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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.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   L. Larsen 

View text with all available footnotes
Text can be found in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads collected by John A. Lomax, M. A., 1918
8 Larsen: "Billy was a bad man, but"

Text 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: 107

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