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

Stevens' version of the song reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and number 81 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1969. It also appeared on the author's own album Kristofferson .

The 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:

"You know, not everyone who has been on 'the bum' wanted it that way. The Great Depression of the 30's 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."

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.

It was included on Lynn Anderson's 1970 album Rose Garden.

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Wikipedia