Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down

Subject: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 12:01 PM

Hi all
Can someone settle an argument?
Who wrote the song Sunday Morning Coming Down?
A bit of googling seems to bring up two writers - Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash!

Can anyone settle this?

Cheers
LL

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Gene
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 12:04 PM

Writer, Kris Kristofferson
Singer, Johnny Cash

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 12:15 PM

Wow
That was quick. Thanks Gene
LL

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Ferrara
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 03:25 PM

Kris sang it too. I have his album but can't remember the title right now. He was on a songwriting high at that time and wrote a lot of fine songs. It was around the time when he wrote "Me & Bobby McGee."

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: jeffp
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 03:27 PM

The Kris Kristofferson album that I have it on is called, "Me & Bobby McGee." It also has "For the Good Times," "Delaney's Castle," and some other good ones.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: GUEST,Dave'sWife sans cookie
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 05:13 PM

I much prefer Kristofferson's version of the song but there's no denying Johnny Cash's did a lot for the former's career. My fave kristofferson song:

Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I've Ever Done

Willie Nelson has a great cover of that song

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Beer
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 05:26 PM

Re check....I think it is called Darby's Castle.
Kris K....is a great song writer. Apparently he just released a new c/d.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: open mike
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 05:30 PM

there was a PBS special last week
which featured Kris, Willie and
se3veral other singer songwriters.
they were performing at the Grand Old
(Ole?) Opery.
Kris's song was said to be unusual
because it mentioned frying chicken.
did you know he was a Rhodes Scholar?
http://www.rhodesscholar.org/
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/inductees/Kris_Kristofferson.html

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 05:31 PM

"I much prefer Kristofferson's version of the song"

Ditto

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Willie-O
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 06:05 PM

Cash did it?

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: open mike
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 06:22 PM

find 'em here:
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/kristofferson-kris/sunday-morning-coming-down-1886.html
or here:
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/kristofferson-kris/sunday-mornin-comin-down-13008.html
his page on Oh Boy Record label is here: (John Prine's label)
http://www.ohboy.com/kris.html

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: open mike
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 07:10 PM

oh oh i am obsessing here...more links to follow..

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/music/14067143.htm
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reviewsNews&storyID=2006-03-09T224122Z_01_N09219906_RTRIDST_0_REVIEW-REVIEW-MUSIC-KRISTOFFERSON-DC.XML
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002155891

Subject: Lyr Add: SUNDAY MORNIN' COMIN' DOWN (Kristofferson
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 08:34 PM

I think we ought to have lyrics for that one.


SUNDAY MORNIN' COMIN' DOWN
Words and music by Kris Kristofferson
As recorded by Kris Kristofferson on "Kristofferson" (1970)

Well, I woke up Sunday mornin' 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,
And 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 that I'd been pickin',
But I lit my first and watched a small kid cussin' at a can that he was kickin'.
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.

CHORUS: On the Sunday mornin' sidewalk, wishin', Lord, that I was stoned,
'Cause there's somethin' 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 that 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 disappearin' dreams of yesterday. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: jeffp
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 08:55 PM

I think you're right about Darby's Castle, now that you mention it. Wonder where I got Delaney from.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 09:17 PM

I like "Sunday Morning" well enough, but this is the one that got me hooked on K.K., and it remains my mostest favoritist of his:

The Pilgrim, Chapter 33

See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans,
Wearin' yesterday's misfortunes like a smile--
Once he had a future full of money, love, and dreams,
Which he spent like they was goin' outa style--
And he keeps right on a'changin' for the better or the worse,
Searchin' for a shrine he's never found--
Never knowin' if believin' is a blessin' or a curse,
Or if the goin' up was worth the comin' down--

Chorus:
He's a poet, he's a picker--
He's a prophet, he's a pusher--
He's a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he's stoned--
He's a walkin' contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin' ev'ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.

