Chords for Johnny Cash - Boy Named Sue - Live - With Lyrics

_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ Well, my daddy left home when I was [Eb] three and he didn't leave much to maw 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 [F] did was before he left, he went and [Bb] named me Sue.
_ _ _ Well, he must have thought that it was quite a [G] joke and it got a lot of [Eb] laughs from a lot of [F] folks.
Seems I had to [Cm] fight my [Bb] whole life through.
_ Some gal would giggle and I'd get [Eb] red and some guy'd laugh and I'd butt [F] his head.
I'll tell you, life ain't easy for [Bb] a boy named Sue. _ _ _
_ _ Well, I grew up quick and I grew up [Eb] mean.
My fists got hard and my wits got [F] keen.
Roamed 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 Humpty Thompson [Bb] bar [F] and kill that man that gave me that [Bb] awful name.
_ _ Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid [Ebm]-July and I'd just hit [Eb] town and my throat was [Bb] dry.
[F] I thought I'd stop and have [Bb] myself a brew.
_ I had an old saloon on a street of [Eb] mud, there at a table dealing [F] studs, such a dirty manger [Bb] dog that 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 and [Bb] 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 Sue.
[Bb]
How do you do? _ _ _ _ _ _
Yeah, that's what I told him.
_ _ Well, I hit him hard right between the [Eb] eyes and he went down but to my [F] surprise, he'd come up with a knife and [Bb] cut off a piece of my ear.
_ Well, I busted a chair right across his teeth [Eb] and we crashed through the wall and into the street, [Fm] kicking and a-gouging in the mud and the blood [Bb] and the beer.
_ _ I tell you, I've fought tougher men but I [C] really can't remember when.
[F] He kicked like a mule and he bit like a [Bbm] crocodile.
_ _ [Bb] I heard him laugh and then I [Fm] heard him [Bbm] cuss and [Eb] he 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 gonna make it, he's [Eb] gotta be tough.
And [Fm] I know I [F] wouldn't be there to [Bb] help you along.
_ So I give you that name and I said [Ebm] goodbye and I knew you'd have [Eb] to get tough or [F] die.
And it's that name that helped to [Bb] make you strong.
_ Yeah.
He said, now you just fought one hell of a fight and I know you [Eb] 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 [Eb] for the gravel in your guts and the spit [F] in your eye, cause I'm the son that [Bb] named you Sue.
[Gm] _
[Bb] Yeah, what could I do?
What could I do?
[Eb] I got all [F] choked up and I threw down my gun, called him [Bb] a thorn, he called me his son and I come 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 [Bb] ever have a son, [Bm] I think I'm gonna name him Bill or George, [Bb] anything but Sue. _ _ _
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