Jesse James (Dialogue) - 2008 Remaster

I'll tell you about Jesse and Frank James
My grandfather was personally acquainted with 'em

My grandfather lived on the southern edge of Baxter County, Arkansas
And they stayed all night with him lots of nights
And my grandfather told me there was a lot of those robberies
That was laid to Jesse and Frank James
And he knew they didn't do it
'Cause they was at his place when it happened
But you couldn't tell the public that

When they get their minds made up that somebody's done something
Why the public's gonna stick to it anyway
My grandfather, he knew them as boys
And they could come to his place and
Go without anybody paying attention
'Cause nobody expected them down in Arkansas, see
'Cause they was from Missouri

Now that's the story that my grandfather told me when I was just a boy
And he said that Frank James at that world's fair
I think it was 1901 in St. Louis
Him and Frank were both there
My grandfather and Frank James were together there
And that Frank James offered to bring Jesse there alive

He said that the man that the Ford
Boys killed wasn't Jesse James at all
But the fellow they killed was just about the size of Jesse
And he was red-headed and he wasn't any relation to the Fords
See, Jesse James was a known cousin to Charles and Bob Ford
That's what my grandfather said

He said Jesse and Frank were not even in that part of the country
When that fellow was killed

And the Ford boys, why they collected a thousand dollars
For killing Jesse James

Now, the song says that the Ford boys killed Jesse
But none of us up here in the mountains believe that
No, sir