Billy Boy- Kennon (MS) pre1926 Hudson A
[From Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), pp. 93-194; four versions A-D. Hudson's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
A. BILLY BOY- Written down from memory by Mrs. W. L. Kennon, University, Mississippi, whose mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Walthall Sykes, used to sing it to her. Mrs. Sykes learned it while she was a girl on a plantation near West Point, Mississippi, in Clay County, which borders the Calhoun ballad region on the southeast. Mrs. Sykes states that she has never seen the song in print.
For references see Cox, No. i68. Add Wyman and Brockway, Lonesome Songs, I, 14-17.
1. "O where are you going, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
O where are you going, charming Billy?"
"O I'm going to see my wife,
She's the joy of my life;
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother!"
2. "Can she bake an apple pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she bake an apple pie, charming Billy?"
"She can bake an apple pie
As quick as a cat can wink its eye;
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother!"
3. "How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How old is she, charming Billy?"
"Three times six, three times seven,
Twenty-eight and eleven;
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother!"