It was a single on his album Boy Named Sue (and His Other Country Songs). Shel Silverstein's recording was released the same year as 'Boy Named Sue'. It was certified Gold on August 14, 1969, by the RIAA. The track was also at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts that same year. It was his only top ten single there, spending three weeks at No. The song became Cash's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Cash also sang the song as a comedy performance in December 1969 at Madison Square Garden. The sound recording of the concert was later released on Cash's At San Quentin album by Columbia Records.

Carl Perkins played guitar during the performance. It was later shown as a television program. The concert was taped by Granada Television. Cash was at the height of his popularity when he recorded the song live at California's San Quentin State Prison at a concert on February 24, 1969. countryJohnny Cashfolksinger-songwriteramericana60sEnglish.

It was first made popular by Johnny Cash. Melody author: Shel Silverstein, Lyrics author: Shel Silverstein, Performed by: Johnny Cash. “A Boy Named Sue” won a pair of Grammys for Cash (Best Country Vocal Performance, Male) and Silverstein (Best Country Song), 46 years ago today, on March 11th, 1970, three weeks prior to the airdate of this performance.' A Boy Named Sue' is a song written by Shel Silverstein. As Cash exits the stage, Silverstein talks about his close relationship with his own father and performs his poignant “Daddy, What If” which Bobby Bare and his 6-year-old son, Bobby Bare Jr., would later record and perform together, earning a 1974 Grammy nomination. Silverstein’s vocals are more shouted than sung, as the two perform a truncated version of the hit, eliminating the final verse with the routinely censored “son of a bitch” (which Cash often censored by recreating the bleep often heard in its place). This is about a boy who grows up angry at his father not only for. As the song begins, the two performers stand and walk to another part of the set, all the while strumming their guitars. This was written by the multitalented Shel Silverstein, who later wrote several hits for Dr. It’s fitting that Cash and the song’s writer, Shel Silverstein, would team up on an episode of Cash’s show which first aired on April Fool’s Day, 1970.ĭistinguished by his bald head, beard and gravelly voice, Silverstein sits with Cash and talks about his “weird” children’s books, and Cash acknowledges the role “A Boy Named Sue” has played in raising his public profile as an entertainer. He also performed it on another ABC series, The Tom Jones Show. He would sing the tune as a duet with guests Bob Hope, Jane Morgan (who recorded the 1970 “answer” record, “A Girl Named Cash”). The star would first perform “A Boy Named Sue” on The Johnny Cash Show in early September, and reprise it several times throughout the show’s two-season run. All’s well that ends well, however, as dad explains that the name was his way of ensuring that his son would be tougher since he wouldn’t be around to help him grow up and be tough. On a mid-July day in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, our hero finally catches up with the “dirty, mangy dog” who saddled him with the name, as the action unfolds like a scene out of a Quentin Tarantino film, with a severed ear, busted teeth and whole lot of mud, blood and beer. But it was with the rambling tale of a father who walked out on a 3-year-old, leaving the child with nothing but an old guitar, an empty liquor bottle and a name he would have to defend (sometimes violently) his entire life. Whether inspired by Shepherd or not, Silverstein’s humor permeated many of the songs he wrote which became pop and country hits, including Loretta Lynn’s “One’s on the Way,” the Irish Rovers’ “The Unicorn” and “The Cover of Rolling Stone,” a Top Ten smash by Dr. Shepherd, in the foreword to one of Silverstein’s books called the Chicago native “the only continuously funny man I have ever known.” Silverstein and Shepherd were longtime friends, with the former dedicating his Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book, a 1961 collection of irreverent adult humor and drawings to Shepherd, who frequently lamented that growing up with a woman’s name was difficult. But he (along with Johnny Cash) reportedly owes one of his biggest successes to the man who created A Christmas Story, the 1983 film based on the stories of author Jean Shepherd. Johnny CashMusic Encyclopedia of Country Evil Eve MusicReleased on: Composer: Shel SilversteinMusic.From Playboy cartoonist to children’s book author ( A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends) to hit songwriter, Shel Silverstein covered a lot of creative ground throughout his life. Provided to YouTube by DaredoA Boy Named Sue

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