Words: Anonymous
Music: do.
Publisher: Olifver Ditson & Co, Boston
Year: 1847
Source: sheet music, Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, University
of Rochester
Here is a song not often associated with the period, yet appeared in a good number of song books at the time.
Billy Boy
(Pub. Oliver Ditson, Boston, 1847.)
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 can not 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 on her chin
She's a young thing, and can not leave her mother
Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
...Yes she set for me a chair, She has ringlets in her hair
She's a young thing, and can not leave her mother
Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
...She can make a cherry pie, Quick as a cat can wink her eye
She's a young thing, and can not leave her mother
Is she often seen at church Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
..Yes she's often seen at church, With a bonnet white as birch
She's a young thing, and can not leave her mother
How tall is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
...She's as tall as any pine, and as straight as a pumpkin vine...
Are her eyes very bright, Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
...Yes her eyes are very bright, but alas they're minus sight...
How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy...
...She's three times six, four times seven,
twenty eight and eleven,
She's a young thing, and can not leave her mother