by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Billy the Kid
Language: English
Billy was a bad man And carried a big gun, He was always after Greasers And kept 'em on the run. He shot one every morning For to make his morning meal. And let a white man sass him, He was shore to feel his steel. He kept folks in hot water, And he stole from many a stage, And when he was full of liquor He was always in a rage. But one day he met a man Who was a whole lot badder and now he's dead and we ain't none the sadder.
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Text can be found in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads collected by John A. Lomax, M. A., 1918
7 Larsen adds:
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text can be found in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads collected by John A. Lomax, M. A., 1918
7 Larsen adds:
He kept things boilin' over, he stayed out in the brush, when he was full of dead eye, other folks'ld better hush.8 Larsen: "Billy was a bad man, but"
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Billy the Kid", first published <<1918 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Libby Larsen (b. 1950), "Billy the Kid", from Three Cowboy Songs, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 95