Billy Boy- Holton (NC) pre1943 Brown B
[From The Brown Collection of NC Folklore, 1952 collected before 1943.
R. Matteson 2011 2014]
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 Rimbault's Nursery rhymes, 2-3, and for this entry Virginia (FSV 193-5), Indiana (Wolford 24. a play-party song) , Arkansas (OFS I 392-3), and Missouri (OFS 1 391-2, 393). 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 cherry 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.
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.'
2. '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 boy, 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 twenty and eleven;
She's a young thing, and can't leave her mother.'