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Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line

Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Johnny Cash With His Hot And Blue Guitar
Released: 1956

I Walk The Line Lyrics

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I Walk The Line

I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day's through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine, I walk the line

As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind both day and night
And happiness I've known proves that it's right
Because you're mine, I walk the line

You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

Writer/s: RODNEY CROWELL, JOHNNY CASH
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Walk The Line

One of his most famous songs, this song details Johnny Cash's values and lifestyle. It is a promise to remain faithful to his first wife, Vivian, while he is on the road.

"Walk The Line" was the title of the 2005 Cash biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter.

Carl Perkins suggested the title "I Walk The Line" while on tour with Cash.

Levi's used this in television commercials.

While performing the song on his TV show Cash admitted that his eerie hum at the beginning of each verse was to get his pitch. The song required Cash to change keys several times while singing it.

Recorded in April 1956, Cash's first #1 was sped up at the urging of Sun Studios owners Sam Phillips. Jack Clements, who worked with Cash, recalled to Uncut magazine April 2012: "I wasn't impressed with Cash at first, because I like recordings with class… And Cash seemed rough, but 'I Walk The line' was a class recording."

The Voice contestant Craig Wayne Boyd reached #84 on the Hot 100 following a November 24, 2014 performance of the song on the show where he reinterpreted it as a slow, soulful ballad. It was the tune's first appearance on the chart since Jaye P. Morgan's cover reached #66 in 1960.

Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness

Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: American III: Solitary Man
Released: 2000

I See A Darkness Lyrics

Well, you're my friend
And you can see
May times we've been out drinking
Many times we've shared our thoughts
Did you ever, ever notice, the kind of thoughts I got
Well you know I have a love, for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive, for life that won't let go
But sometimes the opposition come rising up in me
This terrible imposition, comes blacking through my mind

And then I See A Darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Do you know how much I love you
Cause I'm hoping some day soon
You'll save me from this darkness

Well, I hope that someday soon
We'll find peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
And we can stop our whoring
And draw the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
That isn't all I see

And then I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Do you know how much I love you
Cause I'm hoping someday soon
You'll save me from this darkness

Writer/s: WILL OLDHAM
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I See A Darkness

This was written by the American singer-songwriter Will Oldham. He recorded it for the title track of his 1999 sixth album, the first on which he used his 'Bonnie Prince Billy' moniker. Oldham provided background vocals for Cash's Rick Rubin produced version, which can be found on American III: Solitary Man.

Oldham recalled Cash covering his song to Mojo October 2013: "I actually heard about my song being on the album from a friend of mine who plays guitar with me," he said; "He'd talked to Rick Rubin who said, 'Oh yeah, Johnny Cash just recorded I see a darkness.' A couple of weeks later I met Rick and we arranged I could meet Johnny Cash. And when I did, Johnny said, 'I want to redo my vocals on that song, Why don't we work on it together? That was really exciting, and we did it that same day, worked together on 'I See a Darkness.'"

"It was a situation we were both very comfortable with, which is working on music," Oldham continued. "We only spoke when we had something to say that the other person wanted to hear, so it was one of the few times when I actually felt I was in the correct company. And that's not trying to give myself excessive grace. He would ask the questions about the song; a couple of grammatical questions he wanted to clear up."

Cash's health prior to the recording of American III: Solitary Man had been poor and he'd even been hospitalized for pneumonia. The album contained the Man in Black's response to his illness. Mojo asked Oldham if he felt spooky that someone who was seriously ill was singing about darkness? He replied: "No, it didn't, because the song is about seeing darkness and asking for friendship and support... it seemed good he was singing the song...at that time (it seemed like) an essential statement."

Johnny Cash - One Piece At A Time

Johnny Cash - One Piece At A Time Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: This Is Johnny Cash
Released: 1973

One Piece At A Time Lyrics

Well, I left Kentucky back in forty nine
An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line
The first year they had me puttin' wheels on Cadillacs

Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.

One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand
Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired
But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.

I'd get it One Piece At A Time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.

So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunch box full of gears
I've never considered myself a thief
But GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it out over several years.

The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission and all the chrome
The little things I could get in my big lunchbox
Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.

Now, up to now my plan went all right
'Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.

The transmission was a fifty three
And the motor turned out to be a seventy three
And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.

So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help with an adapter kit
We had that engine runnin' just like a song
Now the headlight' was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.

The back end looked kinda funny too
But we put it together and when we got through
Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."

So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.

I got it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.

Ugh! Yeah, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on

Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?

Well, It's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58' 59' automobile
It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile.

