Now pretty boy was born in the Oklahoma hills Where the beautiful flowers grow wild He was christened Charles Arthur by parents so proud Who thanked God for their beautiful child By the side of his cradle his mother would sing Never dreaming the sorrows he'd bring But a mother's heart is broke when a boy grows to man It's been ever true since time first began Now pretty boy was 20 when he married his young wife She was only 16 summers old Then he went to work in a bakery shop out there But he drifted away from the fold Left his young wife in Dixie in 1924 Went to Kansas to try to earn more Then he went to St. Louis got in bad company And wound up in a penitentiary
He served his time went to Ohio k**ed a man and was sentenced again He didn't serve the time the jury gave to him For he jumped from a fast speeding train Kansas City was the next he took it on the run k**ed two brothers with his careless gun He k**ed Mr. Byrd and a man named Wilson And he left Kansas City on the run Ohio again, he k**ed Mr. Ches Stewart Spreading fear all along his crooked path Then he went back home got into another row k**ed the sheriff who stirred up his wrath It was the last trip to Ohio for that wicked fool He was shot dead 8 miles to Liverpool Pretty boy will learn on that great Judgment Day That a life filled with crime does not pay