Captive Audience: Johnny Cash’s first-ever performance of ‘A Boy Named Sue’
Johnny Cash had one of those voices that could make virtually anything sound great—as clearly shown by the cover songs that made up the majority of his final album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Although Cash did not always write the songs he sang, he was able to make every track he ever recorded his own, becoming a defining voice of the country genre in the process. From his very early successes during the 1950s, audiences would flock to see Cash in the flesh, whereas others simply weren’t given the choice.
Of all his arrangements across his incredibly long and illustrious career, Cash’s 1969 performance for inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California stands out among his most iconic concerts. Although Cash had never been behind bars himself, the idea of imprisonment and lawlessness regularly came up within his songwriting, as it does throughout the entire genre of country music in general.
The live album Johnny Cash At San Quentin, which resulted from this performance, is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated live recordings of all time, and rightfully so. A particular gem within the setlist came with the Shel Silverstein-penned song ‘A Boy Named Sue’. This track would go on to become one of Cash’s most popular offerings, but the performance captured on At San Quentin was the first time the ‘man in black’ had ever performed the song.
Reportedly, Silverstein had approached Cash with the song at his Nashville home shortly before heading off to San Quentin for the infamous performance. It was Cash’s wife, June Carter, who took the track to heart, suggesting to the country star that he play the song at his next concert. That performance just so happened to be at San Quentin, which occurred so soon after the song was first introduced to Cash that he had to read the lyrics off a sheet of paper on stage as he hadn’t had time to learn it.
Silverstein’s nephew, Mitch Myers, later recalled to Songfacts, “It wasn’t touched up, it wasn’t produced or simulated. They just did it, and it stuck. And it rang.”
Myers also added, “I would say that it would qualify in the realm of novelty, a novelty song. Shel had a knack for the humorous and the kind of subversive lyrics. But they also were so catchy that people could not resist them.”
On paper ‘A Boy Named Sue’ certainly does meet the requirements of a novelty song. Somehow, though, when Cash sings it, the song commands much more importance and respect, while retaining the inherent humour of the lyricism. The audience sounds and responses made by inmates at San Quentin helped to create a much more organic atmosphere to the song, which negated the often heavy performance style of Cash.
The captive audience coupled with the fact that the singer did not have a chance to familiarise himself with the song too closely, the performance of ‘A Boy Named Sue’ at San Quentin is unlike anything else throughout Cash’s discography. Although the crowd did not have a choice whether to be there or not, the years that followed saw thousands of people yearning to have been locked up in San Quentin prison that fateful day in 1969.
