Thread #66082   Message #1094881
Posted By: Charley Noble
17-Jan-04 - 11:58 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: songs against/about McCarthyism
Subject: Lyr Add: BILLY BOY (Malvina Reynolds)

Joe-

You've listed Malvina's parody of Billy Boy in your index but I can't find it in the threads or the DT so here it is:

BILLY BOY-4
(Words by Malvina Reynolds, © 1963 by Schroder Music Co.; music traditional; in LITTLE BOXES AND OTHER HOMEMADE SONGS. p. 20, Oak Publications 3002)

Did they wash you down the stairs, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Did they wash you down the stairs, charming Billy?
Yes, they washed me down the stairs
And they re-arranged my hair
With a club in the City Hall rotunda.

Were they pigeons in the square, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Were they pigeons in the square, charming Billy?
There were pigeons in the square,
And stool pigeons in the air,
And they fouled up the City Hall rotunda.

Did they set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Did they set for you a chair, charming Boy?
No, the D.A.R. was there,
And there wasn't room to spare,
So we stood in the City Hall rotunda.

Was the House Committee there, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Was the House Committee there, charming Boy?
The Committee it was there,
Spreading slander everywhere,
While we sang in the City Hall rotunda.

Did the people think it fair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Did the people think it fair, charming Boy?
No, they didn't think it fair,
And they notified the Mayor,
And he wept, and he wept, and he wept, and he wept,
While they mopped up the City Hall rotunda.

Notes by Malvina: "in may, 1960, the House UnAmerican Committee came to San Francisco and subpoenaed, amongst others, a university student."

I believe the demonstrators were "washed down the stairs" with a fire hose.

Charley Noble