woody guthrie
Almost any folk singer/group knows this song, and many have recorded it: Woody Guthrie himself first, in 1945. The song was ready, but not included in the "Dust Bowl Ballads" session April 1940, and was first released more than 10 years after recording. Meanwhile, many heard it and cut it ... like Cisco Houston and Pete Seeger.
The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd was written 5 years after the death of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (1904 – 1934), a notorious bank robber and murderer - claiming him to be a kind of "Robin Hood", following Jesse James' footprints. Maybe these rascals were kind and generous to a few poor people, but they were still hardcore criminals. Okey, Woody ... the song is among the best You wrote, and Your main point of view is shared by * millions up to this very day. But there are no evidence showing Floyd doing anything good to poor people, except for burning some mortgage documents during the robberies, most likely of evil. The song is a fiction.
Hence; the moral may be: don't gather children and tell them fakes. They may grow up, and reveal it.
come gather around me children : a story I will tell
of Pretty Boy Floyd : an outlaw • Oklahoma knew him well
it was in the town of Shawnee • it was Saturday afternoon
his wife beside him in his wagon as into town they rode
there a deputy sheriff approached him in a manner rather rude
using vulgar words of language and his wife she overheard
Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain and the deputy grabbed a gun
and in the fight that followed he laid that deputy down
he took to the trees and timbers and he lived a life of shame
every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name
yes he took to the trees and timbers on that Canadian River shore
and Pretty Boy found a welcome at a many a farmer's door
there's many a starving farmer the same old story told
how this outlaw paid their mortgage and saved their little home
others tell you about a stranger who came to beg a meal
and underneath his napkin left a thousand dollar bill
it was in Oklahoma City • it was on a Christmas Day
there come a whole car load of groceries with a letter that did say:
"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"
now as through this world I ramble I see lots of funny men
some will rob you with a sixgun and some with a fountain pen
but as through your life you travel and as through your life you roam
you will never see an outlaw drive a family from their home
For the following CHORD section, fullscreen/horizontal mobile is recommended.
Chords in brackets may be omitted.
C C7 F C come gather around me children a story I will tell Dm Em G7 C of Pretty Boy Floyd an outlaw Oklahoma knew him well C C7 F C it was in the town of Shawnee it was Saturday afternoon Dm Em G7 C his wife beside him in his wagon as into town they rode
