer. Janis Joplin's boyfriend. Movie star. That's a lot of living to squeeze into a single life.Kris Kristofferson is nothing if not a man of many talents. Talents that came in handy - like when he landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn so he could deliver a demo tape.
He wrote a lot of songs that became huge hits: Help Me Make It Through The Night and Me And Bobby McGee are perhaps his best known, but Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down won Johnny Cash song of the year from the Country Music Association in 1970.
Good thing he let Kristofferson park his chopper on the lawn that day; that was the song on the tape.
Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (songwriter: Kris Kristofferson)
Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes,
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
An' I shaved my face and combed my hair,
An' stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.
I'd smoked my brain the night before,
On cigarettes and songs I'd been pickin'.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid,
Cussin' at a can that he was kicking.
Then I crossed the empty street,
'n caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin' chicken.
And it took me back to somethin',
That I'd lost somehow, somewhere along the way.
On the Sunday morning sidewalk,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cos there's something in a Sunday,
Makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothin' short of dyin',
Half as lonesome as the sound,
On the sleepin' city sidewalks:
Sunday mornin' comin' down.
In the park I saw a daddy,
With a laughin' little girl who he was swingin'.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school,
And listened to the song they were singin'.
Then I headed back for home,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin'.
And it echoed through the canyons,
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.
On the Sunday morning sidewalk,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cos there's something in a Sunday,
Makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothin' short of dyin',
Half as lonesome as the sound,
On the sleepin' city sidewalks:
Sunday mornin' comin' down.
This is one of those songs that is so good, and (thanks largely to Johnny Cash) absolutely iconic, and it seems that everyone and his brother has covered it. Some of those versions flat suck, but I heard Steve Earle backing up Kristofferson on this song on Radio Free Texas and it was phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely one of my favorite songs ever... though I prefer the live acoustic, Kristofferson version.
ReplyDeleteThough actually, my favorite Kristofferson song (if you can call it that), is "Vietnam Blues"
I like Cash's version much more than I like Kristofferson's. Kristofferson is a great song writer, but not a great singer. Which isn't that uncommon, I guess.
ReplyDeleteEither way it's a great song.