This song seems not to be about the real John Dillinger, but about a kid who fantasizes about being John Dillinger. It's a powerful song, though.

Lyrics copied from The Hillbilly Winos' website. You can also hear a sound sample on this page.

JOHN DILLINGER

I grew up near the cornfields that grew along the tracks
That followed muddy waters that flooded river shacks.
My mother was a junkie and she followed her own tracks
Up and down her forearms with a monkey on her back.
Well, I hated for my life and I prayed for something more.
I wandered to that river and I dreamed along her shore.

CHORUS: I wished I were John Dillinger. In an outlaw voice I'd cry:
"Superman, come kiss my ass, 'cause real men just don't fly!"
There are no easy answers and winners aren't nice guys.
Outlaws outlive heroes in the average man's eyes.

Sometimes I feel possessed by these ghosts out of the past,
Consumed by some old fire with an anger fierce and fast.
William Bonney had it, and Clyde and Bonnie too:
A feeling that this world ain't right but for a chosen few.
I wanna shoot out every window; I wanna tear down every wall,
And hold this world for ransom and die an outlaw. CHORUS

Each day I find a reason to stay this side of sane.
To keep from feeling hollow, I swallow down the pain.
These fires are always burning, and these ghosts out of the past
Cast a mighty shadow, and their memories always last.
When I hear a whistle blowing down along the tracks,
I think about that river and those days come flooding back. CHORUS

[Recorded by The Hillbilly Winos on "Live from the Living Room."]