COLE YOUNGER
Sung by: Oscar Gilbert
Recorded in Timbo, AR 10/13/59

Click here to listen to the original recording

I am a noted highwayman;
Cole Younger is my name.
All deeds of desperadoes
Have led to many of a shame.
While robbing of the Northfield bank--
It’s a deed I’ll never deny--
It’s a deed that I’ll be sorry of
Until the day I die.

We buy the fastest horses,
And northward we did go.
That Godforsaken little town
Called Minnesot-e-o.
Cole had his eye on the Northfield bank,
And his brother Bob did say.
Says, “Cole, if you undertake the job,
You’ll surely curse the day.”

We stationed out our pickets.
We rode up to the town,
And on that counter, we struck our fatal blow.
Says, “Hand us over your money, boys,”
Cole’s brother Bob did say,
“We are the noted Younger boys,
We spare no time to pray.”

We then got on our horses,
And started out of town.
The officers, they pursued us,
And Jim was shot down,
While two of the brave companions
Made it home alive,
While three of the brave companions
Lays between the Minnesota skies.

(Mr. Gilbert: “Yeah, I missed a verse.”)

Also found in Randolph, Vol. II, #131.

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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