| Lyrics: | Well, my daddy left home when I was three,
and he didn't leave much to ma and me,
Just
this ole 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 musta thought that it was quite a joke,
An' it got a lot of laughs
from lots a folks,
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'll tell ya, life ain't easy
for a boy named Sue.
I grew up fast and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wis
got keen,
I roamed from town to town to hid my shame.
But I made me a vow to the
moon and stars,
I'd search the honky-tonks and bars,
And kill that man that gave me that
awful name.
Well, it was Gatlandburg in mid-July,
I'd just hit town and my throat
was dry,
thought I'd stop and have myself a brew.
In and old saloon on a street of
mud,
There at a table dealin' 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 had,
& I knew that scar on his cheek & his evil eye.
He was big and bent and
grey 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!"
Yeah that's what I told him.
Well, I hit him hard
right between the eyes,
And he went down but to my surprise,
Come up with a knife a cut
off a piece o' my ear.
I busted a chair right across his teeth,
And we crashed
through the wall and into the street,
Kickin' and a gougin' in the the mud and the blood and
the beer.
I tell you I've fought tougher men,
but I really can't remember
when,
he kicked like a mule & bit like a crocodile.
Well I heard him laugh and then
I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun but 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 you along.
So I
gave that name and I said goodbye,
I knew you'd have to get tough or die,
And it's that
name what helped to make you strong.
Now you just fought one hell of a fight,
And I
know you hate me and ya got the right,
To kill me now and I wouldn't blame you if you
do.
But you oughtta thank me before I die,
For the gravel in your gut and the spit
in your eye,
'Cause I'm the -- that named you Sue."
Well, what could I do, what
COULD I do?
Well I got a choked up and threw down my gun,
Called him a pa and he called me
a son,
And I come away with a different point of view.
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 |
