Seven Year Ache

"Seven Year Ache" was written by Cash alone and produced by Crowell, and issued as a single in February 1981 on Columbia, with "Blue Moon with Heartache" on the other side. It reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, her first, number 22 on the Hot 100 and number six on the adult contemporary chart. She told WTOP in 2019 that at 24 she was writing about romantic ups and downs and talking with Crowell on Ventura Boulevard, and that it started as a long poem and ended as "Seven Year Ache". In Composed she wrote that she was completely unprepared for the attention it would attract and that it was probably the best song she had written up to that point. American Songwriter says the title may echo the seven-year itch, which Cash has not confirmed.

Rolling Stone ranked it 73rd among its 200 greatest country songs in 2024, by Wikipedia's account. Trisha Yearwood recorded it on Inside Out (2001) with Cash on backing vocals. Cash has sung it as a closer or encore at many shows, among them the Country Music Hall of Fame on January 26, 2025. Setlist.fm counts could not be retrieved, and the upload carries no version qualifier.