3 Songs Vince Gill and Rosanne Cash Collaborated on in 1985

During his earlier days in Pure Prairie League, as a session musician and songwriter, Vince Gill collaborated with everyone from Emmylou Harris, as part of her backing band, along with Dire Straits, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, and Bonnie Raitt, among other artists throughout the 1980s.

By the ’90s, Gill eventually began collaborating with wife Amy Grant and also penned Alabama’s “Here We Are” (1990), and hit No. 1 with Reba McEntire in 1993 on their duet “The Heart Won’t Lie,” “You Just Get One” for Ty Herndon’s 1995 debut What Mattered Most, and more.

In 2000, Gill’s sentimental tribute, “Table for Two,” for Loretta Lynn‘s husband Oliver Lynn, who died four years earlier, appeared on her 41st album, Still Country.

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Within five years of their first meeting, when he was in a band with her then-husband, Rodney Crowell, Gill and Rosanne Cash also collaborated on a trio of songs stretching across three of their albums.

Here’s a look behind the three songs Gill and Cash collaborated on in 1985.

[RELATED: 5 Songs Vince Gill Wrote for Loretta Lynn, Alabama, Rosanne Cash, and More]

“If It Weren’t for Him” (1985)

Written by Rosanne Cash and Vince Gill

For Vince Gill’s 1985 album The Things That Matter, he and Cash co-wrote the sultry duet “If It Weren’t For Him.” The song went to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and marked Gill’s first Top 10 on the chart.

If she’d only knew what I was thinking
If she’d only knew what was in my head
Why can’t she see my heart is breaking
She’d be mine if it weren’t for him

So many times I dreamed I had her
I call her name when I lay down
Still, I can’t learn to live without
Her jealous heart is all I found

See your face would be my destiny
Now I won’t take what you can give to me
This lonely place is all I hope to find
If it weren’t for him then you’d be mine

“Never Alone” (1985)

Written by Vince Gill

“Never Alone” was first recorded by Rosanne Cash for her fifth album Rhythm & Romance in 1985 before Gill later released his version of the song on his 1989 album When I Call Your Name. Also, the lead single from Cash’s album, “Never Alone,” peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

You were like a lost kid looking for home
You found what you wanted right in my arms
So if you walk out on me just leave your memory
Take my sympathy and go I love you so you’re never alone

So if you find another woman turns your head
And you can’t understand why it hurts so bad
If you walk out on me just leave your memory
Take my sympathy and go I love you so you’re never alone

There ain’t no need to talk about it
I can learn to live without it
Just leave your heart right here with me

If you walk out on me just leave your memory
Take my sympathy and go
If you walk out on me just leave your memory
Take my sympathy and go I love you so you’re never alone

“I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me”

Written by Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell

Gill also reappeared on Cash’s Rhythm & Romance, providing backing vocals on her song “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me,” which went to No. 1 on the Country chart. Though written by Cash and Rodney Crowell, Gill’s backing vocals can be heard all over “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me.”

It’s the right time, you know I feel fine tonight
It’s the right place, I’ve got my new face tonight
I’m in the right mood, I’ve got my new shoes tonight
I’ve got my new dress, I couldn’t hurt less tonight
(I don’t know why you don’t want me)

Somebody told you I was so cold and mean
(Who was that talking?)
Somebody wants you and don’t want me in between
(She better start walking)
Somebody hurt you, but, baby, she wasn’t me

Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images