A young cowboy named Billy Joe
Grew restless on the farm
A good boy filled with wanderlust
Who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down

And his mother cried as he walked out
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'

He laughed and kissed his mom
And said, 'Your Billy Joe's a man
And I can shoot as quick and straight
As anybody can
But I wouldn't shoot without a cause
I'd gun nobody down'

But she cried again as he rode away
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'

He sang a song as he rode along
His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar
And laid his money down

But his mother's words echoed again
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'

He drank his first strong liquor then
To calm his shakin' hand
He tried to tell himself at last
He had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side
Began to laugh him down

And he heard again his mother's words
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'

And in his rage
Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired
Before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor
The crowd all gathered 'round

And they wondered at his final words
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'

A hundred and twenty years have passed
And nothin's really changed
A young man on the city streets
He has to make his name
He's still too young to know
A gun can't make a boy a man

And his mama cries as he walks out
'Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town'