SONGS OF FISHING, SHEEP AND GUNS IN MONTANA
© Greg Keeler 1987

The Ballad of Billy Montana

He was born near Big Timber where the Yellowstone runs deep.
His daddy was a drifter. His mother was a sheep.
The doctors said the people there would never understand,
But his daddy said he'd pass him off as a North Dakota man.

And the wind comes up, and the grass lies down,
And the wind don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the grass lies down, di di di di di di.

On October first of '68 a truck rolled into town.
If Billy'd knowed the driver, he'd of never thumbed it down,
But as it was he fell in with a rhinestone studded man--
Became the inadvertent member of a country western band.

And the clouds drift up, and the rain falls down,
And the clouds don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the rain falls down, di di di di di di.

One day near Missoula as he went into his act,
A pretty girl named Millicent with her hair tied up in back
Proposed that he should drive her home that night after the show,
And Billy bein' innocent just couldn't wait to go.

And the trees grow up, and the roots grow down,
And the trees don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the roots go down, di di di di di di.

She took him to her trailer, and she opened up a book
Wrote by a guy named Karl Marx and flashed a knowing look.
She said she understood his plight. Just how he didn't ask,
But later on he found out that her daddy was a Basque.

And the hills roll up, and the plains roll down,
And the hills don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the plains roll down, di di di di di di.


Early that next morning he got up and quit his job.
He hit his boss and called him a fat capitalist slob;
Then he took off with that filly who taught anthropology
And joined her in a seminar at the university.

And the geese fly south, and the snow flies down,
And the geese don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the snow flies down, di di di di di di.

But as luck would have it Millicent turned out to be bad news.
She didn't trust the Catholics and she didn't trust the Jews.
She didn't trust Ralph Nader, and as if that weren't enough,
Some fellows in black suits came up and dragged her off in cuffs,

And the smoke drifts up, and the fire burns down,
And the smoke don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the fire burns down, di di di di di di.

He tried loggin' up near Kalispell and ranchin' down near Butte.
He tried buildin' condominiums in the southern Bitter Root,
But the land he worked was never his, and the friends he made are gone.
Now he sells real estate in Helena and evenings mows his lawn.

And the sun comes up, and the sun goes down,
And the sun don't care if they put Billy in the ground,
And the sun goes down, di di di di di di.
And the sun goes down.