Songs

Tennessee Christmas Box
Based on "Tennessee Flat Top Box" written by John R. Cash
(ASCAP Title Code: 500138630)
Holiday lyrics by Van E. Beydler (BMI 006496018)

In a little one horse sleigh in a North Pole border town,
Santa Claus is working hard, and the elves are dancing all around.
And all the girls and boys from tiny towns
Were slipping from their rooms and watching the hands of the clock
Because tonight, they would listen
For the little one horse sleigh that brought the Tennessee Christmas Box.

And they would play. (instrumental)

Well, they couldn't sleep that night and they didn't care much at the time
It wouldn't be too long, and they'd be happy all the time.
And all the girls and boys that morning
Were snapping fingers, tapping toes and playing with their toys.
And hypnotized and fascinated,
By the little one horse sleigh that brought the Tennessee Christmas Box.

And they would play. (instrumental)

In one day he was gone, and no one ever saw him 'round
He vanished like the breeze, Santa headed back to his northern town
And all the girls, and boys
Loved the white-haired man who brought the Tennessee Christmas Box.

And they would play. (instrumental)

A Boy Named Sue Part Two
Based on "A Boy Named Sue" written by Shel Silverstein (BMI Work #: 53070412)
Lyrics for "Sue Two" written by Van Beydler (BMI Work #: 1424794)
(Written as a duet for Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash)

Well, my daddy lived on after the night
I confronted him and we had our big fight
But he soon moved on to join a railroad crew.

I saddled up my horse and left that town
And started looking for a place to settle down
where no one had heard of a boy named Sue.

Well, I still had to fight like I'd always done before
And with no steady job I was always poor
but I went on searching for something I could do.

I roped and branded cows under the Texas moon,
Had a gunfight at a Missouri saloon
And I took one bullet or maybe it was two.

I was a shotgun rider on the Montana plains
And I finally lost count of the men I'd slain
But my reputation as a gunfighter grew.

Seems like I was always fighting crime
But it was a whole lot better than doing time
In the jailhouse with a name like Sue.

Well, I was on a train when this green eyed fellow
Said, "Anyone named Sue has gotta be yellow!"
And I knew then one of us was leaving that car.

I kicked him in the leg but he just stood there
And I thought about his wooden leg as I sailed through the air
And crashed into the mirror behind the bar.

Well, he was getting bigger and his face looked mean
And I thought I'd end up at the bottom of some ravine
And I never expected what would happen next.

The big man crumpled and then he died
After being shot with a bullet in the side
Fired by someone from the opposite sex.

The girl wore clothes like a stagecoach driver
And carried a shotgun right beside her
Then she put the barrel right up under my nose.

I rose to my feet as she cocked the trigger
And she said, "Listen, here's what I figure,
There's something you should know."

"When daddy left home when you were three
you never knew Ma was pregnant with me,
Sue, I'm your long lost sister, Jo!"

She said she never knew she had a brother
Until she read a letter from her real mother
She found after her adopted parents died.

Well, my eyes got wide as I hugged my sister
And I held her tight and then I kissed her
And thanked her for saving my worthless hide.

Now, Jo owned a ranch that had made her rich
And she said I'd be a lousy son of a b----,
if I didn't come back and give her a hand.

So we rode out that night and Jo said, "Sue,
Theres one other thing that you never knew,
Your full name is Susan Elizabeth Rosanne!"