[5] Autry sang it (as a duet with Mary Lee) in the December 1939 movie South of the Border,[6][7] and released it as a single in April 1940.

The song would be notably recorded by Johnny Cash[6][8] at Sun Records probably on December 13, 1956,[9] and released as a single (Sun 331, with "You Tell Me" on the opposite side) in September 1959,[10][11][12][13][14][15] when he had already left the label for Columbia.

According to John M. Alexander's book The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash, the song was not released as a single: “Goodbye Little Darlin',” which was written by cowboy legend Gene Autry and songwriter Johnny Marvin, was the first Cash song Jack Clement produced.

Its haunting beauty reveals a side of Cash not yet realized.

While the song was never released as a single, Cash had faith in it and would rerecord it in 1964 for his I Walk the Line album on Columbia Records.