{{short description|Song by Kris Kristofferson}} {{about||the album by Johnny Cash|Sunday Morning Coming Down (album)}} {{Infobox song | name = Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down | cover = Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down.jpg |caption=German release picture sleeve | alt = | type = single | artist = Ray Stevens | album = Have a Little Talk with Myself | B-side = The Minority | released = 1969 | format = | recorded = | studio = Monument Recording, Nashville, Tennessee | venue = | genre = Pop, country | length = 4:25 | label = Monument | writer = Kris Kristofferson | producer = Jim Malloy, Ray Stevens | prev_title = Along Came Jones | prev_year = 1969 | next_title = Have a Little Talk with Myself | next_year = 1970 }}
"'''Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down'''" is a song written by Kris Kristofferson that was recorded in 1969 by Ray Stevens before becoming a No. 1 hit on the ''Billboard'' US Country chart for Johnny Cash.
==History== Stevens' version of the song reached No. 55 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart and No.81 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1969. In 2021, it was listed at #476 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".<ref>{{cite magazine |date=2021-09-15 |title=The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/ |access-date=2022-07-03 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> It also appeared on the author's own album ''Kristofferson''.
In a 2013 interview, Kris Kristofferson said the song "opened up a whole lot of doors for me. So many people that I admired, admired it. Actually, it was the song that allowed me to quit working for a living."<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=170872651 Kris Kristofferson On Writing For — And Outliving — His Idols]</ref>
==Critical reception== In 2024, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the song at No. 96 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-songs-1234986540/kris-kristofferson-sunday-morning-comin-down-1235011298/ |title=The 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=May 24, 2014}}</ref>
==Johnny Cash version== {{Infobox song | name = Sunday Morning Coming Down | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Johnny Cash | album = The Johnny Cash Show | B-side = "I'm Gonna Try to Be That Way" | released = 1970 | format = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Country | length = 4:04 | label = Columbia | writer = Kris Kristofferson | producer = Bob Johnston | prev_title = What Is Truth | prev_year = 1970 | next_title = Flesh and Blood | next_year = 1970 }}
The biggest success on disc for the song came from a Johnny Cash performance that had been recorded 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:<blockquote>You know, not everyone who has been on 'the bum' wanted it that way. The Great Depression of the 30s set the feet of thousands of people—farmers, city workers—it set 'em to ridin' the rails. My Daddy was one of those who hopped a freight train a couple of times to go and look for work. He wasn't a bum. He was a hobo but he wasn't a bum. I suppose we've all....all of us 'been at one time or another 'drifter at heart', and today like yesterday there's many that are on that road headin' out. Not searchin' maybe for work, as much as for self-fulfillment, or understanding of their life...trying to find a *meaning* for their life. And they're not hoppin' freights much anymore. Instead they're thumbin' cars and diesel trucks along the highways from Maine to Mexico. And many who have drifted...including myself...have found themselves no closer to peace of mind than a dingy backroom, on some lonely Sunday morning, with it comin' down all around you.</blockquote>With the monologue edited off, the recording 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 #1 on the country chart.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |title=The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006 |publisher=Record Research |edition=second |year=2004 |page=75}}</ref>
This version was used in the ''Columbo'' episode "Swan Song" in 1974, in which Cash performed it during a garden party.
According to Kristofferson, network executives ordered Cash to change the line "I'm wishing Lord that I was stoned" when he performed the song on his TV show, but he refused to comply.<ref>Commentary on DVD release ''The Johnny Cash TV Show 1969–1971'', Sony Columbia Legacy, 2007</ref>
==Other notable versions== *Waylon Jennings recorded the song on his 1971 album ''The Taker/Tulsa'', which included two other songs penned by his friend Kristofferson. *Gretchen Wilson recorded her take on the song for the Kris Kristofferson tribute ''The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson'' in 2006 to celebrate Kristofferson's 70th birthday.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wilson Covers "Sunday Morning Coming Down" |url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1524042/wilson-covers-sunday-morning-coming-down/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005052358/http://www.cmt.com/news/1524042/wilson-covers-sunday-morning-coming-down/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 5, 2017 |publisher=CMT |access-date=2017-10-04}}</ref> * Louis Neefs recorded a version in Dutch, titled "Zondagmiddag Lillian". * Vikki Carr recorded a version on her 1970 album ''Nashville By Carr''. * Kris Kristofferson recorded his own version for his 1970 album ''Kristofferson''.
