Backyard Buckaroo
All songs copyright Terry Hill BMI
THE BALLAD OF JACK SLADE
( copyright 2011 Terry Hill BMI )
D C
My name it is Jack Slade, boys,I’m soon to meet my fate.
G D
And I fear I’ll not be welcome, boys once I reach Heaven’s Gate.
D G
I was born in Carlyle Illinois,My father built the town.
D G
I fought the war in Mexico,Took Santa Anna down.
C G
I was hired on as a boss man For the Overland Mail and Stage
D
On the flat Nebraska prairie With the shortgrass and the sage.
If a man works hard and does his best If he’s honest and he’s good,
I’ll show him all my due respect Like a gentleman always should.
But any man that cheats me, Or a man who’ll lie and steal,
Will feel the flaming heat of my rage, And know that I’ll not yield.
I married sweet Virginia, And I gave to her my heart.
I promised I would care for her And we would never part.
Our home is on the Madison, A dozen miles from town,
She’ll be a dozen miles from here When they lay my body down.
I came out to Montana, Everyone here knew my name.
I never guessed that I would be Done in by my fame.
I am not a man of temperance, I’m not a temperate man.
I may lose myself to whiskey, But I do the best I can.
They’ll hang me from the scaffold boys, For just a drunken spree.
I only killed one man before, But he damned near killed me.
So I’ll die for a misdemeanor, And I’ll go to my death,
With three and seven and seventy seven Pinned upon my chest.
They took me down to Russell’s place, To the gates of his corral.
They strung a rope, told me to pray, And say my last farewell.
My God, My God, why must I die? Oh, my poor dear wife.
I long to see your face again Before they take my life
D C
My name it is Jack Slade boys, I’m soon to meet my fate.
G D
And I fear I’ll not be welcome boys, Once I reach Heaven’s Gate.
Quien Es (Ballad of Billy the Kid)
(copyright 2011 Terry Hill BMI )
G C
He was born in New York City in Irish poverty
D C G
To a poor hardworking woman with a family of three.
C D G Em
Orphaned at age 14 and charged with another’s crime,
C D C G
Billy was a fugitive and living on borrowed time.
Chorus
G C
“Quien es? Quien es?” Billy cried.
G D
Billy said “Quien es?” and then he died.
G C
Garrett shot him in the heart and then his second shot went wide,
G D C G
Billy said “Quien es?” and then poor Billy died.
Billy found employment that gave him dignity
Guarding cattle on the range for Tunstall and McSween.
The Murphy-Dolan gang rode out one February day,
The gunned down Johnny Tunstall and shot his favorite bay.
Billy and the other boys did not waste any time.
They formed the Regulators to avenge the awful crime.
But the Governor took the other side and with one stroke of his pen,
The Regulators all became the state’s most wanted men.
(Chorus)
Billy was back on the run, a high price on his head.
He said no one could capture him, Pat Garrett took the bet.
Billy stayed a fugitive and several men were killed.
No one knows if Billy killed them, and we likely never will.
Garrett captured Billy at a place called Stinking Springs.
He said, “Billy we will hang you, from a gallows you will swing.”
Billy was held in shackles at the Lincoln County Jail,
They found young Billy guilty and they held him without bail.
Outside in a privy, someone hid a pistol well.
Billy found the pistol and he turned it on Jim Bell.
Billy went to the window with a shotgun he had found,
Billy smiled and said “Hello Bob,” and gunned Olinger down.
(Chorus)
Three months passed with Billy hiding out at Maxwell’s ranch.
Garrett’s plan to capture him left nothing much to chance.
Billy saw a shadow and he called out in the dark.
Garrett fired from ambush and his first shot found its mark.
(Chorus)
Garrett wrote a book that made him rich by telling lies,
And not a single paper told the truth how Billy died.
They said he was a killer, a vicious crazy breed.
I guess it proves that you can’t always trust the things you read.
He died at twenty one years old and no one knew his name.
They knew he was an outlaw, but they loved him just the same.
A defender of the people, a brave and smart young man,
With a smile upon his face and a gun in his right hand.
Last Chorus
“Quien es? Quien es?” Billy cried.
Billy said “Quien es?” and then he died.
One shot from the dark and into legend he did ride.
Billy said “Quien es?” and then poor Billy died.