Billy from the Hills
Greg Brown

Greg Brown
Slant 6 Mind
1997

For some reason, this song really hits me.  Maybe it's
because I love to hike and spend time outdoors and don't
get to spend nearly as much time there as I would like
to.  Maybe it's because I grew up knowing the woods behind
my house like the back of my hand.  Maybe it's because I
love the idea of being "eighteen years old and surrounded
by the Ozarks."  In the liner notes in Slant 6 Mind, Greg
says that this song is "for my father."  I think we could
all learn a lot from this song.  Greg deals modern society
a well-deserved punch in the face with this tune.  I plan
to ask him to play it at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in
July '99.  See y'all there!


INTRO
|	|	|	|
Em	A	Em	A
Em	A	Em	A


Em                                 A
   No one now knows too much about these woods
Em                                              A
   If they got lost they wouldn't know where to go
Em                                 A
   Tribe's been gone a long time small farmers got blowed out
Em                                 A
   Maybe there ain't even that much left to know

CHORUS
Bm                              A                                F
   You can strip the trees foul the streams try to hide in a progressive dream
              Em
Ease into the comfort that kills
Bm                      A
   Before I do that I'll grab my pack
    F                    Em
And disappear with Billy from the hills

A	Em	A


Blood flows back and back and back and back
Like a river from a secret source
I feel it wild in me I pitched my camp
At the fork where knowledge meets remorse

CHORUS
Women sing in me that song from the ancient fire
I just open my mouth and what comes out gives me the chills
I got my song from a secret place
I got my face from Billy from the hills


A 40-inch barrel on that shotgun
Steel traps in a cane pack on his back
Eighteen years old and surrounded by the Ozarks
Ain't one little bit of that boy that's slack

CHORUS
If you're looking for a helping hand
He'll give you one you know he will
If you're looking for trouble uh-uh turn around
You don't wanna mess with Billy from the hills


Some folks dance cool all angles and swaying hips
Sensual as all get-out and in
Me I'm a hick and I dance like one
I just kind of jump around and grin

CHORUS
I know a guy who doesn't dance too much
But when he does he gives everyone a thrill
You might run away or suck it up and stay when he dances
Billy from the hills
     Em          A
Aw dance Bill

Em	A	Em	A


There's a lantern lit on a Missouri night
A woman writing poems by a stove
She knows the fox's whereabouts by knoll by gulch by yelp
As he runs at night through her mother love

CHORUS
Her memory to me is like a watercress from a spring-fed stream
Fresh and aching as a mockingbird's trill
She lives in me I try to look until I can see
For her and her boy Billy from the hills


It's a drifting time people fascinated with screens
No idea what's on the other side
We stare at doom like an uptight groom
And live our lives like a drunken bride

CHORUS
Tonight I feel something on the wind
Deep inside where we have to die or kill
Something I know I didn't know I knew I learned
From Billy from the hills

Em	A	(repeat until fade)