== In popular culture == Mohamed El-Erian, then co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management, used the phrase "cleanest dirty shirt" in a 2010 television interview<ref name=mitchell>{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Mitchell |title=Why The American Economy Is Suddenly Exceptional |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchellmartin/2024/05/02/why-the-american-economy-is-suddenly-exceptional/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |website=Forbes}}</ref> to refer to the United States among major economies in the situation after the 2008 financial crisis. He credited the saying to his colleague Paul McCulley, who was then PIMCO's chief economist; El-Erian and his co-CIO Bill Gross often repeated it in interviews during that era.<ref>{{cite web |last=Eichen |first=Mitchell |title=With Yields This Low, Stocks Still The Cleanest Dirty Shirt |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2012/06/01/with-yields-this-low-stocks-still-the-cleanest-dirty-shirt/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |website=Forbes}}</ref> The description was widely used to refer to American Exceptionalism in finance and economics at least through the end of 2024.<ref>{{cite news |last=McGeever |first=Jamie |date=2024-12-05 |title=Dollar is the cleanest dirty shirt |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/dollar-is-cleanest-dirty-shirt-mcgeever-2024-12-05/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |publisher=Reuters}}</ref>
McCulley told ''Forbes'' in 2024 that he was consciously referencing<ref name=mitchell/> Kristofferson's song, which includes the lyric "Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes/And found my cleanest dirty shirt. "<ref>{{citation |title=Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down |url=https://genius.com/Kris-kristofferson-sunday-mornin-comin-down-lyrics |access-date=2025-07-18}}</ref>
"I was fully aware that I was ‘borrowing’ the phrase from Kris Kristofferson, who penned that Johnny Cash hit", said McCulley. "I'm a huge fan of Kristofferson, as well as Jackson Browne, two of the finest poets of our generation."
Kris Kristofferson’s recording was used in the 2026 Sci-Fi film ''Project Hail Mary.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project Hail Mary Soundtrack (2026) {{!}} List of Songs |url=https://www.what-song.com/Movies/Soundtrack/108091/Project-Hail-Mary |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=WhatSong |language=en}}</ref>
==Chart performance==
===Ray Stevens=== {|class="wikitable sortable" !align="left"|Chart (1969) !align="center"|Peak<br />position |- {{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|55|artist=Ray Stevens}} |- {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|81|artist=Ray Stevens}} |- |align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6044.pdf| title=RPM Top 50 Country Singles – December 13, 1969}}</ref> |align="center"|46 |- |align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.7755.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles – November 8, 1969}}</ref> |align="center"|59 |}
===Johnny Cash=== {|class="wikitable sortable" !align="left"|Chart (1970) !align="center"|Peak<br />position |- {{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Johnny Cash}} |- {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|46|artist=Johnny Cash}} |- |US ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite book|first= Joel |last= Whitburn |author-link= Joel Whitburn |year= 1993 |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 |publisher= Record Research |page=44}}</ref> |align="center"|13 |- |align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks |align="center"|1 |- |align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Top Singles |align="center"|30 |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Kris Kristofferson}} {{Ray Stevens}} {{Johnny Cash}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Johnny Cash songs Category:Kris Kristofferson songs Category:Ray Stevens songs Category:1969 songs Category:Songs written by Kris Kristofferson Category:Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston Category:Columbia Records singles Category:1970 singles Category:Songs about loneliness