"Billy Bayou" is a song written by Roger Miller.

Song background

It's a slightly comic song about a larger-than-life character, having adventures in America in the 1800s.

Chart performance

"Billy Bayou" was released as a 1958 single by

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

, where the recording spent a total of 25 weeks on the country chart and was his fourth release to reach No. 1, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached number 9 peak position on

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

's FIMI National Charts in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. The B-side of "Billy Bayou" titled "I'd Like to Be", which peaked at number eighteen on the country chart.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by other artists, including: *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

Doug Kershaw Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an exten ...

References

{{authority control 1958 singles Jim Reeves songs 1958 songs Songs written by Roger Miller