My Boy Billy- Sarah Buckner (NC) 1916 Sharp B
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp/Campbell 1917; Sharp/Karpeles 1932.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
My Boy Billy- Sarah Buckner; Black Mountain, N. C., 1916 Sharp Version B (no music)
1 Where have you been, Billy boy, Billy,
Where have you been, charming Billy?
I've been to see my wife,
She's the pleasure of my life;
She's a young thing, aha, to leave her mamma.
2 Did she ask you to come in, etc.
She asked me to come in;
She had a dimple in her chin;
She's a young thing, etc.
3 Did she set you a chair, etc.
She set me a chair;
She had wrinkles in her ear;
She's a young thing, etc.
4 Did she ask you for to eat, etc.
She asked me for to eat,
She had plenty bread and meat;
She's a young thing, etc.
5 Can she card and can she spin, etc.
She can card and she can spin,
And she can do most anything;
She's a young thing, etc.
6 Can she sew and can she fell, etc.
She can sew and she can fell,
She can use her needle well;
She's a young thing, etc.
7 Can she make a cherry pie, etc.
She can make a cherry pie
Quick as a cat can wink his eye;
She's a young thing, etc.
8 How old is she, etc.
She's twice six, twice seven,
Twenty-eight and eleven;
She's a young thing, etc.