Dagafsluiters du jour: Avenging Annie/Pretty Boy Floyd

PrettyBoyFloyd01
Pretty Boy Floyd

Andy Pratt’s enige hit en veruit zijn bekendste song. Pratt heeft nog een hele trits goede songs geschreven, maar alles wat hij ooit heeft gemaakt staat in de schaduw van deze absolute klassieker.  Het is niet zozeer de tekst die deze song zo bijzonder maakt, als wel Pratt’s unieke falsetto en het prachtige piano-arrangement.

“Avenging Annie” werd geïnspireerd door Woody Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd”, een ode aan bankrover en outlaw Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, die in 1934 werd doodgeschoten door de politie. In Guthrie’s song is Floyd eerder een tragische figuur – een van de vele slachtoffers van de Great Depression – dan een misdadiger.  Bovendien was Floyd volgens Guthrie maar klein grut vergeleken met de witte boorden criminelen die hij beroofde (Some will rob you with a six-gun/And some with a fountain pen).

We ran through hills and forests
As two under a spell
He was a city boy, Floyd the outlaw
But I thought I knew him well

Long after that great summer
When I first came into my fame
And the avenger from Oklahoma
Was added to my name
The avenger I became

Well, they call me avenging Annie
I’m avenger of womanhood
I spend my whole life telling lies
Lead you on and mess you over good

I take all you spoiled young hippies
Running around, playing games
Mess around in your bed
I’ll blow your head
I’ll put you through a change

What you’ve done to others
I’ll do unto you

And then I met my
Sensitive outlaw
He was the best thing
I had ever seen

I wanna be his wife
Forgiving my life
I was so blind
I could never have seen, no

So I joined up with my outlaw
And headed for California

He treated me worse
Than I ever imagined
He even say
He don’t want me around

Kept it up so long
I couldn’t be strong
He run me right into the ground

After five long years
He picked me up and
Then he slapped me down

When I told my friends about him
They all were on my side
But I could see through the haze
He looked so crazy
I put my head right down
And I cried

For my poor lover
I cried like a mother
For my poor lover

Well, I felt so sad about it
But I knew I couldn’t do him no good
He was so far gone
Standing all alone
I left him, I knew I should
I knew I couldn’t do him no good

And now I live out on a mountain top
And I’m almost thirty-five
And I’ve found my peace
And I’ve found my release
And I’m happy just to be alive

And I might go back to my Floyd
If I think it’s the thing to do
He gave up murder and theft
Right after I left
And you know I still love him too

Just like your woman loves you
Just like your woman loves you
Just like your woman loves you
Just like your woman loves you…

Well, they call me avenging Annie
I’m avenger of womanhood
I spend my whole life telling lies
Lead you on and mess you over, yeah

They call me avenging Annie
I’m avenger of womanhood
I spend my whole life telling lies
Lead you on and mess you over, yeah