His name was Billy Towerly,
a Billy Bonney wannabe,
he had heard the tales of "the Kid."
Penny Dreadfuls set the stage,
an' dime novels were the rage,
where myth turned to legend beneath the lid.
Born in eighteen-seventy,
his mother thought him heavenly,
she spoiled him... though the family wasn't rich.
She should have kept him in school
ta' learn about the Golden Rule,
instead his life developed a major glitch.
Billy started to act proud,
an' run with the wrong crowd:
they taught him to make money stealin' horses.
He was just a teen,
barely even weaned,
an' had yet ta' master fillies wearin' corsets.
He may have dreamt of glory
in the Indian Territory,
but unlike Bonney he only found disgrace.
With him there was no mystery,
his first claim ta' fame in history
was shootin' Deputy Frank Dalton in the face.
Dalton laid upon the ground,
his chest had taken a round
from one of Billy's partners -- Dave Smith.
A wounded man did Billy face,
when he shot him in disgrace,
once in the mouth an' once in the head.
Another lawman named James Cole
began ta' tally up a toll,
like taking aim an' shootin' Dave Smith dead.
Cole also shot Lee Dixon an' his wife,
after failed attempts ta' take his life,
an' Towerly fled... showin' his yellow streak.
At seventeen he feared ta' roam,
so he hitched his britches an' ran back home:
when times got tough he ran back to his mother.
Billy hid out near Atoka
in this living hand of poka',
but the law called his bluff an' sent another.
Lawmen Ed Stokley an' Bill Moody
saw Billy as the booty,
an' set their minds ta' take him at all cost.
"Hands up, Billy," they did shout,
but Billy tried ta' shoot it out:
Billy tried a quick draw but he lost.
A bullet to his leg,
popped open like a keg,
another bullet quickly hit his shoulder.
Billy fell an' dropped his gun,
he knew his bid fer' fame was done,
he probably wouldn't even get much older.
To try now would just be silly,
so Stokley approached Billy,
but Billy grabbed his gun an' pulled the trigger.
To the groin an' to the heart,
Stokley thought he'd played it smart,
so two bullets in him now just didn't figure.
Stokley breathed his last,
a heart-wrenching gasp,
an' Moody swore that Billy would die the same.
Yet Billy's mother an' sis
came at Moody really pissed:
their attack made them players in the game.
A woman's work is never done
when her kid has an empty gun:
the hellcats tried ta' buy Billy time.
When the trigger-finger itches,
but his targets don't wear britches,
Moody's reason over-looked the crime.
The lawman cast the bitches off,
he saw Billy scramblin' an' did scoff,
he quickly stepped back out onto the porch.
He saw his partner dead,
an' he again saw red:
his anger was the flame an' he the torch.
Good-bye Billy Towerly,
just another Billy the Kid wannabe.
How goes it now with yer' legacy?
Yer' name is now a joke
to all the common folk,
who only write of yer' stupidity.
The boy who would be Bonney,
then ran back to his mommy --
an' she tried her very best ta' save.
He was lost from the start,
when he took the myth ta' heart,
an' made his way to an early grave.
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