Billy Boy- Doyle (Baltimore MD) 1860s
[This broadside was issued by Thomas G. Doyle, no date given. Doyle began printing single sheets of texts of parlor songs and folk songs c. 1850 and continued printing throughout the 1860s. It's a reprint of the Oliver Ditson 1847 version at about the same time (1863) as the Beadle Dime Song Book reprint (with minor changes).
R. Mattteson 2011, 2014]
BILLY BOY- Thos. G. Doyle, Bookseller, Stationer, Song Dealer, &c., No. 297 Gay Street, near Ashland Square, Balt.
Oh, where have you been Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Oh, where have you been charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife;
She's the joy of my life,
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
Did she bid you to come in, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she bid you to come in, charming Billy?
Yes, she bade me to come in,
There's a dimple in her chin,
She's a young thing, &c.
Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she set for you a chair charming Billy?
Yes, she set for me a chair,
She has ringlets in her hair,
She's a young thing, &c.
Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie, charming Billy?
She can make a cherry pie
Quick as a cat can wink her eye;
She's a young thing, &c.
Is she often seen at church, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Is she often seen at church, charming Billy?
Yes, she's often seen at church,
With a bonnet white as birch;
She's a young thing, &c.
How tall is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How tall is she charming Billy?
She's tall as any pine,
And straight as a pumpkin vine,
She's a young thing, &c.
Are her eyes very bright Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Are her eyes very bright, charming Billy?
Yes, her eyes are very bright,
But alas, they're minus sight,
She's a young thing, &c.
How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How old is she charming Billy?
She's three times six, four times seven,
Twenty-eight and eleven,
She's a young thing, &c.