One Final Serenade: Songs of Billy Joel
 Download "The Ballad of Billy The Kid (Live WMMR)"
And he never had a sweetheart
And he never had a home But the cowboy and the rancher knew his name Billy continues the country-and-western theme with the mini-epic "The Ballad of Billy The Kid". It is a brilliant tune on many levels, a sort of Copeland-esque tribute to a fictionalized Billy The Kid. It rocks, it rolls, it clicks and clacks along to horsehoofs, and it even features symphonic strings. The call-and-response between the bold strings and Billy's nifty piano playing is utterly enjoyable. It's big, it's bold, it's brassy. It's American.
Like America the scope of the song is grand and sweeping, but at the same time the song tells the intimate tale of a loner, a man who always rode alone yet won the admiration of many. In the final stanza Billy brings us back to the 20th century and another "Billy" of Oyster Bay, Long Island who carries a six-pack in his hand instead of Colt 45 and who also aspires to be famous. Billy has said he was not referring to himself in the final stanza, but certainly his story fits the theme. Billy himself "soon put many older guns to shame" and established his legend "east and west of the Rio Grande." It is too bad the song came out before music videos became popular. Someone could have made a fantastic music video for this song. As it is, there are several good live versions of the song. |
From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia
Rode a boy with a six-gun in his hand And his daring life of crime Made him a legend in his time East and west of the Rio Grande Well he started with a bank in Colorado In the pocket of his vest, a Colt he hid And his age and his size Took the teller by surprise And the word spread of Billy the Kid Well, he never traveled heavy Yes, he always rode alone And he soon put many older guns to shame And he never had a sweetheart And he never had a home But the cowboy and the rancher knew his name Well, he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma And the law just could not seem to track him down And it served his legend well For the folks, they'd love to tell 'Bout when Billy the Kid came to town Well, one cold day a posse captured Billy And the judge said, "String him up for what he did" And the cowboys and their kin Like the sea came pourin' in To watch the hangin' of Billy the Kid Well, he never traveled heavy Yes, he always rode alone And he soon put many older guns to shame And he never had a sweetheart But he finally found a home Underneath the boothill grave that bears his name From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island Rode a boy with a six-pack in his hand And his daring life of crime Made him a legend in his time East and west of the Rio Grande |
Videos
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"The Ballad of Billy The Kid" (audio only) from the WMMR radio concert that was finally eleased on the Piano Man Legacy Edition in 2008.
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Rare live performance from a 1972 television program.
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