Back about eighteen hundred and some   A Louisiana couple had a red-headed son   No name suited him, Jim, Jack or Joe   So they just called him Billy Bayou      Billy, Billy Bayou, watch where you go   If you're walkin' 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, kinda big for his size   Red hair, freckles and big blue eyes   Thirteen years from the day he was born   Billy fought the battle of the Little Big Horn      Billy, Billy Bayou, watch where you go   If you're walkin' 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 lick the feathers off of Geronimo"   He started off, the chief got mad   This nearly ended our Louisiana lad      Billy, Billy Bayou, watch where you go   If you're walkin' 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 'cuz he didn't either one      Billy, Billy Bayou, watch where you go   If you're walkin' 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