02Sep1970 "Help Me Make It Through the Night" - Jennifer (Smothers Brothers Summer Show)

Viewers are treated to 'Jennifer' (Jennifer Warnes) performing the Kris Kristofferson composition "Help Me Make It Through the Night." From The Smothers Brothers Summer Show broadcast of September 2, 1970 on ABC-TV.

Originally posted on the Dave Joern channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@uploaderguy001/videos

More videos clips of Jennifer Warnes on Smothers Brothers shows and beyond, are available on this playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlGsAJWvjFoLqv9H2P1IoNyxA80fuIgMX

Jennifer Warnes (under the name Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer) performed several times on The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 1960s.
Complete episodes of the original "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS-TV (1967-1969) are available on this playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlGsAJWvjFoKkIOgfTUCgujlKH7qRCB8d

More Smothers Brothers-related videos are available here:
https://www.youtube.com/@randolphstevens6664/videos

From Wikipedia:

"Help Me Make It Through the Night" is a country ballad composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album "Kristofferson." It was covered later in 1970 by Sammi Smith, on the album "Help Me Make It Through the Night." In 1982, Kris did a re-recording with Brenda Lee for the compilation album "The Winning Hand." It has been covered since by many other artists from Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash to Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Bryan Ferry, Mark Eitzel, Tyler Childers and Engelbert Humperdinck also as a duet between Michael Bublé and Loren Allred.

Sammi Smith version:
Smith's recording of the song (in May 1970) remains the most commercially successful, and best-known, version in the United States. Her recording ranks among the most successful country singles of all time in terms of sales, popularity, and radio airplay. It topped the country singles chart, and was also a crossover hit, reaching No. 8 on the U.S. pop singles chart. "Help Me Make It Through the Night" also became Smith's signature song.

In May 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 71 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.

Production history:
Kris Kristofferson said that he got the inspiration for the song from an Esquire Magazine interview with Frank Sinatra. When asked what he believed in, Sinatra replied, "Booze, broads, or a bible...whatever helps me make it through the night."

During his time as a struggling songwriter, Kris Kristofferson wrote and composed the song while staying with Dottie West and her husband, Bill, at their home on Shy's Hill Road in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood. When he offered Dottie West the song, she originally claimed it was "too suggestive" for her. Eventually, she would record it before the year was out, and it is included on her album "Careless Hands." However, by then, several others had recorded and released versions of it, some garnering great success. Later on, West said that not recording "Help Me Make It Through the Night" when Kristofferson originally offered it to her was one of the greatest regrets of her career.

In August 2010, eighteen years after comforting Sinéad O'Connor when she was booed at the Bob Dylan: 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, Kristofferson performed "Help Me Make It Through the Night" with her on the Irish talk show "Saturday Night with Miriam."

Chart performance:
Sammi Smith:
Sammi Smith's recording (made in May 1970) reached No. 1 on the U.S. country charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. On February 20, 1971, it reached No. 8 on Billboard's U.S. pop singles chart, and also enjoyed success in Canada. Adult-Contemporary stations took to the song, and it peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. Additionally, it spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Country chart. The song became a gold record.

In 1998, the 1970 release of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Sammi Smith on Mega Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.