In 1958, Johnny Cash recorded “You Tell Me” with the Tennessee Two at Sun Records in May of 1958. Written by friend Roy Orbison, it was one of Cash’s final recordings with the label before moving to Columbia Records that year.
Released as a single in 1959 with the B-side cover of Gene Autry and Johnny Marvin’s 1939 South of the Border song “Goodbye, Little Darlin’, Goodbye,” “You Tell Me” was a dialogue between two people at the end of a relationship.
Cash and Orbison had met during the mid-1950s while Cash was touring with Elvis Presley. Cash then helped Orbison get his career started by suggesting he talk to Sun Records’ founder, Sam Phillips.
“In late ’55 or early ’56, I was touring with Elvis when I met Roy in Texas,” recalled Cash. “I told him to get in touch with Sun Records if he wanted to be a recording artist.”
Since their earlier Sun Records days, Cash and Orbison remained close friends for more than three decades, until Orbison’s death in 1988. “It was a particularly close friendship, too,” said Cash. “We became like brothers right from the start, and we stayed that way until the end.”
Friends and Neighbors
Both were even one-time neighbors in Henderson, Tennessee, and Cash was around during the tragedies in Orbison’s life, including the death of his first wife, Claudette Frady, who inspired his 1964 hit “Oh, Pretty Woman,” in a motorcycle accident, and the loss of his two sons in a house fire in 1968.
Cash later bought both the piece of land where Orbison’s house once stood and planted an orchard tree in memory of his sons. Orbison was also there when members of Cash’s family, including John Carter Cash, who was 4 at the time, were involved in a vehicle accident near his home in 1974.
By the early ’70s, the two had already collaborated on two songs, and Orbison appeared on The Johnny Cash Show three times between 1969 and 1971. Cash also recorded Orbison’s 1967 song, “Best Friend,” for his 1973 album Any Old Wind That Blows, and in 1986, both appeared, along with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, in their final collaboration, the Sun Records tribute album Class of ’55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming.
American singer, guitarist, and musician Roy Orbison (1936-1988) performs on a television show in England circa 1965. (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)‘Hello, I’m Johnny Cash’
Nearly two decades before their final work together, Cash also released the only song he would ever co-write with Orbison, “See Ruby Falls.”
Pulled from a phrase that was often painted on barn roofs in the south to direct visitors to an underground waterfall in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the signs inspired the two to write “See Ruby Fall.”
Named after the Chattanooga waterfall, the lyrics revolve around a girl named Ruby leaving a relationship to pursue a more exciting life under the red light downtown.
Well, I knew someday, Ruby would be leavin’
That she wasn’t happy living quietly, quietly
‘Cause she would get the bedroom look each mornin’
And I felt Ruby pull away from me
Yeah, so go downtown about nine o’clock this evening
Walk under that red light and down the hall, down the hall
Look for the highest flyin’ girl, that’s Ruby
And if you wait your turn, you’ll see Ruby fall
Don’t let her know that you even know me
She’ll be tryin’ to forget it all
And don’t tell me how is was tonight, tomorrow
‘Cause I don’t want to see Ruby fall
Once released on Cash’s 1970 album, Hello, I’m Johnny Cash, “See Ruby Fall” went to No. 4 on the Country chart.
Photo: David Redfern/Redferns