Skip to content
FreeGuitarTabs

Pretty Boy Floyd

Woody Guthrie
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
Come  and gather 'round me, children,  a story  I will tell
 About Pretty  Boy Floyd, the outlaw,  Oklahoma  knew him well.
 It was in the town of Shawnee on a Saturday afternoon,
 His wife beside him in the wagon, as into town they rode.
 There a deputy sheriff approached him in a manner rather rude,
 Using vulgar words of anger, and his wife, she overheard.
 Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain, the deputy grabbed his gun,
 And in the fight that followed he laid that deputy down.
 Then he took to the trees and timber to life a life of shame,
 Every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name.
 Yes, he took to the river bottom along the river shore,
 And pretty Boy found a welcome at every farmer's door.
 The papers said that Pretty Boy had robbed a bank each day,
 While he was setting in some farmhouse, three hundred miles away.
 There's many a starving farmer the same old story told,
 How the outlaw paid their mortgage and saved their little home.
 Others tell you 'bout a stranger that come to beg a meal,
 And underneath his napkin lift a thousand-dollar bill.
 It was in Oklahoma City, it was on a Christmas Dayu,
 There came a whole carload of groceries with a note to say:
 'You say that I'm an outlaw, you say that I'm a thief,
 Here's a Christmas dinner for the families on relief.'
 Yes, as through this world I've rambled I've seen lots of funny men,
 Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen.
 But as through your life you'll travel, wherever you may roam,
 You won't never see no outlaw drive a family from their home.

Source: Songsterr · Rights holder? Request removal.

Readable chord sheet for Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie

[E]Come and gather 'round me, [E7]children, a [A]story I will [E]tell
About Pret[A]ty Boy Floyd, the [E]outlaw, Okla[B7]homa knew him [E]well.

It was in the town of Shawnee on a Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in the wagon, as into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him in a manner rather rude,
Using vulgar words of anger, and his wife, she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain, the deputy grabbed his gun,
And in the fight that followed he laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber to life a life of shame,
Every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name.

Yes, he took to the river bottom along the river shore,
And pretty Boy found a welcome at every farmer's door.

The papers said that Pretty Boy had robbed a bank each day,
While he was setting in some farmhouse, three hundred miles away.

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

Others tell you 'bout a stranger that come to beg a meal,
And underneath his napkin lift a thousand-dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City, it was on a Christmas Dayu,
There came a whole carload of groceries with a note to say:

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

Yes, as through this world I've rambled I've seen lots of funny men,
Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen.

But as through your life you'll travel, wherever you may roam,
You won't never see no outlaw drive a family from their home.

More songs by Woody Guthrie

Browse more →