Songfacts®:

• In this yearning song, Kris Kristofferson is desperate and lonely. He reaches out to a lady, asking her to help him get through the night with some intimate companionship. The story is short on details, but we can surmise that something about this affair is illicit.
• Kristofferson got the title from a 1966 Esquire interview with Frank Sinatra, who said, "I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniel's."
  
  Kris had the title in mind for a while before he came up with the rest of the song while working as a helicopter pilot - he shuttled people and supplies from the Louisiana mainland to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. One night while waiting in his helicopter, he sat strumming his guitar when the rest of the song came to him.
• Kristofferson had some success as a songwriter before releasing "Help Me Make It Through The Night" on his debut album, Kristofferson, in April 1970. In 1966, Dave Dudley took his song "Vietnam Blues" - written when Kristofferson was in the Army and supporting the war (a position he would later reverse) - to #127. Then in 1969, Ray Stevens recorded Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down," taking it to #81. Johnny Cash then recorded the song, and the rush was on for all songs Kristofferson.
  
  According to the Billboard Book Of #1 Country Hits, a little-known singer named Bill Nash was the first to record "Help Me Make It Through The Night," but his version went nowhere. Percy Sledge, Ray Price, and Bobby Bare recorded it soon after, but it was a female singer named Sammi Smith who had the most success with it. Her rendition topped the Country chart in February 1971 and in March went to #8 on the Hot 100 at the same time Janis Joplin's version of Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee" was at #1.
• When he performed this song live, Kristofferson would typically say, "Yes, I do," after the line, "I don't care what's right or wrong."
• Besides Sammi Smith, three other artists have charted with this song in America:
  
  Joe Simon - #69, 1971
  O.C. Smith - #91, 1971
  Gladys Knight & The Pips - #33, 1972
  
  Other artists to cover the song include Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peggy Lee, Olivia Newton-John, Willie Nelson and Tyler Childers.
• Kristofferson earned his first Grammy Award when "Help Me Make It Through The Night" won for Best Country Song at the 1972 ceremony. Sammi Smith also won for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, for her version of the song.
• Around 2010, Kristofferson started performing this song as a duet with Sinéad O'Connor, whom he supported when she spoke out against the Catholic Church and other powerful institutions.