Back about eighteen
hundred and some
a Louisiana couple
had a redheaded son
No name suited him
Jim, Jack or Joe
they just called him
Billy Bayou
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch where you go
you're walking on
quicksand walk slow
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch what you say
a pretty girl'll get you
one of these days
Billy was a boy
kind of big for his size
red hair and freckles
and big blue eyes
Thirteen years from
the day he was born
Bill fought the battle
of the Little Big Horn
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch where you go
you're walking on
quicksand walk slow
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch what you say
a pretty girl'll get you
one of these days
One sad day
Billy cried "Ho! ho!
I can whip the feathers
off a Geronimo"
He smarted off
the chief got mad
this nearly ended
our Louisiana lad
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch where you go
you're walking on
quicksand walk slow
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch what you say
a pretty girl'll get you
one of these days
One day in
eighteen seventy-eight
a pretty girl walked
through Bill's front gate
He didn't know whether
to stand there or run
He wound up married
'cause he did neither one
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch where you go
you're walking on
quicksand walk slow
Billy, Billy Bayou
watch what you say
a pretty girl'll get you
one of these days
A pretty girl'll get you
one of these days