Modern Day Cowboy was recorded ten years after the violent death of a young man named Billy. Wikipedia acknowledges “citation needed” on the claim that Modern Day Cowboy’s lyrics are in reference to Billy the Kid. I’m not so sure.
I’m a primary source kind of gal. One day, I want to sit down with Idabel’s Jeff Keith, and I have one question. “Who is your Modern Day Cowboy?” I need to fix that Wiki citation.
…
Billy pulls into town
Thunder rolled and the lightnin’ bolts
Come crashin’ to the ground
Cold as ice, hard as stone
As he walks into the room
With another man who was feelin’ the same way
…
It’s a showdown in the no man’s land
For the cowboy (cowboy) of the modern day
…
I see the message written on the wall
Too much anger deep inside …
Songwriter(s) for Modern Day Cowboy are Jeff Keith, Frank Hannon, and Tommy Skeoch of © Round Hill Songs, Round Hill Songs Tesla.
Here’s the kicker. Jeff Keith is from Idabel OK. Lightning Billy was in Idabel OK. Harold Stevenson was from Idabel OK. I think the Modern Day Cowboy is our Billy, here for Billy all the time. Ready for the showdown.
14 million viewers must like the song. I could fly to Prague and hear the song myself. Prague is too far, but maybe Dallas?
Prague will never happen. A wee bit more to my budget, eBay is going to mail me A Modern Day Cowboy for $8.64.
The Billy that said to a Las Vegas reporter after his capture at Stinking Springs, “’I wasn’t the leader of any gang. I was for Billy all the time.”
Artists carry truths in their paints on the canvas and their words into the microphone. Tesla will follow the other Billy to Vegas in April.
Okay, maybe two questions for Mr. Keith, “Did you ever meet Harold Stevenson?”
Who has Jeff’s phone number? Ask him if I can ask him a question – or two — about who was on the wrong side. Meanwhile, 14 million and one are listening to the Modern Day Cowboy. Go see the band. Prague, Dallas, Vegas.