He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars,
And he's traded in tomorrow for today--
Runnin' from his devils, lord, and reachin' for the stars,
And losin' all he's loved along the way--
But if this world keeps right on turnin' for the better or the worse,
And all he ever gets is older and around--
>from the rockin' of the cradle to the rollin' of the hearse,
The goin' up was worth the comin' down--

Chorus:
He's a poet, he's a picker--
He's a prophet, he's a pusher--
He's a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he's stoned--
He's a walkin' contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin' ev'ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
There's a lotta wrong directions on that lonely way back home.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 09:22 PM

I'd agree, Frogprince. That's a good one.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Beer
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 09:26 PM

That's a great one frogprince. He had so many fantastic songs I wouldn't have a hard time picking one. Saw him perform 4 times in Montreal. All great, great shows. The last one he was with Rita Coolidge (sp.)
Kind of like " Just The Other Side of No Where"
Beer

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 09:30 PM

I've heard Kris live twice: once long ago at Ravinia, north of Chicago, when he was so fried that it wasn't his best moment. Once with The Highwaymen - Kris, Willy, Johnny, and Waylon; just one terrific show.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Beer
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 09:41 PM

Yep, know what you mean by some of his earlier shows. That last one must have been a great one.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 11:39 PM

Kris sang Sunday Morning on the Johnny Cash tribute show on PBS.
There was also a great story about him being a janitor at CBS when Johnny was recording there. He gave Johnny a demo tape which Cash threw in the lake. Years later after Johnny recorded some of his songs Kris landed his chopper on Cash's lawn and gave him another tape to replace the original.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 11:55 PM

Cash was under a lot of pressure to change the words "Wishing Lord that I was stoned" to something else not referencing drugs although I don't recall the line he was supposed to have used right now. Kristofferson has said on numerous occasions that he then knew what kind of a man Cash was when he didn't change the line.

For my money the best album he ever did was Jesus Was A Capricorn, a wonderful sampling of his earlier and probably more soulful songs.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Beer
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 11:23 AM

It just hit me that Kris is going to be 70. How quickly time passes. I was just reading that his new c/d is the first studio recording he has done in 11 years. Here is some information on this c/d.

Summary of Kris Kristofferson: This Old Road
Though Kris Kristofferson has long seemed ageless, the approach of his 70th birthday plainly has the songwriter looking back, taking stock and coming to terms with his legacy and his mortality. The result is his most consistently compelling release in decades, as well as his most stripped-to-the-bone intimate. The spare production by bassist Don Was captures Kristofferson in all his rough-edged, plain-spoken, and big-hearted glory, with occasional support from guitarist (and longtime Kristofferson compatriot) Stephen Bruton and drummer Jim Keltner putting the focus on songs that combine the poetic grace of Kristofferson's early classics with a conviction that has grown stronger with the passing years. "Wild Americans" offers a roll call of outspoken heroes--from American Indian activist John Trudell to country maverick Steve Earle--while "In the News" lambastes the very concept of a holy war. Yet it's the spiritual side of Kristofferson that really touches the soul, from a father's wonder at the "Holy Creation" of his children's birth to the bittersweet benediction of "Thank You for a Life." With the title cut, "The Last Thing to Go," "The Show Goes On," and "Final Attraction," he takes a look back at the life of a troubadour and decides that, for all the bumps, this road has been one of incomparable rewards. The listener shares the riches. --Don McLeese

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Capo da Monty
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 02:33 PM

Hi All

"Derbyshire's Finest" Jack Husdon did a great version of this song on his Folk Heritage Recordings album FHR0175(1971 vintage). It's the title track on this classic album from one of the UK's music Legends.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 02:37 PM

I prefer the lyrics that Kris sang once live....

"I'd smoked so much the night before
My mouth was like an ashtray I'd been lickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid....."

WAY more accurate

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: GUEST,Sidewinder.
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 03:39 PM

I wonder if Johhny and Kris ever performed the song together? Ofcourse they did a lot of "live" performances together so it is not inconceivable that they duetted on that particular song on such occassions.If anyone knows anything and if there is a recording in excistence I would love to know any details?

Regards.

Sidewinder.

PS "Sam Stone" by John Prine is another fabulous song in this country tradition and rumoured to be Kris' favourite song of all time.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sunday Morning Coming Down
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 04:23 PM

No doubt they often performed this together as The Highwaymen.