Chords for Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue (1972)

Ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Cash!
[Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Thank you.
Well, my daddy left home when I was three.
[Eb] He didn't leave very much to my ma and me,
[F] except this old guitar and an empty [Bb] bottle of booze.
[F] _ [Bb] Now, I don't blame him, cause he run and [Eb] hid, but the meanest thing that my daddy ever did
[F] was before he left, he went and named [Bb] me Sue.
_ Well, he must have thought that it was quite a [Eb] joke, and it got a lot of laughs from lots of folk.
[F]
Seems I had to fight my whole [Bb] life through.
_ Some gal would giggle and I'd turn [Eb] red, and some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head.
[F] I'll tell you, life ain't easy for a [Bb] boy named Sue.
_ But I grew up quick and I grew up mean.
[Eb] My fists got hard, [Bb] my wits got keen,
[F] and I'd roam from town to town to hide [Bb] my shame.
_ But I made me a vow to the moon and [Eb] stars, I'd search the honky-tonks and [F] bars,
and kill that man that gave me that [Bb] awful name.
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July, [Eb] and I just hit town and my throat was [F] dry.
Thought I'd stop and have [Gm] myself a boo.
[F] _ [Bb] I had an old salute on a street of [Eb] mud, and there at a table,
and he'd [F] unstud, said, the dirty man's your dog, [Bb] and named me Sue.
Well, I knew that snake was my old sweet [Eb] dad, from a worn-out picture that my mother'd [F] had,
and he had that scar on his cheek and [Bb] his evil [F] eyes.
[Bb] He was big and bent and gray and [Eb] old, and I looked at him and my blood ran [F] cold,
and I said, My name is Sue!
How do you do?
Now you're gonna die!
_ [Bb] _ _ _
Well, I hit him hard right between the [Eb] eyes, and he went down with my pride,
[F] and up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
[F] _
Then I [Bb] busted a chair right across his [Eb] teeth, and we crashed through the walls and into the street,
[F] kicking and a-gouging in the mud and [Bb] the blood and the beer. _
Well, I'll tell you, I fought tougher [Eb] men, but I really can't remember when.
I kicked like a mule and he bent like a crocodile.
[F] _
Well, [Bb] I heard him laughing and I heard him [Eb] cuss, and he reached for his gun with a pull-mine purse.
[F] He stood there looking at me, and I saw him [Bb] smile.
He said, Son, this world is rough, and if a man's [Eb] gonna make it, he's gotta be tough.
And I knew I wouldn't be there to [Bb] help you along.
_ So I gave him that name, and I said [Eb] goodbye, and I knew you'd have to get tough or [F] die.
It's that name that'll help to [Bb] make you [F] stronger.
He [Bb] said, Now, you just fought one hell of a [Eb] fight, and I know you hate me,
and you got the [F] right to kill me now, and I wouldn't blame [Bb] you if you do.
_ But you ought to thank me before I [Eb] die for the gravel in your gut and the spit in your [F] eye,
because I'm the son of a bitch [Bb] that named you Sue.
Well, I got all choked up and threw down [Eb] my gun.
I called him a pawn.
He called me his [F] son.
I come away with a different [Dm] point of view.
[F] _ [Bb] And I think about it now and [Eb] then, every time I try and every time I [F] win.
And if I ever have a boy, I think I'll just name him John Carter.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _