A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#2 for 3 weeks) & Country (#1 for 5 weeks); 1969
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Johnny Cash was just a few days away from an appearance at San Quentin and a live-before inmates performance to be recorded as a follow-up to 1968’s highly successful Folsom Prison album.
Shel Silverstein sang A Boy Named Sue for Johnny as Cash’s house and wrote down the lyrics. On February 24, 1969, just prior to show time, Johnny’s wife, June, urged her husband to do Sue even though he hadn’t rehearsed it. Obligingly, Johnny propped the lyric sheet on a music stand and ran through it in front of the highly
appreciative audience. Sue caught fire with non-prison fans as well, hitting the top of the Country and Adult Contemporary charts, and propelling the album to #1 as well.
Only Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones prevented Shel’s song from making a clean sweep of the major charts. Sue brought Shel and Johnny a Grammy plus Country Music Association awards for Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Album, and Single of the Year.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Bob Johnston
Lyrics Written by:
- Shel Silverstein
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).