A Boy Named Sue
"A Boy Named Sue" is a
country song, made famous by
Johnny Cash. Written by
Shel Silverstein, it tells the preposterous yet moving tale of a young man's quest for revenge on the father who gave him a girl's name. At the climax of the song, when Sue finds and faces his father, he learns that he was given the name "Sue" as a way of making sure he grew up strong, his absent father being unable to protect him. He forgives his father and they have an emotional reconciliation. In the last lines, Sue says, "And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him . . . Bill or George, any damn thing but Sue! I still hate that name!" Recorded on
February 24,
1969 for the
Johnny Cash At San Quentin album, it shot to #1 on the Country Charts and #2 on the Pop Charts in the U.S. Years later Silverstein wrote a follow-up named "The Father Of A Boy Named Sue" in which he tells the old man's point of view of the story.
The line "I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you Sue!" was censored in the AM Radio version, and the final line was edited to take out the "damn".
The song has an unusual A-A-C B-B-C rhyme scheme, broken only to mark the dramatic midpoint and comic ending, and is full of vivid images such as "he kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile". The song is mostly recitation rather than conventional singing.
The title, but not the plot, was inspired by the male attorney
Sue K. Hicks of
Madisonville, Tennessee, a friend of
John Scopes who agreed to be a
prosecutor in the
Scopes Trial. Sue was named after his mother who died after giving birth to him. However, while this may have inspired Silverstein to write the poem, there may have been another reason why Johnny Cash recorded it. Johnny Cash was a fan of popular western novelist,
Zane Grey, whose first name at birth was
Pearl.
*
"A Boy Named Sue" lyrics at A-Z Lyrics Universe*
"The Father Of The Boy Named Sue" lyrics at Shel Silverstein's Adult Works*
"Son of a Boy Named Sue" live cut and lyrics*
"Son of a Boy Named Sue" studio cut and lyrics* performed by Johnny Cash circa 1970
