Which 1958 Johnny Cash song was written by Jack Clement and became a No. 1 country hit?

“Ballad of a Teenage Queen” was the 1958 Johnny Cash song written by Jack Clement that became a No. 1 country hit.

Clement wrote the song while working in the orbit of Sun Records, where he was a musician, engineer and producer. Cash recorded it with background support from the Tennessee Two, and Sun released it in January 1958. It became one of Cash’s early breakthrough records and reached No. 1 on the U.S. country chart.

The song is a narrative about a small-town girl who leaves her boyfriend for Hollywood fame, then discovers that wealth and celebrity do not replace the affection of home. She eventually returns to the boy next door. Its bright rockabilly-country sound helped establish Cash as a major crossover performer; it also reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The title is sometimes confused with Cash’s other Clement composition, “Guess Things Happen That Way,” which also topped the country chart in 1958. “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” is the one specifically associated with the teenage-queen storyline.