A Boy Named Sue Chords by Johnny Cash

[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Well, my daddy left home when I was three [Eb] and he didn't leave much for Ma and me, [F] just
this old guitar and an empty [Bb] bottle of booze. _
Now, I don't blame him because he run and [Eb] hid, but the meanest thing that he ever did
[G] was [F] before he left, he went and [Bb] named me Sue. _ _
_ Well, he must have thought that it was quite a [Bbm] joke and it got a lot of [Eb] laughs from lots of folks.
[F] Seems I had to bite my [Bb] whole life through.
_ Some gal would giggle and I'd get [Eb] red and some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his [F] head.
I'll tell you, life ain't easy for a [Bb] boy named Sue.
_ _ _ _ _ Well, I grew up quick and I [Fm] grew up [Eb] mean.
My fists got hard and my wits got [F] keen, roamed from town to town to [Bb] hide my shame.
But I made me a vow to the moon and [Eb] stars that I'd search the Humpton Thompson [F] bar and
kill that man that gave me that [Bb] awful name.
_ _ Well, it was Gatlinburg in [Cm] mid [Bbm]-July and I'd just hit [Ebm] town and my throat was [F] dry.
I thought I'd stop and have [Bbm] myself [Bb] a brew.
_ At an old saloon on a street of [Eb] mud, there at the table dealing [F] stud sat the dirty manger
dog that [Bb] named me Sue.
_ Well, I knew that snake was my [Bbm] own sweet dad from a [Eb] worn out picture that my mother'd had
[F] and I knew that scar on his cheek and [Bb] his evil eye.
[Bbm] _ He was big and bent and [Eb] gray and old and I looked at him and my blood ran [F] cold and I
said, My name is Sue!
[Bb] How do you do?
Now, you going down?
_ _ Yeah, that's what I told him. _
_ Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes [Eb] and he went down but to my [Bbm] [F] surprise, he'd
come up with a [Cm] knife and cut [Bb] off a piece of my ear.
_ Well, I busted a chair right across [Eb] his teeth [Bbm] and we [Eb] crashed through the wall and into the
street, [F] kicking and a gouging in the mud and the blood [Bb] and the beer. _
_ I tell you, I've fought tougher men [Bbm] but I really can't [Eb] remember when.
[F] He kicked like a mule and he bit like a [Bb] crocodile. _
_ I heard him laugh and then I [Fm] heard him cuss [Bbm] and he [C] went for his gun and I pulled mine [F] first.
He stood there looking at me and [Bb] I saw him smile and he said, Son, _ this world is rough
and if a man's going to make it, he's [Eb] got to be [Bbm] tough and [F] I know I wouldn't be there
to [Bb] help you along.
_ So I give you that name and I said [Eb] goodbye and I knew you'd have to get [C] tough or die
[F] and it's that name that helped to [Bb] make you strong.
_ Yeah!
He said, Now you just fought one hell of a [Ebm] fight and I know you hate me and [F] you've got
the right to kill me now and I wouldn't blame [Bb] you if you do.
_ But you ought to thank me before I die for [Eb] the gravel in your guts and the spit in [F] your
eye because I'm the son of a bitch that [Bb] named you Sue.
_ Yeah!
What could I do?
What could I do?
[Eb] I got all [F] choked up and I threw down my gun, [Eb] called him a pawn, [Bb] he called me a son and
I come away with a different point of view.
_ _ And I think about him now [Eb] and then every time I try [Bb] and every time I win [F] [D] and if I ever have
a son I think I'm going to name him Bill or George [Bb] or any damn thing but Sue or Billy Bill.
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