Song · Billy Joel
“The Ballad Of Billy The Kid” by Billy Joel
From the album Piano Man (1973)
“The Ballad Of Billy The Kid” by Billy Joel appears on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1996 and 2026. It was first released in 1973 on the album Piano Man. Its best result is #239 on the WNEW Firecracker 500 (1996). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #995 classic rock song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (billyjoelVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Billy Joel's "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" rides in on Piano Man, his 1973 album, and it's a Wild West tall tale that leaves the history books at the door. Joel admitted in 1975 that it was an experiment in impressionistic lyric writing and hopeless as an account of the facts: his outlaw hails from Wheeling, West Virginia, robs his way across the West and dies on the gallows before a crowd, when the real Billy the Kid was shot dead by Pat Garrett. In the last verse the song swerves home to a different Billy altogether, one from Oyster Bay, Long Island.
Jimmie Haskell arranged it and Michael Stewart produced, with Joel on piano and harmonica and Ron Tutt on drums. In the UK it went out as a single, backed with "If I Only Had the Words (To Tell You)".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 239 | WNEW-FM | WNEW Firecracker 500 (1996) | 500 |
| 1997 | 247 | 102.3 WBAB | WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) | 1023 |
| 2021 | 318 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 353 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) | 1043 |
| 2023 | 402 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) | 1043 |
| 2023 | 419 | WMGK | WMGK Philly 500 (2023) | 500 |
| 2024 | 249 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) | 1043 |
| 2024 | 432 | WMGK | WMGK Philly 500 (2024) | 500 |
| 2025 | 341 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) | 1043 |
| 2026 | 253 | KSHE 95 | KSHE 95 U-Man 500 (2026) | 499 |
| 2026 | 281 | WMGK | WMGK Philly 500 (2026) | 500 |
Also listed as: Ballad of Billy the Kid; Ballad Of Billy The Kid; The Ballad of Billy the Kid.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" by Billy Joel.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.