Billy Boy- Taylor (Mass.) 1917
[An excerpt from Cameos of Childhood- Page 84 by Elvira Polhemus Taylor - 1917.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
When there were no little birds to listen, I sang "Billy Boy." "Billy Boy" is my friend. I know all about him. I never before sang "Billy Boy" on the schoolhouse door-stone, but always in the swing on the piazza. "Billy Boy" is a long song, and you can think a great many things while you are singing it. This is the way it goes:
[BILLY BOY]
"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 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."
"Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Did she set for you a chair, charming Billy?"
"Yes, she set for me a chair, She has ringlets in her hair,
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's a cat can wink her eye,
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."
"Can she make a loaf of bread, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Can she make a loaf of bread, charming Billy?"
"She can make a loaf of bread, And bat it over my head,
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."
"How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
How old is she, charming Billy?"
"She is three times six, four times seven, Twenty-eight and eleven,
She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."
I suppose it was Billy Boy's mother who asked him, and Billy told all about it. Billy's mother wanted to be sure, perhaps, that he was going to pick out a very good wife. If she "set for him a chair," she would be polite and ladylike; and of course any mother would like her son to pick out a girl with ringlets in her hair. Billy's mother asked a great many questions, and Billy did not mind, for he always told more than he had to. I suppose he was happy that he had found such a nice wife. I never could tell how old Billy's wife was. Mother counted it up for me once, but I forgot, and I guess that was what Billy meant. Anyway, I liked Billy Boy because he never grew up.