Pretty Boy Floyd

Ramblin' Jack Elliot

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 log 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 Canadian 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.