A Boy Named Sue — Johnny Cash
Chords and lyrics for A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash (key of A#).
Verse 1
[A#/F]Well, my daddy left home when I was three, and he didn't leave [D#m]much.
Tomorrow and me, just this [F/C]old guitar and an empty bottle of food.
[A#]Now, I don't blame him because he's running ahead, but the meanest thing [D#]that he ever
did was [Fm]before he left, he went and named me [A#/F]Sue.
Verse 2
Well, I grew up quick, and I grew up mean.
[F]My fists [D#m]got hard, my wits got keen, [F]roam from town to town to hide my [A#/F]shame.
But I made me a vow to the moon and stars, I'd search [D#]the honky-tonks and [F]bars and kill
that man that gave me that awful name.
Verse 3
[A#/F]Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July, and I'd [D#7]just hit town, and my throat was [Cm/D#]dry.
[F/C]I thought I'd stop and have myself [A#/F]a groove.
I had an old saloon on the street of mud, there [D#7]at a table, [Cm]dealing studs [F]at the dirty
man's you dog that named me [A#/F]Sue.
Verse 4
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad from [D#]a worn-out picture that my mother'd
had, and [F7]I knew that [F]scar on his cheek and his evil [A#/F]eye.
He was big and bent and grand old, and [D#m]I looked at him and my blood ran cold, and I [F]said,
My name is Sue, how do [A#/F]you do?
Verse 5
Are you gonna die?
Yeah, that's what I told him.
Verse 6
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes, and he went down, but to [D#]my surprise, [F]come
up with a knife and cut off a piece of [A#/F]my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth, and we [D#m]crashed through the wall and into the
street, [F]kicking and a gouging in the mud and the blood and the [A#/F]beer.
Verse 7
I tell you, I fought tougher men, but I really can't [D#m]remember when.
[Cm/D#]He [F]kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
[A#/F]I heard him laugh, and then I heard him cuss, [F]and [D#]he went [A#m]for his gun.
[Cm/D#]I pulled mine first, [F]he stood there looking at me, and I saw [A#/F]him smile.
Verse 8
He said, son, this world is rough, and if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be [D#m]tough,
and I know I [F]wouldn't be there to help you along.
[A#/F]So I give you that name, and I said goodbye, [D#m]and you'd have [A#m]to get tough [Cm7/D#]or die, and [F/C]it's
that name that helped to make you strong.
Verse 9
[A#/F]Yeah, he said, now you just fought one hell of a fight, and [D#m]I know you hate me and you
got the right to [Fmaj7]kill me [F]now, and I wouldn't blame you if you [A#/F]do.
But you ought to thank me before I die for [D#m]the gravel in your guts and the spittny eye,
because [F]I'm the son of a bitch that named you [A#/F]Sue.
Verse 10
Yeah, well what could I do? What could I do?
I got a old joke up and I threw down my gun, called him a paw, and he called me a son,
and I come away with a different point of view.
And I think about him now and then, every time I try and every [D#m]time I win,
[F]and if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him Bill or George, any [B7/F#]damn thing,
but Sue, [A#]I'm feeling this way.