His Mama and his daddy were very poor,
And they never went to school.
Billy followed in their footsteps,
Like a lot of children do.
He had to get a job to help pay the bills,
So His younger brother Ben
Might go to school
And learn to read and write
And maybe he could teach all of them..

But Billy can't read,
No Billy can't read.
But he gives 200% for the minimum wage that he receives.
Sometimes he pretends like he can as he looks
And he laughs at the pictures in the funny books
But it really ain't funny you see
That Billy can't read.

Then the boss man came around to
Talk to Billy one day.
He said, now Billy you're the hardest worker I've Got
and you surely deserve more pay
But the boss at the top says
I've got to give every foreman a written test
Billy hung his head cause he knew right then he'd always have to settle for less

But Billy can't read,
No Billy can't read.
But he gives 200% for the minimum wage that he receives.
Sometimes he pretends like he can as he looks
And he laughs at the pictures in the funny books
But it really ain't funny you see
That Billy can't read.

Little Ben never took for granted
All his brother Billy's sacrifice.
Every night while the family slept
They would sit up late by that old lamp light
Sounding out the A's and the E's and the I's, O's and U's
Now he's reading everything from the cereal box
To the Bible three times through.

Cause Billy can read, yeah Billy can read.
Now the rest of this life will be different
Because of the special gift he received.
Now he don't have to act like he's laughing as he looks
at the silly pictures in the funny books
they're as funny as they can be
now that Billy can read

Yeah his life is much better you see,
Now that Billy can read.