“A Boy Named Sue (live)” by Johnny Cash

Shel Silverstein wrote "A Boy Named Sue", words and music, but Johnny Cash is the man who made it famous, and he made it famous live. He cut it in concert at California's San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969, for the At San Quentin album, and that live take became the biggest Hot 100 hit of his career and the only time he cracked the top ten there, stuck at No. 2 for three weeks behind the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women".

It went all the way to the top of the country and easy listening charts that year and was certified gold that August. Cash liked to fool with it, too: when he played it at Madison Square Garden that December, he worked in comic variations on the original.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.