Bill Billings
Written byJohn Close

Written as a light-hearted tribute to Bill Billings, poet, sculptor and professional Cockney. I met Bill while he was working through a freezing winter in the late 70s, doing the Peartree Bridge dinosaur, a full-size replica. He and I still bump into each other now and again around Milton Keynes, he's as crazy as ever and we share a giggle or two.
Way down yonder in Milton Keynes
In the city of your dreams
the rents are high, the jobs are nil
we haven't got a hospital so don't fall ill
but what we have got is a poet
and I want the world to know it
- move over, John Betjeman,
give Bill Billings a chance

Chorus:
Let's hear it for Bill, Bill, Bill
Let's hear it for Bill, Bill, Bill
He's the best thing here and he wasn't in the city plans
Let's hear it for Bill, Bill, Bill
Let's hear it for Bill, Bill, Bill
- move over, John Betjeman,
give Bill Billings a chance

Now Bill is our poet laurearate
And he's the only thing the city's had yet
that hasn't fallen down or warped or cracked
or proven too costly or been given the sack
But there's only one reason he hasn't been fired
that's because he hasn't been hired
- move over, John Betjeman,
give Bill Billings a chance

So here is my prop-osition
You and me gonna make a petition
Send it to the Queen and soon enough
I know that she'll be digging his stuff
Then when he gets his MBE
even the Corporation might agree
- move over, John Betjeman,
give Bill Billings a chance

return