Rosanne Cash’s First Songwriting Credit Was a 1976 Song Recorded by Her Father Johnny Cash

In 1974, Rosanne Cash made her recording debut on her father Johnny Cash’s album, Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me, singing lead on Kris Kristofferson‘s “Broken Freedom Song.” Just four years later, Rosanne released her eponymous debut, which features a cover of her father’s I Walk the Line track “Understand Your Man.” Rosanne would occasionally cover more of his songs—”Big River,” “Tennessee Flat Top Box”—throughout the next 20 years.

She also wrote a song for her dad on his album One Piece At A Time, marking her first credit as a songwriter.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Love Has Lost Again”

Cash’s “Love Has Lost Again” is a love story languishing around the end of a romance.

I guess we’re over, and it’s all been said before
But I still want you, though there’s no reason anymore
I can’t remember when you and I began
It makes no difference cause love has lost again

If there’s a reason we forgot it long ago
And if there’s an answer, it’s one I’ll never know
The price of giving, I just don’t understand, but it’s collected, and love has lost again

All that’s left now is the closing of the door
It sounds so final, but I don’t listen anymore
It’s not the last time that I’ll break instead of bend
But for the moment, love has lost again
It’s not the last time

“There’s less navel-gazing, I’m proud to say,” Cash told American Songwriter in 2023, joking about her earlier songwriting. “There are some specific technical things I do differently. I’m not as attached to nature metaphors as I used to be. I’m not obsessed with the intricacies of romance as much as I was.”

She continued, “I like writing in the voices of characters. I’m more willing to take chances, lyrically. Learning to co-write with [husband John Leventhal] made me less territorial. I think I’m a better songwriter, overall.”

[RELATED: Rosanne Cash on 30 Years of ‘The Wheel’ and Partnership with Husband John Leventhal—“I Appreciate Him More Than I Ever Did Musically, or Personally”]

Cash-Cash Duets

Throughout the decades, Rosanne and her father also recorded several more duets together, including “When He Comes” from Cash’s 1979 gospel album A Believer Sings the Truth and their 1982 cover of Tom T. Hall’s 1969 song “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” the story of a man in search of a former lover.

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.

Released on Rosanne’s album Rules of Travel, the ballad, told from her perspective of her childhood, and the profound bond with her father, peaked at No. 16 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images