BILLY BOY
His eyes twinkled at Ma while the music laughed and
whirled and then he would sing... -- By the Shores of Silver Lake, Chapter 22, "Happy
Winter Days"
"Billy Boy" is an English folk song or sea shanty (sung by sailors), based on the traditional "Lord Randall." There are many variations in the lyrics to "Billy Boy," with the song sung as both a nursery song and with lyrics written to protest the first non-wartime draft in the 1940s. "Billy Boy" is part of the merriment enjoyed by the Ingalls and Boast familes on winter nights in the Surveyors' House.
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BILLY BOY
1. 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.
2. Did she bid you to come in, Billy boy, Billy boy, Did she bid you to come in, charming
Billy? She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
3. 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 ahair, she has ringlets in her hair, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
4. 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 her eye; She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
5. Is she often seen at church, Billy boy, Billy boy, Is she often seen at church, charming Billy? Yes she's often seen at church with a bonnet white as birch; She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
6. How tall is she, Billy boy, Billy boy, How tall is she, charming Billy? She's as tall as any pine, and as straight as a pumpkin vine, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
7. Are her eyes very bright, Billy boy, Billy boy, Are her eyes very bright, charming Billy? Yes her eyes are very bright but alas, they're minus sight, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
8. How old is she, Billy boy, Billy boy, How old is she, charming Billy? She's three times six, four times seven, twenty-eight and eleven, She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. |
BILLY BOY (from By the Shores of Silver Lake)
She can make a cherry pie, Billy Boy! Billy Boy! She can make a cherry pie, Charming Billy She can make a cherry pie With a twinkle in her eye But she's a young thing And cannot leave her mother.
Use the navigation bar above to listen to "Billy Boy" - midi sequence by Lesley Nelson-Burns. If you do not see the midi player above, click HERE to listen.
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