Billy Boy- Version 3
Brown Collection 

Billy Boy

Traditional Tune and Lyrics.  

ARTIST: From Brown Collection of NC Folklore;

Recording: Listen: Bessie & Freddie Hunter 1939 Collected Alan Lomax

RECORDING INFO: Carthy, Martin. Sweet Wivelsfield, Rounder 3020, LP (1974), cut# 2; Donovan Family. Traveling People of Ireland, Lyrichord LLST 7178, LP (1967), cut#A.08; Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society. Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society, Fiddlin' Whale, LP (197?), cut#B.03; Ives, Burl. Ballads, United Artists UAL 3060, LP (1959), cut#A.03 (Willie Boy); Kincaid, Bradley. Bradley Kincaid, Volume 1, Old Homestead OHCS-314, LP (1984), cut#A.02; Langstaff, John. John Langstaff Sings American and English Folk Songs and Ballads, Tradition TLP 1009, LP (196?), cut#B.02; McCurdy, Ed. Best of Ed McCurdy, Tradition TLP 1051, LP, cut# 7; McCurdy, Ed. Children's Songs, Tradition TLP 1027, LP (1958), cut#A.01; Ritchie, Jean; and Oscar Brand. Shivaree!, Esoteric ES-538, LP (1955), cut# 15 (My Boy Billy); Ritchie, Jean; and Oscar Brand. Courting and Riddle Songs, Washington WLP 706, LP (196?), cut#B.08; Tenenbaum, Molly. And the Hillsides Are All Covered with Cakes, Cat Hair, Cas (1994), cut# 8; Almanac Singers and Josh White. That's Why We're Marching. World War II and the American Folk..., Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40021, CD (1996), cut# 4;

OTHER NAMES: “My Boy Willie;” “Billie Boy,”

RELATED TO: "Walk Jaw Bone," "Green Mountain," "Cake's All Dough," "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe," "Uncle Joe," "Hop Light/High Ladies," "Miss McLeod's Reel."

SOURCES: From American Ballads and Folk Songs, pp. 320-322, "Billy Boy". American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.320; Allen, Ella Kate. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 38; American Ballads and Songs, Scribners, Sof (1972/1922), p231; Bronson (12); Randolph 104, "Billy Boy;" Eddy 38, "Billy Boy;" Wyman-Brockway I, p. 14, "Billie Boy"; Sharp-100E 58, "My Boy Willie"; Lomax-ABFS, pp. 320-322, "Billy Boy"; LPound-ABS, 113, pp. 231-232, "Billy Boy"; JHCox 168, "Billy Boy"; Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 267, "Billy Boy"

