Boy Named Sue – Cal Smith – letras

Well my daddy left home when I was threeAnd he didn’t leave much to Ma and meJust an old guitar and an empty bottle of boozeNow I don’t blame him because he run and hidBut the meanest thing that he ever didWas before he left he went and called me SueWell he must have thought it was quite a jokeCause it got lots of laughs from a lot of folksIt seemed I had to fight my whole life throughSome gal would giggle and I’d get redAnd some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his headI tell you folks it ain’t easy for a boy named SueWell I grew up quick and I grew up meanMy fist got hard and my wits got keenAnd roamed from town to town to hide my shameBut I made me vow to the moon and starsThat I’d search the honky tonks and barsAnd I kill that man that gave me this awful nameWell it was Gatlinsburg in mid JulyI just hit town and my throat was drySo I’d thought I’d stop and have myself a brewAt an old saloon on a street of mudThere at a table dealing studSat that dirty mangy dog that named me SueWell I knew that sneak was my own sweet dadFrom a wornout picture that my mother hadAnd I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eyeHe was big and bent and gray and oldI looked at him and my blood ran coldAnd I said my name is Sue how do you do and now you’re gonna dieWell I hit him right between the eyesAnd he went down but to my surpriceHe came up with a knife and cut off a piece of my earWell I busted a chair right across his teethWe crashed through the wall and into the streetKickin’ and a gougin’ in the mud and the blood and beerWell I tell you I’ve fought tougher menBut I can’t really remember whenCause he kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodileWell I heard him laughin’ and I heard him cussin’He went for his gun and I pulled mine firstHe stood there lookin’ at me and I saw him smileHe said son this world is roughAnd if a man’s gonna make it he’s gotta be toughAnd I knew I wouldn’t be there to help you alongSo I gave you that name and I said goodbyeI knew you’d have to get tough or dieAnd it’s that name that helped to make you strongHe said now you have just fought one helluva fightAnd I know you hate me and you got the rightTo kill me now and I wouldn’t blame you if you doBut you oughta thank me before I dieFor the gravel in your guts and the spit in your eyeCause I’m the son of a gun that named you SueWell what could I do what could I doI got all choked up and I threw down my gunI called him a pa and he called me sonAnd I come away with a different point of viewAnd I think about him now and thenEvery time I tried every time I winIf I ever have a son I think I’m gonna call him Clyde or George