Billy, the bum lived by the thumb   And sang of the hobo's delight   He'd prove he could run   Twice as fast as the sun   By losing his shadow at night   Now he loved every girl   In this curly headed world   But no one will know it seems   For two twisted legs and a childhood disease   Left Billy just a bum in his dreams      And he was just a gentle boy   A real florescent light   Cried pennies on Sunday morning   Laughs nickels on Saturday night   And your bullets, they can't harm him   Nor your knives tear him apart   Humiliation killed him   God bless his little heart      Now he lived all alone in a run down home   Near the side of the old railroad track   Where the trains used to run   Carryin' freight by the ton   Blow the whistle as Billy'd wave back   But the children around Billy's home town   Seemed to have nothin' better to do   Then run around his house   With their tongues from their mouth   Make fun of that crippled old fool      And he was just a gentle boy   A real florescent light   Cried pennies on Sunday morning   Laughs nickels on Saturday night   And your bullets, they can't harm him   Nor your knives tear him apart   Humiliation killed him   God bless his little heart      Now some folks they wait and some folks they pray   For Jesus to rise up again   But none of these folks in their holy cloaks   Ever took Billy on as a friend   For pity's a crime   And it ain't worth a dime   To a person who's really in need   Just treat 'em the same   As you would your own name   Next time that your heart starts to bleed      And he was just a gentle boy   A real florescent light   Cried pennies on Sunday morning   Laughs nickels on Saturday night   And your bullets, they can't harm him   Nor your knives tear him apart   Humiliation killed him   God bless his little heart