Billy From The Hills

No one now knows too much about these woods They got lost, they wouldn't know where to go Tribe's been gone a long time, small farmers got blowed out Maybe there ain't even that much left to know You can strip the trees, foul the streams, try to hide in a progressive dream Ease into the comfort that kills Before I do that, I'll grab my pack And disappear with Billy from the hills 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 Women sing in me that song from the ancient fire I just open my mouth and what comes out gives me 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, surrounded by the Ozarks Ain't one little bit of that boy that's slack If you're looking for a helping hand He'll give you one, you know he will If you're looking for trouble, huh-uh, turn around You don't want to 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 I know a guy, he 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 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 Her memory to me is like 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 are fascinated by 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 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