Digital Tradition Mirror

Pretty Boy Floyd

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Pretty Boy Floyd
(Woody Guthrie)

Come gather round me children, a story I will tell
Of Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw, Oklahoma knew him well

Was in the town of Shawnee on a Saturday afternoon
His wife beside him in the wagon as into town they rode

A deputy sheriff approached them in a manner rather rude
Using vulgar words of language and his wife she overheard

Well, Pretty Boy grabbed a long chain, and the deputy grabbed a gun
And in the fight that followed, he laid that deputy down

Then he took to the trees and rivers to lead a life of shame
Every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name

Yes he took to the trees and timbers on the Canada   river shore
And the outlaw found a welcome at many a farmer's door

Yes, there's many a starving farmer, the same story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage and saved their little home

Others tell about the stranger who came to beg a meal
And underneath the napkin left a thousand dollar bill

It was in Oklahoma City, it was on a Christmas day
Came a whole carload of groceries and a letter that did say

Well, you say that I'm an outlaw, and you say that I'm a thief
Here's a Christmas dinner for the families on relief

Well, as through the world I've rambled, I've seen lots of funny
men
Some rob you with a sixgun, some with a fountain pen

As through this world you ramble, as through this world you roam
You'll never see an outlaw drive a family from its home

Copyright Fall River Music, Inc.
recorded by Seeger - 3 Saints
SOF

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!