Writer/s: KEMP, WAYNE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

One Piece At A Time

This is about a guy who works at a car factory and builds his own Cadillac by sneaking out one piece at a time. Before he was a singer, Cash worked on the assembly line at a car factory in Detroit.

Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down

Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Johnny Cash Show
Released: 1970

Sunday Morning Coming Down Lyrics

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And Lord, it took me back to something that I'd lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday Morning Coming Down.

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

Writer/s: KRISTOFFERSON, KRIS
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Kris Kristofferson wrote this song while living in a run-down tenement in Nashville when he was working as a janitor for Columbia Records - a strange occupation considering he had a master's degree from Oxford University and risen to the rank of captain in the US Army. But Kristofferson wanted to be a songwriter, so he turned down a professor position at the US Military Academy at West Point and swept floors at Columbia waiting for his break.

In the military Kristofferson learned to fly planes and he worked as a commercial helicopter pilot in Nashville, and the story of how he got his demo tape of this song to Cash has become legend: He flew his National Guard helicopter to Cash's front yard, where he landed and delivered the tape. The story is often skewed to imply that Cash had never met Kristofferson, but they had known each other since 1965. In a 2008 interview with the San Luis Obispo Tribune, Kristofferson explained: "I knew John before then. I'd been his janitor at the recording studio, and I'd pitched him every song I ever wrote, so he knew who I was. But it was still kind of an invasion of privacy that I wouldn't recommend.

To be honest, I don't think he was there. He had a whole story about me getting out of the helicopter with a tape in one hand and a beer in the other.

John had a pretty creative memory but I would never have disputed his version of what happened because he was so responsible for any success I had as a songwriter and performer. He put me on the stage the first time I ever was, during a performance at the Newport Folk Festival."

This song is about a hangover, with Cash singing about "coming down" on a Sunday morning after being "stoned " on Saturday night. Many of Kris Kristofferson's songs deal with what happens after the fun, and it's usually not pretty. In this song, our hero puts on his cleanest dirty shirt, drinks a few beers, and heads out to face a lonely day.

This song was #1 on the Country charts for two weeks in September 1970. It was Kristofferson's first Country #1 as a writer.

In a 2009 Rolling Stone article about Kris Kristofferson that was written by Ethan Hawke, it explains that Kris made Johnny Cash listen to the song before removing the helicopter. After hearing it Cash said he "liked his songs so much that I would take them off and not let anybody else hear them."

Cash recorded the song live on The Johnny Cash Show, and before the show, ABC censors asked him to change the lyrics, "Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned" to "Wishing, Lord, that I was home." Cash sang it the way Kristofferson wrote it, and even stressed the word "stoned."

The original version of this song was recorded by Ray Stevens in 1969. At the 2009 BMI Country Awards, where Kristofferson was honored as an icon, he recalled how Stevens took a chance on his tune, when he was still an unknown songwriter. "Nobody had ever put that much money and effort into recording one of my songs," Kristofferson said. "I remember the first time I heard it - he's a wonderful singer - I had to leave the publishing house and I just sat on the steps and wept because it was such a beautiful thing."

Stevens added that he was drawn to the song because he felt Kristofferson had a "spark."

"He was very talented, very smart and right on time with his style," Stevens recalled. "A lot of people since then have copied those songs that he put out so at this point in time it doesn't seem all that different. It still is of course. There are very few writers who get that spark at the right time."

Johnny Cash - She Used To Love Me A Lot

Johnny Cash - She Used To Love Me A Lot Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Out Among the Stars
Released: 2014

She Used To Love Me A Lot Lyrics

I saw her through the window today
She was sittin' in the Silver Spoon cafe
I started to keep going
But something made me stop
She Used To Love Me A Lot

She looked lonely and I knew the cure
Old memories would win her heart for sure
I thought I'd walk on in
And I give it my best shot
She used to love me a lot

I sat down beside her and she smiled
She said where have you been it's been awhile
She was glad to see me
I could almost read her thoughts
She used to love me a lot

She used to love me with a love that wouldn't die
Looking at her now I can't believe I said good-bye
It would only take a minute to turn back the clock
She used to love me a lot

I remember how good it was back then
And I said it's not to late to start again
We could spend a night together
Take up where we left off
She used to love me a lot

But I panicked as she turned to walk away
As she went out the door I heard her say
Yes I'm in need of something
But it's something you ain't got
But I used to love you a lot

I thought she loved me with a love that wouldn't die
Looking at her now I can't believe she said good-bye
She just left me standing there, I never been so shocked
She used to love me a lot
She used to love me a lot
She used to love me a lot, she used to love me a lot, she used to love me a lot

Writer/s: QUILLEN, CHARLES W. / FLEMING, RHONDA KYE / MORGAN, DENNIS W.
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

She Used To Love Me A Lot

In the early 1980s, Johnny Cash recorded a series of tunes with producer Billy Sherrill that were shelved after completion. The singer hung onto the master tapes, which his son John Carter Cash came across among a huge stash of Johnny and wife June Carter's effects. The album was eventually released through Legacy Recordings on March 25, 2014.

