Boy named sue de Johnny Cash

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 '#39;

well, he must o' thought that is was 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 '#39;
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 me a vow to the moon and stars
that i'd search the honky-tonks and bars
and kill that man that give 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 '#39;
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 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 know i wouldn't be there to help ya along.
so i give ya that name and i said good-bye
i knew you'd have to get tough or die
and it's that name that helped to make you ;
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 pa, and he called me his son,
and i come 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 him
bill or george anything but sue i still hate that name