A Boy Named Sue

simple song . i’ve heard this song in both A# and B , so if you need to , just move everything down a fret . enjoy . B my Daddy left home when i was three E and he didn’t leave much to ma and me F# B just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze . B now , i don’t blame him cause he run and hid E but the meanest thing that he ever did F# B was before he left , he went and named me "sue . " well , he must o’ thought that is quite a joke and it got a lot of laughs from a’ lots of folk , it seems i had to fight my whole life through . some gal would giggle and i’d get red and some guy’d laugh and i’d bust his head , i tell ya , life ain’t easy for a boy named "sue . " well , i grew up quick and i grew up mean , my fist got hard and my wits got keen , i’d roam from town to town to hide my shame . but i made a vow to the moon and stars that i’d search the honky - tonks and bars and kill that man who gave me that awful name . well , it was gatlinburg in mid - july and i just hit town and my throat was dry , i thought i’d stop and have myself a brew . at an old saloon on a street of mud , there at a table , dealing stud , sat the dirty , mangy dog that named me "sue . " well , i knew that snake was my own sweet dad from a worn - out picture that my mother’d had , and i knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye . he was big and bent and gray and old , and i looked at him and my blood ran cold and i said : "my name is ’sue!’ how do you do! now your gonna die!!" well , i hit him hard right between the eyes and he went down , but to my surprise , he come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear . but i busted a chair right across his teeth and we crashed through the wall and into the street kicking and a’ gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer . i tell ya , i’ve fought tougher men but i really can’t remember when , he kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile . i heard him laugh and then i heard him cuss , he went for his gun and i pulled mine first , he stood there lookin’ at me and i saw him smile . and he said : "son , this world is rough and if a man’s gonna make it , he’s gotta be tough and i knew i wouldn’t be there to help ya along . so i give ya that name and i said goodbye i knew you’d have to get tough or die and it’s the name that helped to make you strong . " he said : "now you just fought one hell of a fight and i know you hate me , and you got the right to kill me now , and i wouldn’t blame you if you do . but ya ought to thank me , before i die , for the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye cause i’m the son - of - A - bitch that named you "sue . ’" i got all choked up and i threw down my gun and i called him my pa , and he called me his son , and i came away with a different point of view . and i think about him , now and then , every time i try and every time i win , and if i ever have a son , i think i’m gonna name him bill or george! anything but sue! i still hate that name!