I don't really think this was a big deal, except to network execs in 1970.
And it's a sad song.
About an alcoholic who is waking up with a bad hangover and lamenting that he is seeing, smelling, and hearing all of these wonderful things, yet he will never be a part of them, because of his drinking.
One of Cash's (and Kristofferson's) best songs IMHO.
I don’t see the person in the song as particularly being an alcoholic. I see them as a person, maybe as Johnny was just prior, as a performer, or just a pedal to metal type person, who wakes up one Sunday morning and realizes all the real things he has missed out on.
I know it says ‘stoned’ but much of the time I hear it as ‘stone’ as in wishing at that moment he was ‘stone’ or unfeeling instead of experiencing the deep emotion of blowing it in life and experiencing what he knows he should have pursued.
I thought it was “Lord I’m wishin’”. Maybe I’ve been singing it wrong all these years.