Step up, buddies, and listen to my song I'll sing it to you right, but you might think it's wrong It's all about a man named Otto Wood I can't tell you all, but I wish I could He walked in the pawn shop, a rainy day And with the clerk, he had a quarrel, they say He pulled out his gun and he struck him a blow And this is the way the story goes The spread the news as fast they could The sheriff served a warrant on Otto Wood The jury said, "Murder in the second degree" And the judge passed the sentence to the penitentiary Otto, why didn't you run? Otto's, done dead and gone Otto Wood, why didn't you run When the sheriff pulled out his Forty Four gun? They put him in the pen, but it done no good 'Cause it wouldn't hold the man they called Otto Wood It wasn't very long 'til he slipped outside Drawed a gun and the guard and says, "Take me for a ride" The second time they caught him was a-way out West In the hold-up game, he got shot through the breast They brought him back, and when he got well They locked him down in a dungeon cell He was a man that they could not run He always carried a Forty Four gun He loved the women and he hated the law And he just wouldn't take nobody's jaw Otto, why didn't you run? Otto's, done dead and gone Otto Wood, why didn't you run When the sheriff pulled out his Forty Four gun? He rambled out West, and he rambled all around He met two sheriffs in a Southern town And the sheriff says, "Otto, step to the way 'Cause I've been expecting you every day" He pulled out his gun, and then he said "If you make a crooked move, you both fall dead Crank up your car and take me out of town" And a few minutes later he was graveyard bound Otto, why didn't you run? Otto's, done dead and gone Otto Wood, why didn't you run When the sheriff pulled out his Forty Four gun?