Traditional Ballad Notes: Billy Boy
DESCRIPTION: Asked where he has been, Billy says he has been courting, and has found a girl, "but she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother." In response to other questions, he describes her many virtues, always returning to his refrain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: courting age youth
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Britain(England(North,South)) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Bronson (12), 29 versions (though Bronson omits a higher fraction than usual of the versions known to him)
Belden, pp. 499-501, "Billy Boy" (2 texts)
Randolph 104, "Billy Boy" (1 text plus a fragment and 5 excerpts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 131-133, "Billy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 104A)
BrownIII 121, "Billy Boy" (2 texts plus an excerpt; the headnotes mention 47 texts in the Brown collection)
Hudson 133, pp. 278-280, "Billy Boy" (4 texts, condensed, plus mention of "at least" 8 more)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 296-298, "Billy Boy" (4 texts, mostly short; 1 tune on p.435) {Bronson's #27}
Eddy 38, "Billy Boy" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 246-248, "Billy Boy" (2 texts plus 2 fragments, 1 tune) {Bronson's #20}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 162-163, "Billy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronon's #29}
Linscott, pp. 166-167, "Billy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #19}
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 14, "Billie Boy" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #26}
Fuson, p. 105, "Billy Boy" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 45-46, "Billy Boy" (1 text)
SharpAp 89, "My Boy Billy" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {B=Bronson's #22, C=#8}
Sharp-100E 58, "My Boy Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 320-322, "Billy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #28}
Hugill, pp. 450-452, "Billy Boy" (3 texts, 2 tunes) [AbrEd, pp. 336-338]
LPound-ABS, 113, pp. 231-232, "Billy Boy" (1 text)
JHCox 168, "Billy Boy" (4 texts)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 267, "Billy Boy" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 45, "Where have you been all the day, My boy Billy?" (2 texts)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 477, "Billy Boy" (source notes only)
DT (12), BILLYBOY BLLYBOY2* BLLYBOY3*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #40, "My Boy Tammy" (1 text)
Roud #326
RECORDINGS:
Ray Covert, "Billy Boy" (Herwin 75564, c. 1927)
Frank Crumit, "Billy Boy" (Victor 19945, 1926)
Donnie Stewart & Terry Perkins, "Billy Boy" (on JThomas01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1057), "The Lammy" ("Whar hae ye been a' day, my boy Tammy"), D. Bass (Newcastle), 1800-1810; also 2806 c.14(107), "The Lammie"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lord Randal" [Child 12]
NOTES: A number of scholars have linked this simple little song with the classic ballad "Lord Randall." Since they only have two things in common, however (the courting theme and certain metrical traits), in the Ballad Index at least we keep them separate.
De la Mare attributes the "My Boy Tammy" text to Hector MacNeill (1746-1818), a prolific author now almost forgotten. (Granger's Index to Poetry, for instance, cites only one of his poems: This one.) Given the dates of other versions, it seems unlikely that MacNeill originated "Billy Boy," but he may well have created a popular recension. - RBW
The Bodleian "Lammy"/"Lammie" texts match the first verse of Opie-Oxford2 45 second text.
The "Lammy"/"Lammie" texts are well enough known to have parodies. See, for example: NLScotland, L.C.1270(002), "Parody on the Lammy" ("O whar hae ye been a' day, creeshie souter Johnnie"), unknown, c.1845, an anti-alcohol song; Bodleian, Harding B 27(44), "Bottom's Song" ("Whar ha'e ye been a' day"), McNeil and Co. (Edinburgh?), no date, a song on 19th century politics. - BS

NOTES: Teh recording is a field recording made by Alan Lomax in 1939 during his Southern Recording Expedition. It's similar to the versions found in Brown below.

Considered by some to be a version of Lord Randal, Child #12. Billy Boy has been a favorite square dance tune and fiddle tune.

Billy Boy-Brown Collection

Billy Boy- This old English nursery song is very widely known. See BSM 400, and add to the references there given Rinibault's Nursery rhymes, 2-3, and for this entry Virginia ( h"S\' i<).V.), Indiana (Wolford 24. a play-party song) , Arkansas (OFS i 392-3), and Missouri (OFS 1 391-2, ^^'j^^). There are forty-seven texts of it in our collection, covering all parts of the state from Nag's Head on the Banks to the western mountains. The questions asked vary, though some of them, especially "Can she make a cherry pie?" are fairly persistent.

Instead of giving- all the texts it will be sufficient
to print a few of the fuller versions; but a listing here of the (questions asked will give an idea of the range of interest involved. In all of the texts taken together twenty questions are asked. They all begin with "Where have you been?" Five of them concern the person of the "wife": How old is she? How tall is she? Are her eyes very bright? Is she worth anything? What is her name? A larger number deal with her housewifely qualities: Can she sweep up the floor? Can she make a feather bed? Can she make a loaf of bread? Can she make a clierry pie? Can she knit, can she sew? Can she make a cup of tea? Can she make a pudding well? Can she make a man a shirt? Others look to the wedding: Do you think she loves you well? Will her mother give her up? Is she fitten for a wife? Have you set the wedding day?

Still others constitute a sort of reverse of 'The Old Man's Courtship': Did she
ask you in? Did she ask off your hat? Did she give you a seat (set for you a chair) ? Did she bid you to come back? And one text (contributed by Mrs. Vaught from Alexander county) has a question reflecting an interest in her respectability: Does she often
go to church ? To which the answer is : Yes, she goes to church and wears a bonnet white as perch. The answers to the questions vary slightly from text to text but not significantly. To the question about her age the answer is always a nonsense rigmarole — perhaps implying that it is none of the questioner's business.

Here are three of the fuller versions. Most of the texts have only four or five stanzas.

A. 'Charming Billy.' Contributed by Miss Amy Henderson of Worry, Burke
county, in 1914.

1. 'Where have you been. Billy boy, Billy boy,
Where have you been, charming Billy?'

