1969 Song of the Day is–“A Boy Named Sue”- by Johnny Cash. “A Boy Named Sue” was written by the humorist and poet Shel Silverstein. The song would go on to become one of Johnny Cash’s biggest hits- it went to #1 on the country music singles chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart- his only Top 10 hit on the pop chart. A Boy Named Sue was recorded live at San Quintin State Prison and released on the album Live At San Quintin. It was kind of a fluke- Cash later said that prior to the San Quintin concert he had read over the song a couple times and decided to include it to try it out. In the film of the concert Cash can be seen reading the lyrics from a piece of paper.

A Boy Named Sue is more talked than sung- a talking blues by Cash. It tells the story of- well a boy who was named Sue who was abandoned by his father when he was three and the hardships he had to endure due to his name. As an adult Sue goes on a quest to find his father and get revenge “My name is Sue! How do you do? Now you’re gonna die!” They get into a knock out drag out fight and in the end they are out lying in the street and Sue’s father explains why he named him Sue. Learning the truth behind the name Sue makes his peace with his father. The line “I’m the heartless hound” that was in the lyrics by Silverstein was changed to}” I’m the son of a bitch that named you Sue!” and of course that was censored from both the single and the album back in 1969.

Reportedly the song was influenced by the humorist Jean Shepherd {the fella who wrote the story that A Christmas Story was based on} who was a friend of Silverstein’s- and was taunted as a child because of his feminine sounding first name.