Becky -- That's the song that started me off. I found a little booklet about a performer here in Australia called Billy Barlow. I thought the two might be connected.

(Those two bits of information actually have little to do with Billy it turns out. The performer rarely, if ever, used the BB character and "Let's Go a-huntin'" may be also just be an example of the use of the name.)

Next thing the lounge-room wall was covered with Billy Barlows and lines and arrows. Connections within connections, within connections. I love patterns and I love a puzzle. Now it's 10 years on and I still haven't found all the pieces let alone all the connections.


Here's one I never found:
I believe there's a BB song somewhere with the line -- "...stuck in the mud like Billy Barlow..."
Or a similar phrase. I found two references to it. One from New Zealand and one from the Civil War diary of a soldier. It must pre-date the American Civil War. In both of these the line is used as a well-known one.

There are hundreds of BB songs, because they were topical. Some performers sang new ones every night. I never could get interested in collecting them, but they are valuable in filling in the gaps in the BB story.
Such fun.
Cheers, Joy