Lyrics to
Ballad Of Big

This version of Ballad Of Big was released by Genesis in 1978.

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Big Jim Cooley commanded respect, whatever he wanted he could get.
The badge on his waistcoat shone in the sun.
It ain’t no lie, Big Jim was feared by everyone.

In the saloon one evening Big took a bet
with a rancher whose name I forget.
He wanted a herd taken over the plain,
He called Jim “yellow”, he’ll never do that again.
He got mad!

He threw his badge on the floor and walked out,
He’s gonna give it a try, he left no doubt.

“Must be mad, must be mad!”
The people wished him well, and good luck.
“Hell, I don’t need it!” He laughed, got on his horse and rode away.

Over on the trail, Jim ‘n’ his crew of five
Were trying their best to keep the cattle alive.
The weather was hard, but so were the men,
Though I don’t think even Jim will try this trip again.

His horses were edgy, sensing trouble ahead,
But the trouble didn’t start till the men were in bed
A-whooping and a-hollering and flashing their knives,
Big Jim and his men were jumped by an all-star Indian tribe.

He was scared, Big Jim was scared.
Alive, they called him lucky, but not today.
Cos he died like all good cowboys with his boots on next to his men.

Big Jim, he still won’t lie down,
For him the bet is still on.
Some say he rides there, cursing still.
Some say they’ve seen him.

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Genesis has released many songs over the years besides Ballad Of Big. Genesis released songs from 1969 to 2000 spanning across albums like From Genesis To Revelation, Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, A Trick Of The Tail, Wind And Wuthering, ...And Then There Were Three..., Duke, Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance, Calling All Stations, Genesis Archive 1967-1975, and Genesis Archives #2 1976-92. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Genesis.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Ballad Of Big by Genesis

The lyrics for Ballad Of Big are defined as the words making up the song released by Genesis in 1978. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Ballad Of Big have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Genesis and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Ballad Of Big by Genesis if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Ballad Of Big" means the words set to the music of Ballad Of Big, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Genesis. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Ballad Of Big and the lyrics to Ballad Of Big are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Genesis who came here looking just for the lyrics to Ballad Of Big, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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