{"id":18423,"date":"2012-12-27T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T08:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=18423"},"modified":"2012-12-27T00:01:55","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T08:01:55","slug":"the-johnny-cash-song-a-boy-named-sue-was-written-by-shel-silverstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-johnny-cash-song-a-boy-named-sue-was-written-by-shel-silverstein\/","title":{"rendered":"The Johnny Cash Song “A Boy Named Sue” was Written by Shel Silverstein"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shel<\/a>

Shel Silverstein and Johnny Cash performing “A Boy Named Sue” Together<\/p><\/div>\n

Today I found out<\/a> the Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue” was written by Shel Silverstein.<\/p>\n

The song was originally inspired by a friend of Silverstein’s, Jean Shepherd (noted writer, actor, radio personality, and humorist, who, among other things, co-wrote and narrated the holiday classic The Christmas Story<\/em> film, partially based on his childhood).\u00a0 Jean had often been teased and picked on as a child for his somewhat effeminate name and was quoted as saying\u00a0 because of it, “I fist-fought my way through every grade in school.”<\/p>\n

As to why Silverstein picked “Sue”, it is thought that it was after famed attorney Sue Hicks (named after Hicks’ mother who died from complications due to child birth a few days after giving birth to Hicks). Hicks is most famous for his part in the 1925 Scopes Trial (John T. Scopes was a teacher in Tennessee who broke Tennessee State law by teaching evolution in his classroom).<\/p>\n

In any event, at a party in 1969 held at Johnny Cash’s home, some of the guests decided to pass a guitar around and sing some of their songs.\u00a0 Among those in attendance were Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and, of course, Shel Silverstein.\u00a0 Mitchell sang “Both Sides Now” and Dylan sang “Lay Lady Lay” (what a party to be invited to).\u00a0 When it was Silverstein’s turn, he sang “A Boy Named Sue”.<\/p>\n

Cash was enamored with the song and so Silverstein wrote the lyrics down for him.\u00a0 Cash’ wife, June, told him he should record the song in the upcoming show he was doing at the San Quentin prison on February 24, 1969.<\/p>\n

Cash was at first resistant to recording it at the show, as he didn’t think he’d have time to learn it… and, indeed, he didn’t, but recorded it anyway.\u00a0 As Cash said,<\/p>\n

I\u2019d only sung it the first time the night before and I read it off as I sang it. I still didn\u2019t know the words. As a last resort, I pulled those lyrics out and laid them on the music stand, and when it came time that I thought I was brave enough, I did the song.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, if you watch the filmed recording of him performing<\/a> “A Boy Named Sue” during that concert, you can see Cash is reading the lyrics as he sings, almost for the entire song.<\/p>\n

As he really liked “A Boy Named Sue” and the inmates had responded well to it, Cash convinced Columbia Records, after cleaning up the lyrics a bit to be more radio friendly, to release the song as a single.<\/p>\n

Up to this point, Cash had previously seen quite a bit of success, but had never had a record crack the top 10 in the Billboard’s Hot 100 (in fact, Cash still holds the record for most consecutive songs that charted on the Top 100 without cracking the top 10- at 36 songs).\u00a0 “A Boy Named Sue” changed all that, rocketing to #2 on the Hot 100 list and staying there for 3 weeks.\u00a0 It also hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard’s Hot Country Singles.<\/p>\n

Bonus<\/span> Facts:<\/p>\n