“Otto Wood the Bandit”

Description

Otto Wood has a quarrel with and kills a pawnshop clerk. Sheriff arrests him; he's imprisoned. He breaks out but is recaptured (and shot). In another break, he's shot dead. Chorus: "Otto Wood why didn't you run/When the sheriff pulled out that 44 gun?"

Long description

Otto Wood has a quarrel with a pawnshop clerk and pistol-whips (shoots?) him to death. Sheriff arrests him; he's sentenced to the penitentiary. He breaks out but is recaptured (and shot in the process). In another break, he's shot dead. "He loved the women and he hated the law/Just wouldn't take nobody's jaw." Chorus: "Otto Wood why didn't you run/When the sheriff pulled out that 44 gun?"

Notes

Otto Wood was a local boy in the same area of North Carolina as Charlie Poole's band; the song tells his story pretty accurately.

Pity there isn't a keyword "ineptitude." - PJS

Recordings

  • [Walter "Kid" Smith & the] Carolina Buddies, "Otto Wood the Bandit" (Columbia 15652-D, 1931; on RoughWays2)
  • Slim Smith [pseud. for Bernard Smith], "Otto Wood the Bandit" (Victor 23526, 1931)

References

  1. DT, OTTOWOOD*
  2. Roud #11543
  3. BI, DTottowo

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1931 (recording, Slim Smith)
Found in: US(SE)