Billy Boy

"Billy Boy"
Roud #326
Song
Written	US
Published	c. 1930
Form	Nursery rhyme
Writer(s)	Traditional
Language	English

"Billy Boy" is a traditional folk song and nursery rhyme found in the United States. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 326. It is a variant of the traditional English folk song "My Boy Billy," collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and published by him in 1912 as number 232 in Novello's School Songs.

Lyrics

One variant of the lyrics goes:

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 And cannot leave her mother. 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 an eye, She's a young thing And cannot leave her mother.

Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Did she set for you a chair, Charming Billy? Yes, she sat for me a chair. She has ringlets in her hair. She's a young thing And cannot leave her mother. How old is she now, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? How old is she now, Charming Billy? Three times six and four times seven, Twenty-eight and eleven, She's a young thing And cannot leave her mother.[1]

Origins and interpretations

While the tone of the nursery rhyme is ironic and teasing, both the question and answer form^[2] and the narrative of the song have been related to "Lord Randall", a murder ballad from the British Isles, in which the suitor is poisoned by the woman he visits.^[3]

By contrast, Robin Fox uses the song to make a point about cooking and courtship, and observes that:

Feeding has always been closely linked with courtship. . . With humans this works two ways since we are the only animals who cook: the bride is usually appraised for her cooking ability. (“Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy boy, Billy boy?”) In some cultures this is far more important than her virginity.^[4]

Recordings

• Further variants have been recorded, that greatly extend the number of verses and tasks that the wife can perform. An extended version of the song in which the lover performs many tasks besides the cherry pie was collected by Alan Lomax and John Avery Lomax: it appears in American Ballads and Folk Songs. The Lomax version names the woman being courted Betsy Jane.^[5]
• A version by the Dale Sisters was released in August 1960, billed as "Billy Boy, Billy Boy", on the B-side of their single, "The Kiss", on His Master's Voice (POP 781).^[6]
• A version of the song by Jerry Lee Lewis was released on the 1975 album, Rare, Vol. 1.^[7]
• Millard Lampell of the folk group the Almanac Singers wrote an anti-war version of "Billy Boy".
• The song was performed by Burl Ives and Beulah Bondi in the 1949 Disney film So Dear to My Heart.
• Embedded in one of his "Schticks and Stones" medleys, Allan Sherman included a short segment about a then-current political scandal concerning Billie Sol Estes: "Oh, what have you done, Billie Sol, Billie Sol? ..."
• The Miles Davis Quintet recorded the song on the 1958 album Milestones.

See also

• Children's literature portal

References

1. "National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Kids Pages - Billy Boy". Kids.niehs.nih.gov. 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
2. More type 43_f43_f: see Bruce P. Hayes, Margaret MacEachern, Quatrain Form in English Folk Verse
3. Fox, Dan (2003) "Billy Boy" in A Treasury of Children's Songs New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-8050-7445-7, ISBN 978-0-8050-7445-1
4. Fox, Robin (ndg) "Food and Eating: An Anthropological Perspective" Social Issues Research Centre. p.11; see also Fox, Robin (1994) The Challenge of Anthropology: Old Encounters and New Excursions, Transaction Publishers. ISBN 156000827X
5. "American ballads & Folk Songs - Page 0420". Traditionalmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
6. "The Dale Sisters Discography - UK". 45cat. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
7. "Rare, Vol. 1 - Jerry Lee Lewis | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-01-30.