Joe Allison 是電台電視和唱片監製, 亦是作曲家, "He'll Have To Go" 是他和妻子 Audrey 的作品, 創作靈感是來自夫婦之間的一次電話交談, 當時两人分別身處喧鬧的地方, 加上 Audrey 天生柔和的嗓音, Joe 要求她靠近話筒, 讓他可以聽得更清䀿; 這啟發了 Audrey Allison 寫下歌曲的第一句, 男歌手以溫柔而忐忑, 細語 "Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone .....
作品完成後, 交由鄉謠歌手 Billy Brown 演繹, Columbia Records 哥倫比亞唱片公司錄製, 唱片1959年四月面世之後, 並没有引起電台聽眾與樂迷注目。
"HE'LL HAVE TO GO" - Billy Brown - April 1959
Written by : Joe Allison, Audrey Allison
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together, all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you, he'll have to go
Whisper to me, tell me do you love me true
Or is he holding you the way I do
Tho' love is blind, make up your mind, I've got to know
Should I hang up, or will you tell him he'll have to go
You can't say the words I want to hear
While you're with another man
If you want me answer "yes" or "no"
Darling, I will understand
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together, all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you, he'll have to go.
同年十一月, Jim Reeves 與幾位知名樂手一起完成此曲的錄音, 由 RCA Victors 唱片公司印製, 歌曲更被安排在電台的鄉謠歌曲節目播放, 大受歡迎並登上美國 "Billboard Hot 100" 榜第二位; 自此, Billy Brown 的演繹被樂迷遺忘了。
1964年七月, Jim Reeves 在乘坐私人小型飛機途中墜機罹難, 終年四十一歲。 "He'll Have To Go" 成為 Jim Reeves 的標誌歌曲之一, 在流行樂壇翻唱版本達一百七十個, 十種語言亦有近二十個版本 ...
James Travis "Jim" Reeves (August 20,1923 – July 31,1964)