The musical bond between father and daughter, Johnny and Rosanne Cash, lasted a lifetime. Right after graduating high school, Rosanne went on the road for more than two years with her father, first working as a wardrobe assistant before singing backing vocals and performing solo.
Rosanne made her recording debut on Johnny’s 1974 album, Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me, singing lead on Kris Kristofferson‘s “Broken Freedom Song.” Just two years later, Johnny used a song Rosanne wrote, “Love Has Lost Again,” for his 1976 album One Piece At A Time—marking her first credit as a songwriter.
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When Rosanne released her eponymous debut in 1978, she also recorded a cover of her father’s I Walk the Line track “Understand Your Man” and would occasionally record with her father and cover some of his songs—”Big River,” “Tennessee Flat Top Box”—for more than 20 years.
In 2003, Rosanne released her final duet with her father, “September When It Comes” from her album Rules of Travel. Johnny Cash died later that year on September 12 at the age of 71.
Long after that final song together, the musical connection between the two will always remain. Here’s a look behind three songs Johnny and Rosanne Cash recorded together as a duet throughout more than two decades.
1. “When He Comes” (1979)
Written by Johnny Cash
In 1979, Johnny Cash released the gospel album A Believer Sings the Truth, which featured two duets with his wife June Carter, a duet with Rodney Crowell, “You’ll Get Yours, I’ll Get Mine,” and a cover of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s There Are Strange Things Happening Every Day.” On the album is another duet with Rosanne, “When He Comes.” Written by Johnny, “When He Comes” tells of the coming of the Lord.
Every eye shall see
Every ear shall hear the sound of angels
When he comes
When he comes
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue shall confess that he is Lord
When he comes
When he comes
And he’ll plant his beautiful feet upon this mountain
And the dead of all the ages
Who believed on him will rise
2. “That’s How I Got to Memphis” (1982)
Written by Tom T. Hall
Originally written by country artist Tom T. Hall for his 1969 album Ballad of Forty Dollars & His Other Great Songs, “That’s How I Got to Memphis” is the story of a man in search of a former lover. Hall’s song was covered by everyone from Bobby Bare, Bill Haley & The Comets, Charley Crockett, Eric Church, and more throughout the decades.
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In 1982, Rosanne Cash also released her rendition of “That’s How I Got to Memphis” featuring her father on backing vocals. The song appeared on Rosanne’s fourth solo album, Somewhere in the Stars, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart.
3. “September When It Comes” (2003)
Written by Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
Written by Rosanne and her husband and producer John Leventhal, “September When It Comes” was the final duet she would share with her father. The somber ballad was featured on her 2003 album, Rules of Travel, which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
A partial story of Rosanne’s life, a remembrance of birth, childhood, and the profound bond with her father, the song is told from her perspective, first.
There’s a cross above the baby’s bed
A savior in her dreams
But she was not delivered then
And the baby became me
There’s a light inside the darkened room
A footstep on the stair
A door that I forever close
To leave those memories there
So when the shadows lengthen
Into an evening sun
First there’s summer, then I’ll let you in
September when it comes
Johnny then comes in, accepting the path of his life, and time.
I plan to crawl outside these walls
Close my eyes and see
And fall into the heart and arms
Of those who wait for me
I cannot move a mountain now
I can no longer run
I cannot be who I was then
In a way I never was
By the time they reach the final verses, Cash sings through When it begins. Rosanne finishes his sentence with I’ll let you in, and father and daughter close in unison on the closing September when it comes.
When the shadows lengthen
And burn away the past
They will fly me like an angel to
A place where I can rest
When this begins I’ll let you in
September when it comes
For Rosanne, the song was cathartic, sad, and a beautiful close for father and daughter. “I was obviously thinking about my dad because he was really sick,” Rosanne Cash told American Songwriter of the song in 2023. “And he [Leventhal] said ‘If there was ever a song to sing with your dad, this would be it.’ At first, I really resisted that, and then I realized he was right. So I asked my dad. I called my dad and I said ‘Would you want to sing the song with me?’ He said ‘I’ll have to see the lyrics first.”
Read the fuller story behind Rosanne Cash’s “September When It Comes” HERE.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
