COLE YOUNGER
Sung by: Mr. and Mrs. Berry Sutterfield
Recorded in Big Flat, AR 8/29/58

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I am a noted highwayman;
Cole Younger is my name.
Of many a desperado
That's brought my friends to shame,
By the robbing of the Northfield Bank,
In which I can't deny,
And now I am a poor prisoner;
In the Stillwater jail I lie.

Oh, we will buy fast horses,
As brother Bob did say,
And we will buy fast horses
On which to ride away.
We'll strive o'er our father ruins,
And seek to win the prize,
And I'll fight those anti-guerillas
Until the day we die.

All out toward the borders
The James boys we did meet.
With knives and revolvers
We all set down to play,
And drinking of good liquor, boys,
To pass the time away.

The Union Pacific Railway,
We next on them took prize,
And the boring of their bloody hands
Brought tears into their eyes.
The fireman and engineerman killed;
The conductor escaped alive.
Their bodies now lie sleeping
Beneath the Nebraska burning skies.

We saddled up our horses
And northward we did go
To that good old country
Called Minnesoteto.
We had our eyes on the Northfield Bank
When brother Bob did say,
"Cole, if you undertake that job,
You'll always curse the day."

But then we took our stations,
And to the bank did go.
It was I across the counter
That struck my fatal blow,
Saying, "Hand us over your money, boys,
And make no delay.
We are the noted Younger boys
And spare no time to pray."

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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