Boy Named Sue Song Lyrics by Johnny Cash
Thank you
Well, my daddy left home when I was threeDidn’t leave very much to my mom and meExcept this old guitar and an empty bottle of boozeNow I don’t blame him ’cause he run and hidBut the meanest thing that my daddy ever didWas before he left, he went and named me Sue
Well, he must’ve thought that it was quite a jokeAnd I got a lot of laughs from a lots of folkSeems I had to fight my whole life throughSome gal would giggle and I’d turn redAnd some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his headI tell you, life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue
But I grew up quick and I grew up meanMy fist got hard and my wits got keenerRoam from town to town to hide my shameBut I made me a vow to the moon and starsI’d search the honky tonks and barsAnd kill that man that gave me that awful name
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-JulyAnd I just hit town and my throat was dryThought I’d stop and have myself a brewAt an old saloon on a street of mudThere at a table, dealing studSat the dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dadFrom a worn out picture that my mother hadKnew that scar on his cheek and his evil eyeHe was big and bent and gray and oldAnd I looked at him and my blood ran coldAnd I said, “My name is Sue, how do you do?Now you gonna die”, that’s what I told him
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyesAnd he went down, but to my surpriseHe come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my earThen I busted a chair right across his teethAnd we crashed through the walls and into the streetKicking and a-gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer
Well, I tell you, I’ve fought tougher menBut I really can’t remember whenHe kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodileWell, I heard him laugh and then I heard him cussAnd he reached for his gun but I pulled mine firstHe stood there lookin’ at me and I saw him smile
And he said, “Son, this world is roughAnd if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be toughI knew I wouldn’t be there to help you alongSo I give you that name, and I said goodbyeAnd I knew you’d have to get tough or dieIt’s that name that helped to make you strong”
He said, “Now you just fought one heck of a fightAnd I know you hate me, and you got the right to kill me nowAnd I wouldn’t blame you if you doBut you ought to thank me, before I dieFor the gravel in ya gut and the spit in ya eye‘Cause I’m the son of a bitch that named you Sue”What could I do?
Well, I got all choked up and I threw down my gunI called him my pa, and he called me his sonCome away with a different point of viewAnd I think about him, now and thenEvery time I try and every time I win, and if I ever have a-
Well, if I ever have a boy, I’ll name himFrank or George or Bill or Tom, anything but SueI don’t want him go around, man call him Sue all his lifeThat’s a horrible thing to do to a boy trying to get a hold in the worldNamed a boy a Sue