I know it’s probably not traditional, but I didn’t know where to ask else, so be gentle with me.
I’m looking for the sheetmusic/ABC and words of the song “slip jigs and reels” about Billy the Kid. I heard it on a session some weeks ago and liked it quite much. But when I do a Google search for “slip jigs and reels + sheetmusic”, I get lots of sheetmusic for slip jigs and reels, and “slip jigs reels billy the kid sheetmusic” brings up sheetmusic for The Kid On The Mountain…
Barry Gleeson recorded this song on his first CD, called The Path across the Ocean. I believe it is a fairly recent composition, penned by an English singer/songwriter whose name I cannot remember.
I don’t think that it is about Billy the Kid though.
with the information John provided the Digital Tradition throws up this :
SLIP JIG AND REEL
(Steve Tilson)
He was barely a man, in his grandfather’s coat
And sewn in the lining was a ten shilling note
Goodbye to the family, goodbye to the shore
Until I taste a fortune, I will see you no more
Then a boat on the ocean tossed about like a cork
Until one fine morning they sighted New York
And he stood on the gangplank and he breathed in the air
Hello Land of Plenty - I have come for my share
Cho: And he did like the ladies and rise and the fall
Of their ankles and their dresses down in the dancehall
And a-rolling the dice, and a-spinning the wheel
But he took most delight in the slip jigs and reels
Now there’s talk of a pistol and maybe a knife
But all are agreed there was somebody’s wife
Some kind of commotion, a terrible fight
And he left one man dead and ran into the night
Next a train to St. Louis, just one jump ahead
He slept one eye open, with a gun 'neath his head
But he dreamed of the green fields and the mountains of home
While crossing the plains where the buffaloes roam
So they called him the Kid and by twenty one
All he had learned was the power of the gun
And by twenty three he had shot five men down
Who had got in his way as he rambled around
But a bad reputation is a hard thing to bear
For mothers pour scorn and young children do stare
But he found consolation in flash company
And life ain’t so bad with a girl on your knee
There are bones on the desert there are buzzards that fly
In high lazy circles just hoping you’ll die
But in matters of cruelty it must be said
That a landlord will skin your bones long ere you’re dead
It was wild Mesqualeros I have heard people say
In the deadliest ambush near old Santa Fe
A young buck was taken, togged up in a coat
And sewn in the lining was a ten shilling note
Written by Steve Tilson, based on an old photograph.
Recorded by Barry Gleeson.
Also recorded by Steve Tilston on Of Moor and Mesa, Fairport Convention on The Jewel in the Crown, and the Punters on their latest (I’m blanking on the name, something about Sunday).
Tilston is selling a songbook which includes it on his web page. It’s also in the Fairport Convention Songbook 2, though I don’t know if that’s still in print.
BTW, it’s not about Billy the Kid, the details don’t fit at all. I can’t find my copy of Tilston’s album to see exactly what he said in the liner notes, but my memory is that it was inspired by seeing a photograph of a young man who was killed by American Indians shortly after the picture was taken. Tilston made up all the rest.
it’s also on the CD Secret Orders by Claire Mann and Aaron Jones. a lovely song. unfortunately I don’t have the cd with me, or I’d look at the liner notes…
Seriously, the details are all wrong for it to be Billy the Kid. Billy was American-born rather than an immigrant. By 21 he had supposedly killed 21 men, whereas the character in the song has just 5 by age 23. Billy the Kid didn’t even make it to age 23, he was killed by sheriff Patrick Garrett at age 21. Etc.
It looks like the original album (Of Moor and Mesa) is thoroughly out of print, but Tilston has an album called The Greening Wind which appears to be a sort of “best of” collection and includes the original version of the song again. Best of all, he’s got got a low quality MP3 of about half of the song on-line as a sample – it’s more than good enough to learn the basic melody from.
