The Bandit Bold

Bob Nolan
No copyright date:

Pale moon shines as he upward climbs.
The shining prairie nite is silent white and dry
All is still but the song of a bandit bold
With his hat pulled down he’ll ride
Brave men run from his shiny gun and hide
And fair maids yearn for the bandit bold.
With a carefree tune all nite to the moon
Till the rays of the sun arrive
His heart keeps beat to the mustang feet
Of the fastest horse alive.
Then far away at the break of day he’s gone
No one knows just where he goes at dawn
But nite will bring the return of the bandit bold.

Not actually a song, but a piece of unfinished poetry that may be the precursor of "Song of the Bandit", Bob Nolan's very popular take-off on "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. We have included it as a demonstration of how Bob worked when he was "sitting on a log with his back turned to us", as Roy Rogers remembered.

Hundreds of Bob Nolan's songs were lost in a garage fire, so we are constantly on the lookout for bits and pieces he left with friends. He wrote on whatever paper was handy when the spirit moved him—and left them behind. He also had his friends copy them out for him because he was embarrassed about his poor spelling. This lyric sheet was found in a collection of Bob Nolan compositions and ephemera of Frances Shepp Irvine Longstreet, one of his close friends who also wrote an article about him.

We have no idea if there was a melody or if it was the birth of another poem.