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[ ? ]
A
My daddy left home when I was threeD
And he didn't leave much to ma and meE
A
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of boozeA
Now I don't blame him cause he run and hidD
But the meanest thing that he ever didE
A
Was before he left he went and named me SueA
Well he must o' thought that is quite a jokeD
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folkE
A
It seems I had to fight my whole life throughA
Some gal would giggle and I'd get redD
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head
E
A
I tell ya life ain't easy for a boy named SueA
Well I grew up quick and I grew up meanD
My fist got hard and my wits got keenE
A
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shameA
But I made a vow to the moon and starsD
That I'd search the honky-tonks and barsE
A
And kill that man who gave me that awful nameA
Well it was Gatlinburg in mid-JulyD
And I just hit town and my throat was dryE
A
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brewA
At an old saloon on a street of mudD
There at a table dealing studE
A
Sat the dirty mangy dog that named me SueA
Well I knew that snake was my own sweet dadD
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd hadE
A
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eyeA
He was big and bent and gray and oldD
And I looked at him and my blood ran coldE
A
And I said My name is 'Sue ' How do you do
Now you gonna dieA
Well I hit him hard right between the eyesD
And he went down but to my surpriseE
A
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my earA
But I busted a chair right across his teethD
And we crashed through the wall and into the streetE
A
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beerA
I tell ya I've fought tougher menD
But I really can't remember whenE
A
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodileA
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cussD
He went for his gun and I pulled mine firstE
A
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smileA
And he said Son this world is roughD
And if a man's gonna make it he's gotta be toughE
A
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya alongA
So I give ya that name and I said goodbyeD
I knew you'd have to get tough or dieE
A
And it's the name that helped to make you strongA
He said Now you just fought one hell of a fightD
And I know you hate me and you got the rightE
A
To kill me now and I wouldn't blame you if you doA
But ya ought to thank me before I dieD
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eyeE
A
Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you Sue 'A
I got all choked up and I threw down my gunD
And I called him my pa and he called me his sonE
A
And I came away with a different point of viewA
And I think about him now and thenD
Every time I try and every time I win
[No Chords]
And if I ever have a son I think I'm gonna name him
A (keep strumming)
Bill or George Anything but Sue I still hate that name
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About this song
This version of "A Boy Named Sue" was recorded in front of a live audience. The track is a comical talking blues song written by Shel Silverstein and performed by country/blues singer Johnny Cash. It tells the first-person story of a boy named "Sue," whose father, before walking out of his life, named him that in order to make him strong. Unbeknownst to the, now, man, he meets his father and a barroom brawl ensues.