I'll tell you the story of Billy the Kid, And I'll tell of the things that this young outlaw did Say out in the west when the country was young When a gun was your law and your law was your gun
Now the Mexican maidens liked Billy so well How many he had, no expert could tell While singing and drinking he come to his end Shot down by Pat Garrett who once was his friend
Pat Garrett rode up to the window that night And the desert was still and the moonlight was bright And he listened awhile as the Kid told his tale Of shooting the guard at the Las Cruces jail
You sweet Mexican maidens, come give me your hand At the age of sixteen I killed my first man It was out in New Mexico, long long ago When a man's only chance was his old .44
I rode down the border and robbed in Juarez I drank to the maidens, the happiest of days My picture is posted from Texas to Maine And women and riding and robbing's my game
On the same night that young Billy died He said to his friends, "I just ain't satisfied. There's twenty-one men that I've put bullets through And the sheriff of this county's gonna make twenty-two."
Pat Garrett then fired and his thumb-buster cracked And Billy fell dead, he was blowed through the back Pat rode away and the Kid's laying dead And this was the last song of Billy the Kid