The song is semi-autobiographical, telling the story of a songwriter in Nashville who has fallen on hard times. He’s hungry and wanders into a bar where he meets an old man who buys him a beer, grabs his guitar and sings him a song about a world indifferent to his songs, which are destined to be scattered with the swirling winds of time.
It seems this surly old man is the Devil himself, praying on the singer at his lowest ebb. But instead of giving up, he perseveres and adds the Devil’s song to his repertoire. He may not have beat the Devil, but he drank his beer and stole his song.
This video has been recorded live, at the Johnny Cash memorial held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on November 10, 2003, a few months after his death.
“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.
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”. It also appeared on the author’s own album Kristofferson.
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.
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.
