Vikki Carr Sings "Sunday Morning Coming Down"
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Artist:
One of the surprises of Vikki Carr's "Nashville By Carr" album is her performance of Kris Kristofferson's song "Sunday Morning Coming Down." This would seem like a situation that would have numerous roadblocks for a singer to identify with. Firstly, it's obvious male viewpoint was considered too risque for it's time (1969) for a woman to sing and the biggest obstacle is that the song is in one contuous line up to the end. If there was a break for a retake, it couldn't be done because then the whole performance would fall apart. These two sets of circumstances were the challenge Vikki Carr took on, making a statement that identified with the deep, rich sentiments expressed in this song about a life that has tragically spun totally out of control with reminders coming from childhood memories of Sunday dinner, going to church on Sundays and playing with friends in a long lost child's play. This, then, is the bitterness that Carr responds to so beautifully in this 1970 performance on the Johnny Cash Show, recorded on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium where Ms. Carr would perform for a few times.
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Comments (7)
...My god! I wouldn't have believed it....but it works! This track ain't bad!!
DMDM,
Glad to hear you liked this one! Would you believe that nearly every track on her "Nashville" album is just as great as this one? I can still remember Vikki Carr singing this both on the Johnny Cash Show and on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. On the Carson program, Carr was really pleased with the results and mentioned that Julian Lee, a blind jazz composer and arranger, did a superb job. Not only that but she also had a fellow named Fogelsang who would later be Garth Brooks' record producer. Carr was so highly regarded at that time that she was invited to sing at the Grand Ole Opry when it was being held at the Ryman Auditorium. I believe she still wants to do some country music. We'll see if that happens. Everybody cross their fingers and toes!
Yours truly,
musikfriend
When I first heard Vikki singin' this song I almost had a heart attack!
...beer I had for breakfast....had one more for dessert.....wishin' Lord that I was stoned...
But I grew to love it pretty quick. If there's one female that can do this song right, it's Vikki!
Thanks for posting!
Dear Txboots!
thanks for the rave! This has been my favorite performance ever since I first viewed it for the for the first time those many moons ago! Vikki Carr knows how to take a song and make it shine like as if it were newly minted. I am surprised she never won a Grammy for this performance on record! Anyways, I am glad to hear from you and loved your comment about this song!
Yours truly,
musikfriend
Nobody and I mean nobody, can sing this song like Vikki! It was almost like she was there when this guy was going through all his heartache!
Dear fanovicar,
I remember this particular performance very well, for I was a constant viewer of the Johnny Cash program. It had all the trappings of the then dying art form on tv called the music variety show. Great guests across a wide specrtum, great music by Cash and awesome video techniques that are far better than what we get these days. The only negative review of this show came from Paul Harvey who kept pleading with ABC (the tv network that originally telecast the program) to let it be an exclusive country music show without all of the high gloss production values. Oh was he wrong on that issue! The recording of this song is totally awesome and was apparently done in one take with a minor slip-up at the end where Vikki mispronounces the word "bell" as "blell." This minor when you hear the finished performance which flows.
Yours truly,
musikfriend
I am a big country music fan and an even bigger Vikki Carr fan, but I just couldn't put this mix together at first. Like Txboots, I nearly fell out of my chair when I first heard this song on one of Ms. Carr's CD's. Vikki makes every song her own and I just couldn't imagine her "drinking beer and getting stoned". As I went back to this song over and over I envisioned this man's story. No one but Vikki Carr could take this song and fill it with such emotion. Now that is "country music"! I have since purchased Nashville by Carr and Way To Love a Man. I had no idea that Vikki sang at the Rhyman/Grand Ol Opry. Only the best of the best in country music sing there. But of course, I should have known, we're talking about VIKKI CARR!!!