"Seven Year Ache" is a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song written and released as a single by American country artist Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

 in 1981. It was the lead single off Cash's album of the same name

Seven Year Ache

Seven Year Ache was Rosanne Cash's second album, released in 1981. It was produced by her then-husband Rodney Crowell and reached number one on the Billboard country album chart. Three of its tracks were also number one in the U.S. country singles category: "Seven Year Ache" Seven Year Ache was...

 as well as her first #1 hit on the country charts.

Song information

"Seven Year Ache" was penned by Cash herself, who first recorded it. It tells of a man going out to a bar to forget the problems his marriage is facing. He's a man of few words – 'you don't say nothing when you're feeling this way' – and rather than talk it over with his wife, he runs to the comfort he can find in a seedy dive. The song is a mid-tempo ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

, with a chorus sung twice in the song, which goes as follows:

Tell me you're trying to cure a seven-year ache

See what else your old heart can take

The boys say, "when is he gonna give us some room"

The girls say, "God, I hope he comes back soon"

Since Cash's initial recording of the song, "Seven Year Ache" has been recorded by several artists working in the music industry. In 1989, Canadian singer Carole Laure

Carole Laure

Carole Laure is an actress and singer from the province of Quebec in Canada.-Career:Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met in 1977 and who later became her husband...

 recorded a version for her album released that year, Western Shadows. Twelve years later, American country artist Trisha Yearwood

Trisha Yearwood

Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...

 recorded a version for her 2001 album Inside Out

Inside Out

Inside Out was a hardcore punk band from Orange County, California. It was fronted by Zack de la Rocha, later of Rage Against the Machine.-Biography:...

that featured Cash herself singing background vocals.

Chart performance

"Seven Year Ache" was Cash's fourth-issued single and her first single released in 1981. Considered her breakthrough recording, the song became Cash's first #1 on the Billboard Country Chart

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

, while also crossing over onto the Billboard Pop Chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 Top 30, peaking at #22. It was also a Top 10 Adult contemporary

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 hit, peaking at #6. The single was issued on Cash's second studio album, Seven Year Ache that year, which also produced the #1 hits, "My Baby Thinks He's a Train

My Baby Thinks He's a Train

"My Baby Thinks He's a Train" is a song written by Leroy Preston and a 1981 single by Rosanne Cash. "My Baby Thinks He's a Train" would be Rosanne Cash's second number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of eleven weeks on the country...

" and "Blue Moon with Heartache

Blue Moon with Heartache

"Blue Moon with Heartache" is a 1982 single written and recorded by Rosanne Cash. "Blue Moon with Heartache" was Rosanne Cash's third number one country hit. The single would stay at number one for a single week and spend a total of 11 weeks on the chart ....

."

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	22
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...	6
Canadian RPM Country Singles	6