Johnny Cash 1932-2003
美國田納西州 Tennessee, Nashville 這地方的家庭, 時有互訪相聚, 一支結他可唱歌作樂 (如今天的 Karaoke), 歌手和喜愛民歌的人亦不例外。
Shel Silverstein, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash 一眾友好相約在一次家庭聚會, Silverstein 唱起一曲 "A Boy Named Sue", 把 Cash 的妻子 June Carter 吸引起來, 心想此曲最好由丈夫來演譯了。
1969年2月24日 Johnny Cash 要前往 San Quentin 監獄作演唱, June 提醒 Cash 不要忘記帶同 Shel 的歌詞, 這次亦是 Johnny Cash 經常到不同監獄給在囚人士獻唱; 在台上, 他把這新歌詞即看即唱演譯出來, 當中一些不雅字句是他即興之作, 引來在囚各人的回嚮, 獄中各式人等, 即可琅琅上口, 成了他們一眾無法抗拒的壓軸歌曲。後來的錄音再返回原歌詞上, Shel 其一新耳目之作, 有其訣竅的幽默, 那種顛覆性的歌詞, 加上 Johnny Cash 的魅力, 引證兩人的才華。
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue ( Live at San Quentin)
1970年4月17日, Johnny Cash 與妻子 June, 應尼克遜總統 Richard Nixon 邀請, 獻唱白宮 White House, East Room; 當時有在場官員要點唱 "Okie From Muskogee" 和 Guy Drake 的 "Welfare Cadillac", 但全給 Johnny Cash 以未有預備為藉口而推掉, 這首 "A Boy Named Sue" 當然是有備而來吧 !
之後, Silverstein 亦撰寫另一曲 "The Father of the Boy Named Sue", 這次是以父親的角度來演譯, 對前作品作出一些正面的回應; 當然再交由 Johnny Cash 來演譯了。
FATHER OF A BOY NAMED SUE - Johnny Cash
Lyric: Shel Silverstein
" Okay now years ago I wrote a song called A Boy Named Sue and that was okay
And everything except then I started to think about it and I thought
It is unfair I am looking at the whole thing from the poor kid's point of view
And as I get more older and more fatherly
I begin to look at things from an old man's point of view
So I decided to give the old man equal time okay here we go "
Yeah I lef' home when the kid was three and it sure felt good to be fancy free
Tho I knew it wasn't quite the fatherly thing to do
But that kid kept screamin' and throwin' up and pissin' in his pants til I had enough
So just for revenge I went and named him Sue
Yeah it was Gatlinberg in mid July I was gettin' drunk but gettin' by
Gettin' old and goin' from bad to worse
When thru the door with an awful scream comes the ugliest queen I've ever seen
He says my name is Sue how do you do then he hits me with his purse
Now this ain't the way he tells the tale but he scratched my face with his fingernails
And then he bit my thumb and kicked me with his high-heeled shoe
So I hit him in the nose and he started to cry and he threw some perfume in my eye
And it sure ain't easy fightin' with a boy named Sue
So I hit him in the head with a caned-back chair
And he screamed hey dad you mussed my hair
And he hit me in the navel and knocked out a piece of my lint
He was spittin' blood I was spittin' teeth
And we crashed through the wall and out into the street
A kickin and gougin' in the mud and the blood and the creme de menth
Then out of his garter he pulls a gun I'm about to get shot by my very own son
He's screamin' bout Sigmond Freud and lookin' grim uh
So I thought fast and I told him some stuff
How I named him Sue just to make him tough
And I guess he bought it 'cause now I'm livin' with him
Yeah he cooks and sews and cleans up the place he cuts my hair and shaves my face
And irons my shirts better than a daughter could do
And on the nights that I can't score well I can't tell you anymore
Sure is a joy to have a boy named Sue yeah a son is fun
But it's a joy to have a boy named Sue