"A Boy Named Sue" is a song written by Shel Silverstein and made famous by Johnny Cash.

The live San Quentin version of the song became Cash's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and his only top ten single there, spending three weeks at No.

The track also topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Easy Listening charts that same year and was certified Gold on August 14, 1969, by the RIAA.

[2] The song tells the tale of a young man's quest for revenge on a father who abandoned him at three years of age and whose only contribution to his entire life was giving him a guitar and naming him Sue, commonly a feminine name, which results in the young man suffering from ridicule and harassment by everyone he meets.

was bleeped out in the Johnny Cash version both on the single and the At San Quentin album and the final line was also edited to remove the word "damn".

The core story of the song may have been inspired by humorist Jean Shepherd, a close friend of Silverstein, who was often taunted as a child because of his feminine-sounding name.

Cash also performed this variant at the White House in April 1970; in later years, however, he would restore the original "any name but Sue" ending, but change the wording to "if I ever have another son".

When Cash performed with The Highwaymen in the 1980s and 1990s, he would end the song by saying, "if I ever have another boy, I think I'm gonna name him Waylon, or Willie, or Kris."

According to Shel Silverstein's biographer Mitch Myers, June Carter Cash encouraged her husband to perform the song.

American–French artist Joe Dassin covered the song on his fourth studio album, released in 1970, as "Un Garçon Nommé Suzy"; the lyrics were translated to French by Pierre Delanoë.

[29] Comedian Martin Mull wrote a parody titled A Girl Named Johnny Cash which was recorded in 1970 by Jane Morgan and reached No.

"[citation needed] "A Boy Named Sue" is referenced in the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Save This Lady.

[citation needed] Big John Bates did an uptempo cover of the song for a Johnny Cash compilation record in 2009.