Billy Boy, Lyric Variant 01
 


Citation

“Billy Boy, Lyric Variant 01,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed March 28, 2024, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31382.


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Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>

Title

Billy Boy, Lyric Variant 01

Description

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Subject

Folk songs
Wives--Songs and music
Cookery--Songs and music

Alternative Title

Charming Billy, Billie Boy

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Transcription

Billy Boy.

O where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
O 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 ask you to come in, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Did she ask you to come in, charming Billy?
She asked me to come in
With a dimple on her chin.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her Mammy.

Did she give you for to eat, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Did she ask you for to eat, charming Billy?
She asked me for to eat,
She had plenty of bread and meat,
She's a young thing and cannot leave her Mammy.

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Can she bake a cherry pie, charming Billy?
She can bake a cherry pie,
Quick as a cat can wink its eye.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her Mammy.

How tall is she, Billy boy, Billy Boy?
How tall is she, charming Billy?
She's as tall as any pine,
Slim as a pumpkin vine.
She's a young thing and cannot leave her Mammy.

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

Scholarly Classification

Brown, Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes - 121 Randolph, 104 Cox, 168

File name

113_BillyBoy_Lyric_01_ocr

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Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>