A Boy Named Sue (A boy named Sue) is a country song from 1969. The piece was in the version of Johnny Cash to a million-seller being with number one in the country and # 2 on the pop charts commercially most successful hit.
Composer and lyricist Shel Silverstein was inspired by a true story in his composition. The real Sue was a certain Sue Kerr Hicks (1895-1980), a judge from Madisonville, Tennessee . He was the youngest of nine siblings and was given the first name of his mother, who died at birth. Silverstein heard the name of this judge during an announcement at an event in Gatlinburg , and the idea for the song was born. The judge had over 800 murder cases to judge, but he became famous for his first name Sue.
Silverstein recorded the song on December 14, 1968 for RCA (74-0158), produced by Chet Atkins ; however, the record remained without any response. He came up with the idea of giving the song a wider public and introduced it to his friend Johnny Cash at a party in February 1969 .
admission
Silverstein delivered the notes and text of his new composition only five days before a Johnny Cash concert, which was to take place on February 24, 1969 in California's San Quentin State Prison in front of prisoners. Cash's wife June Carter Cash only had the idea shortly before the concert that Cash should introduce the new song there. As a result, Cash could no longer memorize the text and had to read it from the sheet music on a music stand during the live concert. Cash's record label Columbia Records planned to record this second prison concert live.
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue
Producer Bob Johnston had a cast alongside his wife June Carter Cash (vocals), Carl Perkins / Bob Wootton (guitar), Marshall Grant (bass), WS Holland (drums), as well as support the Carter Family and The Statler Brothers scheduled. Speaking in the style of Talking Blues by Johnny Cash, the comedy hit with its fast-spoken, harsh lyrics and plucked guitar immediately caught the audience's attention. The song lifted the mood to the point of laughter from the prisoners. The audience was amused by every word and exploded at the punch line. In the Puritan times, the passage “Son of a bitch” (“son of a bitch”) was subsequently censored for the record version by a whistling sound; there are both the censored and uncensored versions.
success
The live album At San Quentin was released on June 4, 1969 and sold six million times; it was named Album of the Year by the Country Music Association . From this the single A Boy Named Sue / San Quentin (CBS Records 4460) was released and came out on July 26, 1969. It developed into the greatest crossover success for Johnny Cash with five weeks at number one on the country chart and three weeks at number 2 on the pop charts. Within six weeks, the single made $ 1 million and sold over three million copies ( CMA's Single of the Year ). For this, Cash received a gold record from the RIAA on August 14, 1969 . It received a Grammy Award in the categories of “Best Country Song” and “Best Male Vocal Performance - Country” . On December 5, 1969, he performed the song live at Madison Square Garden . There is also a studio version of the song from May 25, 1970. Composer Silverstein himself brought the song out on his album A Boy Named Sue and Other Country Songs , which was released in May 1969, but was unsuccessful.
Text and psychological classification
The text deals with the problem when a boy has to grow up with a maiden name. A man with the first name "Sue" searches place by place for his father, who left him at the age of three. He wants to take revenge on him and kill him because he gave him the terrible first name Sue, for which he had to endure harassment and was teased all his life. Finally he finds his card-playing father in a saloon. They both fight in the mud, and when the father tries to reach for his pistol, the son pulls his. The father smiles and explains why he gave him that name. In a harsh world, the name should harden the son so that he would learn to defend himself, because the father already knew when the son was born that he would not stay with him long. The son then forgives the father and they embrace. The son ends the story with the realization: "If I ever have a son, I'll call him Bill or George or some other damn name - but not Sue!"
"Your name is your fate" (your name is your fate) says the psychologist Andersen. The phenomenon of the boy with the maiden name "Sue" is being investigated as part of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy . After that, a boy with a maiden name has to become robust and tough to survive the hostile behavior of the environment. Each name often contains a cliché ( stereotype ) that triggers certain expectations in other people. Certain social handicaps could give a boost to children who have a socially undesirable name. Like the word “red” written in green, the girl's name Sue makes no sense with boys in a conditioned , gender-binary culture in which every word has a specific meaning.
Reception and cover versions
This was followed by two "answer songs", A Gal Called Sam by Lois Williams (December 1969) and A Girl Called Johnny Cash by Jane Morgan (April 1970). With The Father of a Boy Named Sue (1978), Silverstein wrote a sequel years later, which, however, could not repeat the success of its predecessor.
↑ John W. McDavid / Herbert Harari, Stereotyping of Names and Popularity in Gradeschool Children , in: Child Development, 1966, Vol. 37, pp. 453-459, here p. 458
