Some will rob you with a six gun...

This is the Woody Guthrie quote used at the top of "Tall Tales."I was researching this today because we weren't sure if it was from a song or not. It is indeed from a song called "Pretty Boy Floyd" about a robber in rural Oklahoma.

If you'll gather 'round me, children
A story I will tell'
'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee
A 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
Vulgar words of anger
An' his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.

Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City
It was on a Christmas Day
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:

Well, 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 wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel
Yes, as through your life you roam
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.