Me and Billy the Kid Never Got Along

Album: Lord of the Highway (1987)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Joe Ely has a strong penchant for character-driven songs that tell an emotional story. "Me and Billy the Kid Never Got Along" is a hallmark example of that, building a narrative entirely imagined on Ely's part around a well-known figure. He explained to Songfacts that he came up with the idea for the song while visiting a Fort Sumner museum and realizing there were no exhibits on Billy the Kid, who'd always fascinated him. "All the accounts that I'd read of him, you really couldn't tell which account was on the level and which wasn't," Ely explained. "So I decided to make up my own story."
  • Further elaborating on the song, and his songwriting in general, Ely added that he "likes to take things that happened to me and things that I have witnessed and create characters and put the characters in a scene, and then I follow them around and just try to see what they would do."
  • "Lord of the Highway" is also a moniker occasionally used to refer to Ely himself. The album saw him recording with a revamped lineup.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The Girl in That Song

The Girl in That SongFact or Fiction

Billie Jean, Delilah, Sara, Laura and Sharona - do you know who the girls in the songs really are?

00s Music Quiz 1

00s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

Do you know the girl singer on Eminem's "Stan"? If so, this quiz is for you.

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")Songwriter Interviews

A top country songwriter, Barry talks about writing hits for Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."