"I've been seeking me a wife, she's the comfort of my life;
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

2 'Did she ask you to come in, Billy boy, Billy boy.
Did she ask you to come in, charming Billy ?'

'Yes, she asked me to come in ; she's a dimple in her chin.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

3 'Did she bid you have a chair, liilly boy, Billy boy.
Did she bid yoti have a chair, charming Billy ?'

'Yes, she bade me have a chair; she has ringlets in her hair.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

4. 'Can she make a cherry pie. Billy boy, Billy boy,
Can she make a cherry pie, charming Billy ?'

'Yes, she can make a cherry pie quick as a cat can wink its eye.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

5. 'Can she make a pudding well, Billy boy, Billy boy.
Can she make a pudding well, charming Billy?'

'Yes, she can make a pudding well, you can tell it by the smell.
She's a voung thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

"Did she bid you to come back, Billy boy, Billy boy,
Did she bid you to come back, charming Billy ?'

'Yes. she bade me to come back, after giving me a smack.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."

7 'How old is she. Billy boy, Billy boy.
How old is she, charming Billy?'
'She'll be fortv-four next fall, and she's got no teeth at all.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

B. 'Billy Boy.' From Miss Florence Holton of Durham.

1 'Where have you been. Billy boy. Billy boy.
Where have you been, charming Billy?'

'I have been to see my wife, she's the joy of my life;
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

'Did she ask you in. Billy boy. Billy boy.
Did she ask you in, charming Billy?'
'She did ask me in. with a dimple in her chin ;
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

3 '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 his eye.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

4 'Did she set for you a chair. Billy boy. Billy boy.
Did she set for you a chair, charming Billy?'

'She did set for me a chair with a ringlet in her hair.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

5 Can she make a feather bed. Billy- boy. Billy boy.
Can she make a feather bed, charming Billy?'

'She can make a feather bed, with a candle on her head.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

6. "How tall is she, billy hoy. Billy hoy,
How tall is she, charming Billy ?'

'She's as tall as any pine and as thin as a pumpkin vine.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

7 "Is she worth anything, Billy- boy, Billy boy,
Is she worth anything, charming Billy?'

'She is worth a cow and a calf, and a dollar and a half.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

8 'What is her name. Billy boy. Billy boy.
What is her name, charming Billy ?'

'Her name is Susanna, and she lives in Louisiana.
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

9 'How old is she, Billy boy. Billy boy.
How old is she, charming Billy?'

'Twice six. twice seven, twice twentv and eleven ;
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'

C. 'Billie Boy.' Reported by Gertrude Allen (later Mrs. Vaught) from
Oakboro, Stanly county. Stanzas 1, 2, and 4 as in A. Stanza 3 runs :

'Did she give you a seat. Billy boy, Billy boy.
Did she give you a seat, charming Billy?'

'Yes, she gave me a seat and a piece of bread and meat.
She's a young thing that cannot leave her mother.'

.And after stanza 4 it runs as follows :

5 'Can she make a loaf of bread. Billy boy. Billy boy.
Can she make a loaf of bread, charming Billy?'

'Yes, she can make a loaf of bread hard as any *feller's head.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.'

6 "Can she make up a bed. Billy boy, Billy boy,
Can she make up a bed. charming Billy?"

'Yes, she can make up the bed, fit the pillows at the head.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.'

7 'How tall is she. Billy boy, Billy boy.
How tall is she, charming Billy ?'

'She's as tall as a rail, slick as any monkey's tail.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.'

BILLY BOY- Bessie Hunter
Recording: Listen: Bessie & Freddie Hunter 1939 Collected Alan Lomax

Where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy,
Where have you been, charming Billy?
I've been to see my wife, she's the story of my life;
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.'

Did she beg you to come in, Billy boy, Billy boy.
Did she beg you to come in, charming Billy?
Yes, she begged me to come in; she has a dimple in her chin.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.

Can she make a cherry pie, Billy boy, Billy boy,
Can she make a cherry pie, charming Billy?
Yes, she can make a cherry pie quick as a cat can wink its eye.
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.

Can she wash a white shirt Billy boy, Billy boy,
Can she wash a white shirt  charming Billy?
She can wash a white shirt *clean the sleeves of the dirt 
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.

How old is she Billy boy, Billy boy,
How old is she charming Billy?
Twice six, twice seven, twice twenty and eleven
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.

*unclear