“Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Johnny Cash

Kris Kristofferson wrote "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Ray Stevens cut it first, and Johnny Cash is the man who carried it to number one on the country chart, his version out in 1970. Cash sang it live at the Ryman Auditorium while taping The Johnny Cash Show, for a "Ride This Train" segment, with film rolling behind him of a down-and-out drifter wandering the Public Square in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

For Kristofferson it was the key that turned: he later said the song opened doors, won over people he looked up to and let him quit working for a living, and he put it on his own album Kristofferson too. Rolling Stone has since put the song at number 476 on its list of the 500 best songs ever and at 96 among the 200 greatest country songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.