Chords for Johnny Cash - A boy named Sue - Live at San Quentin

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