This mid-tempo ballad of regret was released as the project's first single. "I really love this song," Carter Cash told Rolling Stone. "The depth that's there reminds me of the real serious stuff that Dad did later in his life. And I truly think it's one of the beautiful undiscovered gems in my dad's catalog."

Among the instrumentalists is a young Marty Stuart, whose mandolin helps color the song. Stuart was a member of Johnny Cash's backing band between 1980 and 1985 and married the Man in Black's daughter Cindy in 1983. They divorced five years later. "I thought I was going to work with the character that has made the Folsom records, all San Quentin, but what I walked into was more of a family show," recalled Stuart to Uncut magazine April 2014. "He was Patriot Cash, working a lot of state fairs."

"I sensed right off the bat that he was doing his duty, that he was musically discontent," Stuart added. "He asked me not longer after I'd been there, 'How are you liking it?' I said, 'Pretty good.' And he went, 'Pretty good?' I said, 'Yeah, the music is not what I thought it was. I love it but...' We didn't have to go much further, because I think he knew what I was feeling, and I certainly knew what he was feeling."

The song was written by Dennis Morgan, Charles Quillen, and Kye Fleming and was also recorded by David Allan Coe. His version was released in December 1984 as the lead single from the album Darlin', Darlin, peaking at #11 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart.

The video was directed by filmmaker John Hillcoat, whose resume includes the movies The Proposition and The Road. Hillcoat shot the clip over the course of a month in locations across the United States. "I've been a lifelong fan" (of Cash), Hillcoat told the Guardian. "The first film I made was a prison film [Ghosts … of the Civil Dead] so there's definitely a connection there with the whole Folsom prison thing. I was also inspired by his voice, which has a truth to it at all times - that's always helped me in terms of working with actors, no matter how big."

Speaking with Billboard magazine, Carter Cash commented on the song's lyrical content. "We could take it at face value as a song about a woman, but it's this world we live in, America for that matter, the things that moved on," he said. "In many ways, you gotta look back and see the foundations that were laid are firmly in place. It's good to remember what they were and how we got where we are. We can look at it in many ways, but for me it's just a great communication in my experience with my father. To listen to the song reminded me of who he was and his integrity and strength as a person."

Johnny Cash - Call Your Mother

Johnny Cash - Call Your Mother Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Out Among the Stars
Released: 2014

Call Your Mother Lyrics

When you get a chance
Would you please Call Your Mother
And thank her for the good years that we had?
Gently break the news that you don't love me
And give my best regards to your good old dad

I always liked your family
We got along just splendidly
Though your brother
Kind of rubbed me the wrong way
I remember that your eyes turned green
When they crowned your sister County Queen
Though she couldn't hold a candle
To your beauty any day

When you get a chance
Would you please call your mother
And thank her for the good years that we had?
Gently break the news that you don't love me
And give my best regards to your good old dad

Back when we could laugh and play
On family reunion day
Didn't we all look funny
In our 1950s clothes?
Your daddy wore that greasy stuff
Your brother drank more than enough
Your mom wore penny loafers
With runners in her hose

When you get a chance
Would you please call your mother
And thank her for the good years that we had?
O gently break the news that you don't love me
And give my best regards to your good old dad.

When you get a chance
Would you please call your mother

Writer/s: JOHN R CASH
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Call Your Mother

Johnny Cash penned this song himself. His son John Carter Cash told NME: "He always called his mother, and he made sure I called mine too. And now it's something I say to my three kids."

Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars

Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Out Among the Stars
Released: 2014

Out Among the Stars Lyrics

It's midnight at a liquor store in Texas
Closing time another day is done
When a boy walked in the door and points a pistol
He can't find a job, but Lord, he's found a gun

He pulls it off with no trace of confrontation
Then he lets the old man run out in the street
Even though he knows they'll come with guns a blazing
Already he can feel a great relief

Oh, how many travelers get weary
Bearing both their burdens and their scars
Don't you think they'd love to start all over
And fly like eagles Out Among the Stars?

