 Weir would soon switch to using Barlow rather than Hunter for the bulk of his songwriting.The song concerns a man who had recently ridden to Mexicali, Mexico from Bakersfield, California.There over a bottle of booze, he thinks back upon his meeting a girl named "Billie Jean" and falling under her spell; she later appeals to the narrator to shoot a stranger when she tells him that unless he uses his gun to prevent it, the stranger will take her away.