Talk:The Ballad of Billy the Kid

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Rock music Mid‑importance

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The Billy from Oyster Bay was not Joel, but rather a bartender who worked there.[edit]

This statement is wrong. Hicksville, where Joel grew up, is a village in the Town of Oyster Bay. The Village Green mentioned in the song was a bar in Hicksville. I used to hang out there myself. Dlabtot (talk) 04:59, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Song interpretation[edit]

This article makes claims about who this song is about and opens with an original interpretation of the meaning and historical inaccuracies supposedly contained in the song. None of this is referenced. To start, it needs to be sourced that the song is about the outlaw Billy the Kid, which is not supported. Before any historical inaccuracies are synthesized, that must be supported by reliable sources. Then the synthesis, which is essentially original research, must be straightened out. This article should cover the actual genesis of the song and particulars about it, not what some listeners interpret the song to be about. Lots of artists use the names of historical figures in songs, it doesn't make the actual songs themselves about those figures. Wildhartlivie (talk) 16:45, 22 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]