Johnny Cash is best known for his velvety deep voice and high-energy country music tunes. However, he was also quite a prolific songwriter. And many of his compositions were written for other artists. Let’s take a look at just a few songs that Johnny Cash wrote for other musicians! One of these famous tunes might just surprise you.
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“You’re My Baby” by Roy Orbison
Few might know that Johnny Cash has a songwriting credit on Roy Orbison’s debut album on Sun Records. Cash contributed the song “You’re My Baby” to Orbison’s 1961 album Roy Orbison At The Rock House.
That particular album is full of contributing songwriters, too. Conway Twitty, then going by Harold Jenkins, contributed the song “Rock House”. Twitty was known for his pre-country days in the rockabilly genre, as was Cash back in the day.
“Get Rhythm” Was Almost Given to Elvis Presley
“Get Rhythm” leans more toward rockabilly than country, and it’s a standout track from Johnny Cash’s mid-to-late 1950s era. This song was musically ahead of its time, and it’s wild that it was released as a mere B-side to one of Cash’s most legendary songs, “I Walk The Line”. The song was later re-released as an A-side in 1969.
While Cash did write and eventually record “Get Rhythm”, it wasn’t meant to be his song. Rather, he wrote the song for Elvis Presley, whom he was quite a fan of. However, after Presley left Sun Records, producer Sam Phillips would not let the King take the rights to that particular song with him. Thus, Cash ended up recording and releasing the song himself. Cash’s recorded version is amazing, but one can’t help but wonder how good it would be as an Elvis tune.
“I Tremble For You” by Waylon Jennings
Most Waylon Jennings fans likely have the 1967 album Love Of The Common People hanging out in their record collection. It’s a fine album, and it’s also full of songs that were written by other musicians, many of which are covers. Jim Glaser, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Sonny Curtis are just a few songwriters on the record.
Just as well, Johnny Cash wrote the song “I Tremble For You” for the album, making it one of the most popular examples of songs that he wrote for other musicians. A co-written effort between Cash and Lew DeWitt, this song was eventually re-recorded and released by Cash himself in the late 1970s.
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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