Silverstein's passion for music was clear early on as he studied for a while at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. As a songwriter, Silverstein kept a low profile but cast a long shadow. He tended to shun publicity and even photographers. Nonetheless, his musical output included many songs which were hits for other artists. Most notably, he wrote the music and lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue" that was performed by Johnny Cash (for which he won a Grammy in 1970); "One's on the Way" (which was a hit for Loretta Lynn), and "The Unicorn Song" which, despite having nothing to do with Ireland nor Irish culture, became the signature piece for The Irish Rovers in 1968 and is popular in pubs all over the world to this day. He wrote the lyrics and music for most of the Dr. Hook songs, including "Cover of the Rolling Stone", "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball", "Sylvia's Mother", and the cautionary song about VD, "Don't Give a Dose to the One You Love Most". He also wrote many of the songs performed by Bobby Bare, including "Marie Laveau", "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe", "The Mermaid", "The Winner", and "Tequila Sheila". The song "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan",] recorded in 1979 by Marianne Faithfull and later featured in the films Montenegro and Thelma & Louise, was also by Silverstein.
Father Of A Boy Named Sue
Shel Silverstein Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And, that was OK and everything except, then I started to think about it, and I thought, It is unfair.
I am, I am loking at the whole thing from te poor kid's point of view.
And as I get more older and more fatherly, I began to look at things from old men's point of view.
So, I decided to give the old man equal time. OK, here we go...
Yea, I left home when the kid was three
And it sure felt good to be fancy free
But that kid kept screaming and throwing up
And pissing his pants till I had enough
So just for revenge I went and named him Sue
Yeah!
It was Gatlinburg in mid July
I was gettin drunk but gettin by
Gettin old and going from bad to worse
When through the door with an awful scream
Come the ugliest queen I've ever seen
He says, "My name is Sue, how do you do?"
Then he hits me with his purse
Now this ain't the way he tells the tale
But he scratched my face with his fingernails
And Then he bit my thumb
And kicked me with his high heel shoe
So I hit him in the nose and he started to cry
And he threw some perume in my eye
And it sure ain't easy fightin an old boy named Sue
So I hit him in the head with a cane back chair
And he screamed, "Hey dad, you mussed my hair!"
And he hit me in the navel and knocked out a piece of my lint
He was spittin blood, I was spittin teeth
And we crashed through the wall and out into the street
Kickin and gouging in the mud and the blood and the creame de menthe
Then out of his garter he pulls a gun
I'm about to get shot by my very own son
He's screaing about Sigmnd Freud and looking grim - woo
So I thought fast and I told him some stuff
How I named him Sue just to make him tough
And I guess he bught it cause now I'm living with him
Yeah he cooks and sews and cleans up the place
He cuts my hair and shaves my face
And irons my shirts better than a daughter could do
And on nights that I can't score
Well, I can't tell you any more
But it sure is a joy to have a boy named Sue
Yeah a son is fun but it's joy to have a boy named Sue!
Shel Silverstein’s song “A Boy Named Sue” tells the story of a man who grew up with a difficult name thanks to his father’s decision to give him a feminine name that would make him tough. The song then tells the story of the father, who left his child when he was young and describes how he felt free without the responsibility of a child. The song’s narrative then picks up again at the point when the father and his child reunite in a bar for a physical fight, which ultimately leads to the father explaining that he named his son “Sue” to toughen him up in a harsh world.
Silverstein’s song is a commentary on the complexity of father-son relationships and how fathers’ actions can shape sons in ways that might not be immediately clear to those around them. The song also raises issues of identity, self-worth and coming of age. Silverstein’s storytelling skills are in full force as he weaves together vivid language and characters that help to paint a picture of the complex relationships that can occur between parents and children.
Line by Line Meaning
Yea, I left home when the kid was three And it sure felt good to be fancy free Though I knew it wasn't quite the fatherly thing to do But that kid kept screaming and throwing up And pissing his pants till I had enough So just for revenge I went and named him Sue Yeah!
The father abandoned his child at a young age because he found it too difficult to handle. The child gave him trouble and he named him Sue as an act of revenge.
It was Gatlinburg in mid July I was gettin drunk but gettin by Gettin old and going from bad to worse When through the door with an awful scream Come the ugliest queen I've ever seen He says, "My name is Sue, how do you do?" Then he hits me with his purse
The father encountered his son, Sue, many years later in a drunken state. Sue confronts him and attacks him.
