Billy Boy- Barnes (MI) pre1920 JAF Gardner B
[From: Some Play-Party Games in Michigan by Emelyn E. Gardner; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 33, No. 128 (Apr. - Jun., 1920), pp. 91-133. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
Footnote: For other instances of songs borrowed to furnish a singing accompaniment for a dance or game, see Piper, "Some Play-Party Games of the Middle West" (JAFL 28: 265). As a song, see Shearin, A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs, p. 30.
The informant who contributed version b stated that this song did not originally accompany a game, but that the young people originated one "to go with the song." The players choose sides, each side forming a ring. The two rings stand, one inside the other, the inside ring facing out and taking the part of " Billy Boy " by answering the questions put to him in the song. Each side accompanies its part with appropriate gestures.
Billy Boy. (Version b.) (Ruth Barnes, Waldron.)
1. Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy?
Yes, she can make a cherry pie quick as you can wink an eye,
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
2. Is she often seen in church, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Is she often seen in church, Billy Boy?
Yes, she's often seen in church, with a bonnet white as perch,
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
3. How tall is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How tall is she, Billy Boy?
She is tall as any pine, and straight as a pumpkin-vine,
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
4. How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How old is she, Billy Boy?
She's three times seven, twenty-eight and eleven,
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.