Love this song, thanks for the post!

I still remember the first time I heard it, the original Kristofferson version, at my buddy's house in Birmingham, Alabama. Southside Birmingham, that is, where the mid-70s and all the delicious excesses that came with that particular time and place were in full effect. We were young, but we'd already had our own Sunday mornings coming down, and Kris's song resonated.

I saw the Johnny Cash performance on TV when it aired. His stuff sure holds up well over the years.

I always loved this song. Thanks, Ardiril.

Ardiril, have you ever heard Opal Foxx's version of this song?

Yes, live in L5P with the Quartet. It was an all country and blues show.

One of my favorite songs. My experience parallels flapjax's, except I got to Southside a few years later... 15th Ave, a block away from what was then known as Needle Park (now the location of the Bham franchise of Dreamland BBQ) and two blocks from Lorino's market.... Thrashin' around in the kudzu, looking for Eddie's secret cave in the mineshaft-riddled limestone below The Club... good times. Did they call that spot at the top of the hill by the TV tower "Bubbatown" when you were there, flapjax?

"And there's nothing short of dyin' that's half as lonesome as the sound of the sleepin' city sidewalk and Sunday morning comin' down..."

Thanks for this Ardiril! I love this song and Johnny's many versions. Kris...yeah, he was always (I think anyway) a better songwriter than singer, and his voice just never really got so bad it was good, like Keith Richards for example. I know that's largely a matter of opinion of course. I sure do appreciate Kris, regardless of my opinion of his singing voice. It was hard to hear his voice cracking while quoting Dylan describing Johnny as being like the North Star. I know how shitty I felt when I'd heard that Johnny was no longer with us. I can't imagine how much harder it must have been having actually known the man.

Miko tipped me to the Onion AV Club's Nathan Rabin's writings entitled "Nashville Or Bust" - some really great stuff, including a couple early segments on Johnny.

I saw Kristofferson a few times, and once, he used the lyrics. . .

"I smoked my brain the night before my tongue felt like an ashtray I'd been lickin"


Always a good, relaxed set, from him and his band.

Ah, I remember this from the years when there were radio stations that would play anything (that bell is memorable). My niece listens to country all the time -- 24/7 no joke -- but all they play of Johnny these days is "Ring of Fire" and occasionally "I Walk the Line". And yet he had, what, five thousand hits?

Ah! Thank you. I grew up with Kris and his version of this song, along with all of his other songs, one of the pieces of Texas my family held on to even after leaving. This is one of my many favorites. I happen to really love his voice. In fact, he may be getting craggy and elder-like, but he's one of the few celebrities I have (and always have had) a genuine crush on.

This song is a beautifully observed one. One of my favorite AskMes ever was from some younger person asking "Why are there so many songs that reference "Sunday morning" or a "Sunday feeling"? It was one of those small moments that made me feel old. I can remember when Sundays really were Sundays, and did have that quiet feeling of slightly adrift recovery, and the society's rituals were so much more obvious. The church bells ringing. SOmeone frying chicken. Feeling alone, because it's not a day to gang up with friends and do something fun. Everything's closed. That's when Sundays really did have a character all their own. They were distinct in a way they aren't now.

Kris Kristofferson, after a lifetime of hard boozing, Kris's voice is shot

Didn't he basically quit drinking in the early 80s, though?

"Bubbatown"? Naw, BOP, that's not ringing a bell. Most likely a moniker applied after I blew town in '77.

Damn, '77... that's a long time ago.

miko: Well, his character in A Star Is Born did, I don't know about him. Anyway, his voice was pretty far gone by the late 70s.

I'm pretty sure he did, right after A Star is Born actually.