Music
The Father of a Boy Named Sue
With the unfortunate passing of Johnny Cash, I’ve been listening to a lot of his music lately. Invariably, iTunes eventually serves up “A Boy Named Sue”, one of my all-time favorite Cash tunes. I remember that I read in one of the obituaries that Shel Silverstein acually wrote that song.
While it is difficult to imagine the author of Where the Sidewalk Ends writing anything for “adults”, apparently Silverstein made most of his money from songwriting.
In doing a little surfing to get more on the story, I found Banned Width, a site dedicated to Silverstein’s “adult” works, which as far as I can tell has nothing to with that kind of entertainment.
The real gem is “A Father of a Boy Named Sue”, which is the same story, but told from the point of view of the father. I only wish Johnny Cash would’ve recorded it, though I can imagine that the last verse didn’t suit him.
Oh, and in case you were wondering what Johnny Cash was saying in the “bleeped out” part, as always The Straight Dope supplies the answer.
