What Billy Joe Did Next
Hey man, over here, it’s me
You remember, Billy Joe McGee!
Times are bad, I’m living rough
Just getting enough to eat is tough.
I Don’t suppose that’s a bottle there in your coat,
It’s been so long since I felt that old familiar burn in my throat
Come and sit down here on the ground
And I’ll tell you all about what’s been going down.
It’s been five years now since I left the shack
I turned to the South, and didn’t look back
My daddy was drowning in whisky and rum
So I just waited for the Summer to come
I’d heard a lot about Mexico
It seemed a good place for a young man to go
So I packed a case and I filled a bag
And set out walking, with all that I had.
A Yankee boy’s money doesn’t go too far
When you hide from the sun in those border bars
So when the local rancher rode by and said
He had a job with pay and a bunkhouse bed
and three square meals seven days a week
And to herd his cattle I could use his Jeep.
Well, looking around I was filled with hope
I could use the river-bed man and grow some dope
My plan went well till the foreman found me
Harvesting the crop, when he tied and bound me
He ran me to the border before he let me go
And that was the last I saw of old Mexico
Now here I am in this old barn
Sheltering from the rain and trying to keep warm
I’ve heard them say Billy Joe’s easy beat
But here I am, the whole world at my feet,
Look to the future, Billy
Turn your back on the past
The days are slipping right by you
and the years are going fast.
© Jeffrey James Culling & Giuseppe Valdo Conte
All Instruments and Vocals Joe Conte