shel silverstein wrote johnny cash's song a boy named sue.
shel silverstein wrote johnny cash's song a boy named sue.
who wrote johnny cash's song a boy named sue?
shel silverstein
silverstein studied briefly at chicago college of performing arts at roosevelt university. his musical output included a large catalog of songs; a number of which were hits for other artists, most notably the rock group dr. hook & the medicine show. he wrote tompall glaser's highest-charting solo single, "put another log on the fire", "one's on the way" and "hey loretta" (both hits for loretta lynn, in 1971 and 1973 respectively), and "25 minutes to go", sung by johnny cash, about a man on death row with each line counting down one minute closer. silverstein also wrote one of johnny cash's best known hits, "a boy named sue" as well as "the unicorn", first recorded by silverstein himself in 1962 but better known in its version by the irish rovers. other songs co-written by silverstein include "the taker" written with kris kristofferson and recorded by waylon jennings, and a sequel to "a boy named sue" called "father of a boy named sue", which is less known, but he performed the song on television on "the johnny cash show". he also penned a song entitled "f**k 'em" which is lesser known and contained a reference to "f**k kids."
shel silverstein
in the film "swingers", one of the male characters is named sue. the name is explained by another character by saying, "his dad was a big johnny cash fan."









































"a boy named sue" is referenced in the red hot chili peppers songs "one big mob" and "save this lady."









































in the "dexter's laboratory" episode '"a boy named sue", mandark recalls through his infancy and early childhood when his hippie parents named him susan and how he discovered his manhood by science.









































the stone temple pilots' song "crackerman" references "a boy named sue" in the second verse.
a boy named sue