Kris Kristofferson passed away on Saturday, September 28, 2024. As many of the obituaries point out, he had an amazing career, songwriter, actor, singer, Rhodes scholar, army helicopter pilot, and so much more. I was lucky while visiting a childhood friend to see Kristofferson in Houston back in March 1990 as he started the first Highwaymen tour with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. But if you ask me the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Kristofferson, it is the song “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down.”
Kristofferson may have had greater songs, and you can easily make the case for “Me and Bobby McGee” or “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” among others. But “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” may be the greatest song ever written about loneliness.
On the Sunday morning sidewalks,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned;
Cause there’s something in a Sunday,
That 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.
Johnny Cash first recorded the song. In 1969, Kristofferson was working sweeping floors at Columbia studios and hoping to be a songwriter. You can hear this part of Kristofferson’s life in “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” where he had moved to Nashville, alone, alienated from his family, and struggling to get by.
Kristofferson famously flew a helicopter to Johnny Cash’s house to get Cash’s attention and give the singer a tape of his songs that included “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” Cash subsequently played the song on his weekly television show, telling the audience about the up-and-coming songwriter. Cash released the song on record, and his version became the one that most people remember hearing first.
Lyrics and Johnny Cash’s Changes
Johnny Cash did tweak a few of the words in “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” In his version, he refers to “Then I washed my face and combed my hair / And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.” But in Kristofferson’s original version, he sings about shaving instead of washing, “And I shaved my face and combed my hair / And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.”
Also, Kristofferson’s original describes the kid differently than Cash: “But I lit my first and watched a small kid / Cussin’ at a can that he was kickin’.” Cash took out the referencing to cussing: “But I lit my first and watched a small kid /
Playin’ with a can that he was kickin’.”
Why did Cash change a few words? Some have speculated Cash’s version is a little more optimistic, with the singer washing off his sins and seeing kids playing instead of cussing. I have not seen Cash or Kristofferson explain the small changes, but my theory is a little different.
Recall that when Cash first recorded the song, Kristofferson was not the established songwriter we know. He was new to the business and was the annoying guy trying to get his songs heard. So, Cash, even while recognizing a great song, did not approach it with reverence. So, he might have just thought the word changes sounded better. Regarding the kid kicking the can, Cash’s change got rid of the more blatant alliteration “cussin’ at a can” and stretched it out more, tying together the “w” in the first phrase (“watched”) to two more “w” words in the next phrase (“with”/”was”). Regarding the other change, he may have just liked the elongated sound of “washed” over “shaved.”
Cash’s tweaks were small, and he left most of the song alone, including what I consider the most heartbreaking line in the song, about smelling frying chicken. Most folks who have moved away from home can relate to recalling family dinners on Sundays and what it means to now be on your own.
Then I crossed the empty street,
And caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken;
And it took me back to somethin’,
That I’d lost somehow, somewhere along the way.
We lost something else when we lost Kris Kristofferson, but we still have his music to lift us up and to comfort us when we are down and alone.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
