Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” Has a Surprising Link to One of America’s First Publicized Legal Battles

Johnny Cash debuted “A Boy Named Sue” at San Quentin State Prison in California in February 1969. Cash had only just learned the song, written by Shel Silverstein. He even read off a lyric sheet while he performed for the prisoners. But this didn’t translate poorly with the crowd. On the contrary, his audience loved “A Boy Named Sue”. The rest of the world did, too, when he released his live recording on July 2 of that year.

Of all the songs in Cash’s extensive discography, Silverstein’s is one of the more comical. The song follows the story of a boy with a feminine name, Sue. He develops a vendetta against his absent father for giving him a name that caused him such grief. Eventually, he meets his father, who explains that he named him Sue so that he would grow up tough. It’s a funny, feel-good narrative that still has a darker edge.

Interestingly, there is also compelling evidence to suggest that “A Boy Named Sue” has a close connection to one of the first publicized legal battles in United States history, The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, commonly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.

How This Johnny Cash Hit Is Connected to the Scopes Trial

There have been many theories about the origins of Shel Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue”. (There often are when it comes to famous songs). But there is particularly strong evidence that suggests Silverstein wrote the song after meeting Sue K. Hicks, an attorney who lived in Gatlinburg in the 1960s, at a judicial conference in the mountain town. Hicks and Silverstein were in the same city. Sue really was his name. Thus, the attorney told the New York Times, “I’m not positive. But I believe the song originated at the Gatlinburg conference.”

Therein lies Cash’s connection to the Scopes trial, the infamous legal battle that raised the issue of religion v. science, Christian fundamentalists v. Christian modernists, and the role of education as a whole. The trial, at its core, was an attempt to get publicity for the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. The defendant in the case, John Scopes, volunteered to be accused of teaching evolution in schools, which was a criminal offense.

The legal battle, which would be fought on the defendant’s side by the American Civil Liberties Union, was an attempt to bring national awareness to a specific issue, not to incriminate an individual person. It was also unique in that it was among the first publicized lawsuits in American history, setting off a trend that continues today.

Cash wasn’t involved with the Scopes Monkey Trial himself—in fact, he wasn’t even alive yet. The future country star would be born seven years later in 1932. Still, it’s fascinating to see how the tendrils from these two bits of American history—Cash’s major hit and the country’s political and ideological turning point—intertwine behind the scenes.

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