This Kris Kristofferson Song Had Johnny Cash Hooked in 1969

I’m sure many stars can relate to having one person who changed the trajectory of their career forever. For Kris Kristofferson, that person was Johnny Cash, and the year was 1969.

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At the time, Kristofferson was a humble janitor working at Columbia Records, where Johnny Cash frequently recorded. While he was studying as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Kristofferson had been writing songs, but it wasn’t until he wrote “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that a song truly changed his life.

While working as a janitor, Kristofferson had frequently tried to get Cash to listen to his demos. With “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, he took a different approach. Around that time, Kristofferson had started working as a helicopter flying instructor, so he chose to use that skill to his advantage.

Determined as ever, the young songwriter landed his helicopter in Johnny Cash’s yard, according to Cash, with “a beer in one hand and a tape in the other.” Kristofferson would later clarify that Johnny actually “wasn’t even in the house at the time” and that he “never would have been drinking while flying a helicopter.”

Still, his initiative led him to getting the song cut by Cash. He would also win Song of the Year at the CMAs for “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in 1970.

Kris Kristofferson Got To Write for His Heroes

In an interview with NPR, Kristofferson looked back on parts of his life and shared how grateful he was for the success of “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.

Even though he himself is an icon, he didn’t seem to think of himself that way. When performing alongside legends like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, he told the station that he still had to “pinch himself.”

“You have to know that … every time that I’d be standing there on a stage, at least at some point in the show, I had to just pinch myself to realize that I was really up there on the stage. Every one of these guys was my hero before I even knew them, you know.”

He said of “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, “I’m just real grateful for that song because it opened up a whole a lot doors for me. So many people that I admired, admired it. Actually, it was the song that allowed me to quit working for a living.”

Kris Kristofferson, the songwriting legend, passed away on September 28, 2024.

Photo by: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images