Dennis & Billy

Dennis and Billy from up by Champlin
Been friends since forever, first day of first grade
Played football together, won some pretty big games
Dennis and Billy from up by Champlin

After graduation, Dennis enlisted
Billy was taken by bitter surprise
Dennis said he didn't have any other answers
Didn't want to be stuck in this town his whole life

The night before he left, they went way out on some wine
Billy asked Dennis if he was scared he's gonna die
And Dennis said everybody dies at some time
Neither of them said a thing for a while

Billy stayed home and took on a trade
Went for the handle, got bit by the blade
There were hospital bills, there was pain, there were pills
The pain went away, but the pills, they just stayed

The way it washed over, it was warm like the sunshine
Billy felt filled up with the bright shining lights
Just for a moment, he wasn't anxious or nervous
And Dennis was somewhere still stuck in the service

Dennis wasn't much for sending off letters
Billy wasn't either, so they weren't much in touch
Dennis came back to see his sick mother
Billy's on the corner like he's waiting on a bus

Later on that evening, in a tavern barely talking
Billy said "Dennis, man, you're lucky you left"
Dennis started saying something, then he reconsidered
He looked down in his beer and he slowly shook his head
And he said "I've been out there fighting
You've been hanging round here dying
It might be ironic, but it's not a good joke
These vics and oxycontins, this whole town is stuck on something
That's pretty much why I hate coming home"

The night before he left, he watched Billy getting high
Dennis asked Billy if he was scared he's gonna die
Billy said everybody dies at some time
Neither of them said a thing for a while
Neither of them said a thing for a while