Now this ain't the way he tells the tale But he scratched my face with his fingernails And Then he bit my thumb And kicked me with his high heel shoe So I hit him in the nose and he started to cry And he threw some perume in my eye And it sure ain't easy fightin an old boy named Sue
The son, Sue, fought back against his father by using his nails, biting him and throwing perfume in his eyes. The father hit him in response and the two had a physical altercation.
So I hit him in the head with a cane back chair And he screamed, "Hey dad, you mussed my hair!" And he hit me in the navel and knocked out a piece of my lint He was spittin blood, I was spittin teeth And we crashed through the wall and out into the street Kickin and gouging in the mud and the blood and the creame de menthe
The fight between the father and son escalated to the point where they hit each other with chairs, fists and other objects. They crashed out into the street and continued fighting in the mud and spilled alcohol.
Then out of his garter he pulls a gun I'm about to get shot by my very own son He's screaing about Sigmnd Freud and looking grim - woo So I thought fast and I told him some stuff How I named him Sue just to make him tough And I guess he bught it cause now I'm living with him
Sue pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot his own father. The father tells Sue that he named him Sue to make him tough and they reconcile.
Yeah he cooks and sews and cleans up the place He cuts my hair and shaves my face And irons my shirts better than a daughter could do And on nights that I can't score Well, I can't tell you any more But it sure is a joy to have a boy named Sue Yeah a son is fun but it's joy to have a boy named Sue!
The father now lives with Sue, who takes care of him by cooking, cleaning and doing other household chores. The father suggests that having a son named Sue is more fun than having a regular son.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: SHEL SILVERSTEIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Logan Gould
Honestly I think that this song is quite neat and it shouldn’t be shunned for its dark ending. There is nastiness in the world all around us, and Shel reminds us of this. However, I think it’s fairly clear that the fathers take on how everything went down is clearly the diluted, egocentric rambling of Sue’s reprobate father. The way the father recalls the battle, Sue wasn’t much of a fighter, but he still confirms the two went careening through the wall and into the street; which is confounding to what he had stated previously. Besides, Shel says this is the “Fathers Story”, a man who abandoned his family for a life in the bottle and free from marriage and child. The Father already proved himself cruel enough to abandon fatherhood and give his son a girls name just cause he didn’t like him, so who’s to say Padre, even way back in the day, was all there, mentally? At the end of the original song Shel Silverstein sings, when you hear him shelling of names that Sue would give to his own Son, you can hear Silverstein say, “If I ever see my old man again, I won’t let him talk me outta killin’ him”. Shel Silverstein notoriously disliked happy endings, however, I think that this rendition of the tale is meant to just show how much of a lowlife Sue Sr. really was, and explore his rancid cesspit of a brain.
Roll6
I think that was the idea, that the father was a shit. You don't name a boy Sue to "make them strong", it'll likely only make their life worse and damage them. So it's telling us not to forgive the father too much and not to do something stupid like giving boys names that are gonna have them bullied.
Logan Gould
Also, in this song the Dad sings,
“It was Gatlinburg in mid July
I was gettin drunk but gettin by
Gettin old and going from bad to worse”, so he acknowledges the fact he is a loony. My reason in writing all this, don’t let this ruin the legacy of a Boy named Sue for you, Silverstein wrote some pretty irritating stuff, this chief among the heap, but just because Shel wrote this doesn’t make it necessarily the true ending of the story.
Rossmore
I really love this song, it's irreverent and morally questionable but it's so funny. The delivery by Silverstein really makes it shine. Hats off.
Seventh Mist
Hard to picture this one in "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
Jim Heil
Please tell me how I can unhear this. Asking for a friend.
Louie Johannesen
@Roll6 that might be what you’re taking from the song and that’s a fine interpretation, but I don’t think that’s how the song was intended.
Roll6
@Slapnuts McGurk Cause so many people miss the point
Slapnuts McGurk
@Roll6 sweet lord dude give it a break, I’ve seen you post this exact same thing 4 or 5 times now.
Roll6
It's meant to show that the father is a malicious shit, not to forgive him too much and not to do something stupid like giving boys names that'll get them bullied. You don't name a boy Sue to "make them strong", that's just sentimental bullshit.