Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down

Sunday Morning Coming Down

"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" is a song written by Kris Kristofferson that was recorded in 1969 by Ray Stevens before becoming a number one hit for Johnny Cash.

he biggest success for the song came from the Johnny Cash performance, which had been taped live at the Ryman Auditorium during a taping of The Johnny Cash Show as part of a "Ride This Train" segment, with filmed background visuals showing a down and out wanderer roaming around the Public Square area of Shelbyville, Tennessee. Cash introduced the song with the following monologue:

With the monologue edited off, it would appear on the soundtrack LP The Johnny Cash Show the following year, as well as being issued as a single (Columbia Records 4-45211). Cash's version won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year in 1970 and hit number one on the country chart.

Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down lyrics

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 in my closet through my clothes

And found my cleanest dirty shirt.

Then I washed my face and combed my hair

And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my mind the night before

With cigarettes and the songs I'd been pickin'

But I lit my first and watched a small kid

Playin' with a can that he was kicking

Then I walked across the street

And caught the Sunday smell of someone's fryin' chicken

And it took me back to somethin'

That I'd lost somewhere, somehow along the way.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk

I'm 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'

That's half as lonesome as the sound

Of a sleepin' city sidewalk

And 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 songs they were singin'

Then I headed down the street

And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin'

And it echoed thru the canyon 

Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk

I'm 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'

That's half as lonesome as the sound

Of a sleepin' city sidewalk

And Sunday mornin' comin' down.