As of the time I'm writing this, there's a recording of "Peg-Leg Bandit" (sic) from Smiley Burnette up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RD9HHj3g-E Burnette also recorded the earlier "Peg Leg Jack," so the two have obviously been confused over the years. The lyrics of "Peg-Leg Bandit" are a bit hard to decipher, but here's my best crack at them: Oh, there once was a bandit from the Van Horn Peak And a mean-eyed rat was he, With one good leg, and the other was a peg, And he lived in a holler tree; He never came out till the dark of the moon And his face, it never showed; You could hear that peg leg [tap-a-tap-tap] As he came down the road. He carved out a notch in the gun that he wore For many a bloody fight; With a whiskered chin and a snaggletoothed grin He started out one night; But little he knew what trouble brewed Till the shooting had begun And a sixgun fanned out (tap-a-tap tap) And started off the fun! [Third verse repeats the first with minor differences:] Oh, the bad old bandit from Van Horn Peak A mean-eyed rat was he, With one good leg, and the other was a peg, And he lived in a holler tree; He never came out till the dark of the moon And his face, it never showed; You could hear that peg leg (tap-a-tap-a-tap) As he came down the road. By the flashing pistols, Peg-Leg guessed He had [out too much bail?]; He knew right then he'd reached his end; He had a Ranger on his trail; Now Peg-Leg [quickly told the rest not would he?] fall in grace; He rapped in vain a (tap-a-tap tap) Outside the pearly gates! Outside (tap-a-tap-tap! "Lemme in!") The pearly ("Open up! Open up!") Gates!
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