Hey my daddy left home when I was three and he didn't leave much for ma and me Just this here old guitar and a half filled bottle of booze And it wasn't just that he run and hid but the meanest thing that old man did Was before he left he went and named me Sue Yeah he must've thought that it was quite a joke and it got a lot of laughs from lots of folk It seems I had to fight my whole life through Well the girl would giggle and I'd get red and some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head I tell ya life ain't easy for a boy named Sue Yeah I grew up quick and I grew up mean my fist got hard and my wits got keen I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame And I made me a vow to the moon and stars I'd search them honky tonks and bars And I kill the man that gave me that awful name It was Gatlinburg in mid-July I drove up my throat was dry I thought that I'd stop and have me a brew At an old saloon on a street of mud and there at a table dealing stud Sat the dirty heartless dog that named me Sue Yeah I knew that old man was my dad from a worn-out picture my momma'd had I knew the scar on his cheek and his twinkly eye He was kinda bent and gray and old and I looked at him and my blood ran cold I said my name is Sue how do you do now you're gonna die So I hit him hard right between the eyes he went down but to my surprise He come up with a knife and he cut up a piece of my ear So I busted a chair right across his teeth and we crashed through the wall and into the street A kickin' and a gougin' in the mud and the blood and the beer Well I tell ya I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile Then he went for a gun and I heard him curse when he seen that I grabbed mine first He stood there lookin' at me and he said with a cheepy smile He said son this world is rough and if a man's gonna make it he's gotta be tough And I know I wouldn't be there to help ya along So I give ya that name and I said goodbye I knew you'd have to get tough or die And it's that name that helped to make you strong He said you just fought one hell of a fight and I know you hate me you got the right To kill me and I wouldn't blame you if you do But ya ought to thank me before I die for the gravel in ya guts and the steel in ya eye Cause I'm that heartless hound who named you Sue what could I do I got all choked up and I threw down my gun and I called him my pa and he called me son And I come away with a different point of view And I think about him now and then every time I try and every time I win And you know if I ever have a son I think I'll just name him Jim or name him Paul or some like that Anything but Sue I still hate that name