3 Songs Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Johnny Cash to Record First (1970-1984)

Shortly after turning down a higher-ranking position in the military to pursue a career as a songwriter in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson was living in a tenement building and working as a janitor for Columbia Records. It was there that he first met Johnny Cash.

“I’d pitched him every song I ever wrote, so he knew who I was,” said Kristofferson of his custodian days. “But it was still kind of an invasion of privacy that I wouldn’t recommend.”

Within his batch of songs was “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” which Cash released on his 35th album, The Johnny Cash Show. The song, which was allegedly delivered to Cash by a helicopter piloted by Kristofferson, went to No. 1 on the Country chart. It also marked the first Country No. 1 for Kristofferson as a songwriter, boosting his career.

“I’m just real grateful for that song because it opened up a whole lot of doors for me,” said Kristofferson, who also recorded the song on his namesake debut album from 1970. “So many people that I admired, admired it,” “Actually, it was the song that allowed me to quit working for a living.”

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In 1970, Cash sang on Kristofferson’s’ “The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me.” Kristofferson also penned a song for Cash, “The Loving Gift,” a duet with his wife and June Carter Cash, released on his 1973 album Any Old Wind That Blows, along with “Love is the Way” for Cash and Waylon Jennings’ collaborative album Heroes from 1986.

From then on, the duo’s collaborations continued through their Highwaymen days.

Along with “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” here’s a look behind three more songs Kristofferson wrote for Cash to record first.

[RELATED: 3 Songs Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Some of the Women in His Life]

“To Beat the Devil” (1970)

When Cash released his thirty-third album, Hello, I’m Johnny Cash, in 1970, his duet with wife June, “If I Were a Carpenter,” earned them a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. On the album was also another song Cash recorded by Kristofferson. “To Beat the Devil,” which reads like a semi-autobiographical thank you letter from Kristofferson to John and June about a Nashville songwriter who becomes down on his luck.

And I’d like to dedicate this to John and June, who helped show me how to beat the devil.

It was wintertime in Nashville, down on Music City Row.
And I was looking for a place to get myself out of the cold.
To warm the frozen feelin’ that was eatin’ at my soul.
Keep the chilly wind off my guitar.

My thirst wanted whisky; my hunger needed beans,
But it’d been of month of paydays since I’d heard that eagle scream.
So with a stomach full of empty and a pocket full of dreams,
I left my pride and stepped inside a bar.

“The Last Time” (1980)

Cash’s 1980 album Rockabilly Blues featured covers of songs by two of his former stepson-in-laws, Nick Lowe’s 1979 song “Without Love,” and another by Rodney Crowell, “One Way Rider,” the latter written specifically for Johnny and sung as a duet with June Carter Cash. Rockabilly Blues also featured Kristofferson’s song about a fleeting love, “The Last Time.”

Darling, the seasons are changing, see now the leaves how they die
Love needs no reason for ending, come kiss your baby goodbye
Darlin,g the last time you lied, was it really the last time
Have all the tears that you’ve cried simply dried up and gone
All in the world, you can hurt anymore is my feeling
Whatever love ever was, never lasted too long
Maybe the best of our life was a beautiful dream babe
That conscience was destined to crumble like castles in sand
All there is left of our love is a little girl’s laughter
Let her keep making believing as long as she can
Now and again, I still hear some old songs I don’t want to
Is it the same over there where you found your new friend
Sometimes at night, I still wake up and feel something missing
Maybe I’ll never believe in forever again

Kristofferson later recorded his version of “The Last Time” on his 1981 album To the Bone.

‘”They Killed Him” (1984)

Johnny Cash was the first to record and release “They Killed Him” as a B-side to “The Three Bells” in 1984. The song was Kristofferson’s lament for Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi.

There was a man named Mahatma Ghandi
He would not bow down, he would not fight
He knew the deal was down and dirty
And nothing wrong could make it right away

But he knew his duty, and the price he had to pay
Just another holy man who dared to be a friend
My God, they killed him!

Another man from Atlanta, Georgia
By the name of Martin Luther King
He shook the land like rolling thunder
And made the bells of freedom ring today

Kristofferson released his rendition of “They Killed Him” on his 1986 album Repossessed. In July of ’86, Bob Dylan also covered the song on his album Knocked Out Loaded, and four years later, the Highwaymen, Cash, Jennings, and Willie Nelson recorded a live version of the song, later released on American Outlaws in 2016.

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