| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
American Ballads and Folk Songs |
||
|
When Billy the Kid was a very young lad, In old Silver City he went to the badj Way out in the West with a gun in his hand At the age of twelve years he first killed his man.
Fair Mexican maidens play guitars and sing
A song about Billy, their boy bandit king,
How ere his young manhood had reached its sad end
Had a notch on his pistol for twenty-one men.
'Twas on the same night when poor Billy died He said to his friends: "I am not satisfied} There are twenty-one men I have put bullets through And Sheriff Pat Garrett must make twenty-two."
Now this is how Billy the Kid met his fate: The bright moon was shining, the hour was late, Shot down by Pat Garrett, who once was his friend, The young outlaw's life had now come to its end.
There's many a man with a face fine and fair Who starts out in life with a chance to be square, But just like poor Billy he wanders astray And loses his life in the very same way. |
||
|
THE CRYDERVILLE JAIL*
C. E. Scoggins, a well known author of short stories, writes: "Somewhat belatedly, I am sending you herewith the words—as many as I know of them—and the melody for 'The Cryderville Jail.'
*A widely known jail song* with various titles and differing texts. The tune appears constant. Tune and three stanzas from C. E. Scoggins, Sea Horse Hill, Boulder, Colorado. Music revised by Edward N. Waters, Music Division, Library of Congress. Remaining words from several sources in Texas. |
||
|
|
||
|
C138] |
||