He pictures the arrival of the cruisers
Sees that old familiar anger in their eyes
He knows that when they're shooting at this loser
They'll be aiming at the demons in their lives

Oh, how many travelers get weary
Bearing both their burdens and their scars
Don't you think they'd love to start all over
And fly like eagles out among the stars?

The evening news carries all the details
He dies in every living room in town
And in his own a bottle's thrown in anger
And his father cries, he'll never live this down

Oh, how many travelers get weary
Bearing both their burdens and their scars
Don't you think they'd love to start all over
And fly like eagles out among the stars
And fly like eagles out among the stars

Writer/s: MITCHELL, ADAM
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Out Among the Stars

In the mid 1980s Columbia Records dropped Johnny Cash from the only label he'd worked for since 1960. Thirty years later, Johnny Carter Cash found among a huge stash of his father and mother June Carter's effects, recordings of some lost 1980s sessions which had been shelved by the record company. A posthumous album containing some of these previously unreleased songs was made available by Legacy Recordings on March 25, 2014.

This Adam Mitchell penned story song is the title track of the collection. The track tells of a struggling man who holds up a liquor store. Carter Cash told The Guardian: "The song itself deals with a sadness, it deals with a loss and it's something that we can relate to in our modern society itself."

Adam Mitchell is a Scottish born Canadian-raised singer-songwriter, whose resume includes Olivia Newton-John's "Dancing Round and Round", John Waite's "Tears" and Kiss' "Crazy Crazy Nights."

Why was the album titled after this song? Carter Cash explained to Billboard magazine: "Originally this body of work was completely untitled. After the fact, we looked at it to figure out what song would make a great statement. This was a song about sadness and tragedy in a person's life who's walking away from facing of a bitter end. There's a great depth of understanding there. But you know, I think being transferred in the title, I think it takes the listener to another place, like perhaps my dad's music spirit lies outs among the stars. It's definitely in our hearts also."

Johnny Cash - I Drove Her Out Of My Mind

Johnny Cash - I Drove Her Out Of My Mind Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Out Among the Stars
Released: 2014

I Drove Her Out Of My Mind Lyrics

She gave me my walking papers
And ran off with someone new
'Cause he bought her things
My wages couldn't buy
So I turned to ups and downers
And everything between
Still I can't get her good lovin'
Off my mind

Well today I bought a Cadillac
The kind she's always wanted
I called and asked her
If she'd like to ride
She said this is our last date
I said that's alright with me
Cause tonight I'm driving her
Out of my mind

Yeah I'll take her on a scenic cruise
Right off of Lookout Mountain
'Cause she said I never took her out
When she was mine
She'll see all seven states
As we drive to the pearly gates
Tonight when I drive her
Out of my mind

All the papers will read "Lovers leap
Again off Lookout Mountain"
'Cause I wrote a note
That called it suicide
But my epitaph will say
"he killed his pain yesterday
When he finally drove that woman
Off his mind"

Well now here she comes to greet me
Dressed to kill and so am I
Hope she asks me if this
Cadillac will fly
And I know that I'll die laughin'
When I show her that it will
When I drive that woman
Right out of my mind

Hell I'll take her on a scenic cruise
Right off of Lookout Mountain
'Cause she said I never took her out
When she was mine
She'll see all seven states
As we drive to the pearly gates
Tonight when I drive her
Out of my mind

They'll say Johnny Cash was quite a smash
Down here in Chatanooga
Last night when he drove her
Out of his mind

Yeah that Cadillac dealer's in for a big surprise too
99 dollars down, 99 dollars a month
Yeah it's gonna be just gorgeous

(Ooh to the pearly gates)
(Ooh to the pearly gates)
(Ooh to the pearly gates )

Writer/s: Hall, Hillman / Gentry, Gary Lee
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Drove Her Out Of My Mind

This tragicomic cut about a suicidal drive over Lookout Mountain is from Out Among the Stars, a posthumous studio album containing recordings from lost 1980s sessions that were discovered by Johnny Cash's son John Carter Cash in 2012. John Carter Cash commented to Uncut magazine that his father, "sounds so happy about committing suicide!"

