<Table> <Tr> <Td> "Travelin' Prayer" (1974) </Td> <Td> "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" (1974) </Td> <Td> "The Entertainer" (1975) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "Travelin' Prayer" (1974) </Td> <Td> "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" (1974) </Td> <Td> "The Entertainer" (1975) </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" is a song by American singer - song writer Billy Joel from the album Piano Man . It was also issued as a single in the UK backed with "If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You)." </P> <P> The song is Joel's fictionalized version of the story of Billy the Kid . In an interview from 1975, Joel admitted, "Basically (the song) was an experiment with an impressionist type of lyric . It was historically totally inaccurate as a story ." </P>

Who wrote the ballad of billy the kid