Harry Targ
I was thinking about an old Robin Hood song written by Woody
Guthrie in the 1930s about an Oklahoma legend, Pretty Boy Floyd. According to
Woody’s rendition, Pretty Boy Floyd got into a fight with a deputy sheriff and
killed him. Floyd was forced to flee and allegedly took up a life of crime. At
least authorities and journalists blamed Floyd for every robbery or killing
that occurred in the state of Oklahoma. “Every crime in Oklahoma was added
to his name.”
But in true Robin Hood fashion Pretty Boy Floyd stole from the rich and gave to
the poor. Floyd, the outlaw, paid the mortgage for a starving farmer. Another
time when Floyd begged for and received a meal in a rural household, he placed
a thousand-dollar bill under his napkin when he finished dinner.
One Christmas Day Floyd left a carload of groceries for starving
families on relief in Oklahoma City.
And in these days of low wages, mortgage foreclosures, criminal wealth, and
staggering poverty, through the voice of Pretty Boy Floyd, Woody Guthrie tells
the wrenching story of capitalism that today is not too much
different from during his time.
“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.”