Johnny Cash - Rock and Roll Shoes

Johnny Cash - Rock and Roll Shoes Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Out Among the Stars
Released: 2014

Rock and Roll Shoes Lyrics

It seems like yesterday
I heard people say
Son you were born a stray, someday you'll settle down
I guess there'll come a time
Maybe I'll tow the line
Right now I'm doing fine
Rollin' from town to town

I don't care where I ride
I'll my feet decide
Do anything but don't ask that I
Hang up my Rock and Roll Shoes
Hang up my rock and roll shoes

Guitars and ringin' tones
Are in my blood and in my bones
Show me a bus and I'll call it home
I don't wanna change

I don't care where I ride
I'll my feet decide
Do anything but don't ask that I
Hang up my rock and roll shoes
Hang up my rock and roll shoes

Oh the lonely day
When they put me in my grave
There ain't a word you need to say just
Hang up my rock and roll shoes
Hang up my rock and roll shoes

So let that moulder run
Headed out towards the sun
I'm in the mood for movin' on
I'll be back some day

I don't care where I ride
I'll my feet decide
Do anything but don't ask that I
Hang up my rock and roll shoes
Hang up my rock and roll shoes

Writer/s: GRAHAM LYLE, PAUL KENNERLEY
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Rock and Roll Shoes

This is one of a number of recordings that Johnny Cash made in the early 1980s with producer Billy Sherrill that were discovered by his son John Carter Cash in 2012. Carter Cash commented to The Guardian: "Rock and Roll Shoes brings back to me an energy that my dad had in the early 1980s that is true and strong. It makes me remember my father laughing and, of course, it reminds me of the years he spent in the early part of his career; the great creativity, the spirit of love and music that he had and it stayed with him through it all. I love Rock and Roll Shoes. What a fun song."

Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue

Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Johnny Cash At San Quentin
Released: 1969

A Boy Named Sue Lyrics

My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me Sue

Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk
It seems I had to fight my whole life through
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for A Boy Named Sue

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean
My fist got hard and my wits got keen
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name

Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew
At an old saloon on a street of mud
There at a table, dealing stud
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye
He was big and bent and gray and old
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said, "My name is Sue, how do you do
Now you're gonna die"

Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile

And he said, "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong"

He said, "Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do
But ya ought to thank me, before I die
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
'Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you Sue"

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my paw, and he called me his son
And I came away with a different point of view
And I think about him, now and then
Every time I try and every time I win
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name himâ?¦
Bill or George! Anything but Sue!

Writer/s: SHEL SILVERSTEIN
Publisher: T.R.O. INC.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

A Boy Named Sue

This was written by the multitalented Shel Silverstein, who later wrote several hits for Dr. Hook, including "Sylvia's Mother" and "Cover Of The Rolling Stone." Silverstein also wrote several popular children's books. He got the idea for the song from his friend Jean Shepherd - a guy who had to deal with a girly name. Shepherd was a writer/humorist like Silverstein; he narrated the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, which is based on his writings.

This is about a boy who grows up angry at his father not only for leaving his family, but for naming him Sue. When the boy grows up, he sees his father in a bar and gets in a fight with him. After his father explains that he named him Sue to make sure he was tough, the son understands.

Cash recorded this live at San Quentin Prison in February 1969. Shel Silverstein's nephew Mitch Myers told us the story: "In those days in Nashville, and for all the people that would visit, the most fun that anyone really could have would be to go over to someone's house and play music. And they would do what one would call a 'Guitar Pull,' where you grabbed a guitar and you played one of your new songs, then someone else next to you would grab it and do the same, and there were people like Johnny Cash or Joni Mitchell, people of that caliber in the room.

Shel sang his song 'Boy Named Sue,' and Johnny's wife June Carter thought it was a great song for Johnny Cash to perform. And not too long after that they were headed off to San Quentin to record a record - Live At San Quentin - and June said, 'Why don't you bring that Shel song with you.' And so they brought the lyrics. And when he was on stage he performed that song for the first time ever, he performed it live in front of that captive audience, in every sense of the word.

He had to read the lyrics off of the sheet of paper that was at the foot of the stage, and it was a hit. And it wasn't touched up, it wasn't produced or simulated. They just did it, and it stuck. And it rang. I would say that it would qualify in the realm of novelty, a novelty song. Shel had a knack for the humorous and the kind of subversive lyrics. But they also were so catchy that people could not resist them." (Learn a lot more about Shel Silverstein in our interview with Mitch Myers.)

Shel Silverstein went on to write another song titled "The Father of the Boy Named Sue." It's the same story, but from the father's point of view. (thanks, Bashu - Nanoose Bay, Canada)

Johnny Cash performed this song in the East Room of the White House on April 17, 1970 when he and his wife were invited by President Richard Nixon. Nixon's staff had requested the song along with Okie From Muskogee and a song by Guy Drake called "Welfare Cadillac," but Cash refused to perform those songs, saying he didn't have arrangements ready.