A BOY NAMED SUE
“A Boy Named Sue” is a song written by Shel Silverstein that was made popular by Johnny Cash. Cash was at the height of his popularity when he recorded the song live at California’s San Quentin State Prison at a concert on February 24, 1969. The concert was filmed by Granada Television for later television broadcast; Carl Perkins played guitar on the performance. The audio of the concert was later released on Cash’s At San Quentin album. Cash also performed the song (with comical variations on the original performance) in December 1969 at Madison Square Garden. 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. 2 in 1969. (More from Wikipedia)
Shel Silverstein had a long series of novelty hits as well, but mostly as a songwriter, not a performer (he was also a fine cartoonist). He wrote most of the music for the rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, including their hits “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”, “Sylvia’s Mother”, and “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball”; he is also the author of a famous novelty hit by Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”, and “I Got Stoned and I Missed It” for Jim Stafford.
(March 2013)
