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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Mark Mandel Date: 16 Aug 19 - 10:01 PM I had no idea there was such wide variation in the numbers making up her age. I haven't been here in quite a while, but some time ago I noticed a peculiarity in the version I learned. (From whom? Who knows?! HOW many years ago?) In that version the last verse is How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? How old is she, charming Billy? Five times six and four times seven, Twenty-eight and eleven. She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother. (5x6=30) + (4x7=28) = 58 28 + 11 = 39 Both unmarriageable for our Billy Boy, but far from equal. However, if we change just one word, the operator in the first sub-expression, we can get Five plus six and four times seven, Twenty-eight and eleven. (5 + 6=11) + (4x7=28) = 39 28 + 11 = 39 I have no idea if that was ever in the lyric, and frankly, in this context the word "plus" sounds far too learnèd and technical for the song. But it's a thought. Mark Mandel "The Filker With No Nickname" |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 13 Aug 19 - 01:22 AM Mick Pearce, Reinhard, my thanks to you both. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Reinhard Date: 12 Aug 19 - 11:03 AM Gerry, the 'As the heart is to the knife' was my fault/mishearing. Martin Carthy gives James Reeves as his source and Reeves' words in The Idiom of the People contain the line 'As the haft is to the knife'. I've fixed this on Mainly Norfolk now. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Mrrzy Date: 12 Aug 19 - 09:28 AM Green and yaller - them eels was snakes. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Gordon Jackson Date: 12 Aug 19 - 09:01 AM You're welcome, Gerry. In the sleeve notes on Sweet Wivelsfield Martin Carthy, for whom I have ENORMOUS respect writes, regarding the last verse: ‘You too can add up the numbers to find that they make three score and ten, or one complete life span’. I always thought this bit was dialogue: Billy saying she’s nineteen and his mum saying, ‘Well, actually no, she’s fifty-one, you doughnut.’ I mean, even if young Bill’s IQ was lower than his shoe size I can’t believe he didn’t realise she was seventy. Surely when she curtsied and took three days to straighten up would have been a bit of a clue? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Mick Pearce (MCP) Date: 12 Aug 19 - 07:40 AM Just had a listen - she sings "haft". (with a longish a, like half-t). Mick |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 11 Aug 19 - 10:24 PM Haft! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, Gordon, I'm convinced that's what the word is supposed to be. And that's how it appears in one version of Billy Boy in Bronson. Now I have to listen more closely to Eliza Carthy's recording to see whether I can decide if she's singing "haft" or "heart". Whoever wrote it up for the Mainly Norfolk site evidently thought she was singing "heart" (or copied it from someone else who thought she was singing "heart"). |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Joe_F Date: 11 Aug 19 - 09:28 PM A long time ago someone told me that the eels in Lord Randall were actually (poisonous) snakes. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Mark Date: 11 Aug 19 - 02:00 PM I heard the Carthy lyrics as referring to a "Hart" i.e. a deer... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Mrrzy Date: 11 Aug 19 - 10:20 AM I had the Ed McCurdy Billy Boy [cgildren's songs] and Willie Boy (but she is too young to be taken from her mammy) by Jean Richie. I have to say, given those versions, that I think the first inkling of the unmarriageability of the lady in question should be the final verse, with the advanced age. I personally find that verses where she can't see- or drive, ruin the whole point of the song. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Gordon Jackson Date: 11 Aug 19 - 04:27 AM It's not 'heart', Gerry - how is a heart fit to a knife? It's 'haft', i.e. the handle. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 11 Aug 19 - 02:40 AM Here are the lyrics as Eliza Carthy sings them (and pretty much as Martin Carthy sings them). It's a bit different from the other versions that have been posted, with one particular difference that I want to ask about, below. Eliza Carthy sings Billy Boy https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/billyboy.html “Where have you been all the day, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Where have you been all the day, o my dear darling Billy O?” “I've been out all the day Walking with a lady gay, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” “Is she fit for your wife, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Is she fit for your wife, o my dear darling Billy O?” “She's as fit to be my wife As the heart is to the knife, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” “And did she ask you to sit down, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Did she ask you to sit down, o my dear darling Billy O?” “Well she asked me to sit down Then she curtsied to the ground, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” “Did she light you up to bed, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Did she light you up to bed, o my dear darling Billy O?” “Well she lit me up to bed With a nodding of her head, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” “Did she lie close to you, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Did she lie close to you, o my dear darling Billy O?” “Well she lay so close to me As the bark is to the tree, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” “Do you want to know her age, bonny boy, Billy Boy? Do you want to know her age, o my dear darling Billy O?” “She is twice six seven, She is twice twenty and eleven, Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy O?” There's also a nice recording by Luke Plumb and Kare Burke on their new album. Now, verse 2, lines 3 and 4: She's as fit to be my wife/As the heart is to the knife. What is going on there? How is a heart fit to a knife? Other versions have fork and knife, or sheath and knife, which make sense to me. Is heart and knife a mondegreen? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 07 Jun 14 - 11:43 AM I know you weren't linking any of them, Jon. I was just backing up your statements. That bit about language can be quite provocative to some people. I think it's safer to say all of these dialects based on Anglo Saxon are just dialects, and that includes Standard English. Megan's lovely version is pretty closely related to My Boy Tammie though the form may owe something to Highland Laddie. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Megan L Date: 07 Jun 14 - 11:10 AM ah lighter you wish tae stir the wasps nest laddie. Mind you the original language in both Shetland and Orkney was not this it was Norn an old Norse language. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 07 Jun 14 - 11:04 AM Very nice! And so nicely sung. The song resembles both "Billy Boy" and "Highland Laddie," especially the tune of the latter.) The song and the interview may also rekindle another familiar discussion: is Scots (even faraway Shetland Scots) a separate language or a form of English? The necessarily arbitrary answer may matter politically but in no other way I can think of. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Megan L Date: 07 Jun 14 - 10:59 AM Hopefully I haven't made to muckle o a mill o it fur hids bin a whiles since ah listened tae the Shetland tongue. Bonnie Tammie Scolla Far his do bin aw di day Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Far his do bin aw di day Bonnie Tammie Scolla Up a bank and doon a brae Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Up a bank and doon a brae Bonnie Minnie Merrin What his do bin doin der Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie What his do bin doin der Bonnie Tammie Scolla Ahm bin seekin me a wife Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Ahm bin seekin me a wife Bonnie Minnie Merrin Whens do gaan tae merry her Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Whens do gaan tae merry her Bonnie Tammie At the back o Hallimass Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie At the back o Hallimass Bonnie Minnie Merrin Whit wey will do get her hame Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Whit wey will do get her hame Bonnie Tammie Scolla Ah'll pit her oan the muckle mare Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Ah'll pit her oan the muckle mare Bonnie Minnie Merrin Whaurs do gaan tae mak her sit Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Whaurs do gaan tae mak her sit Bonnie Tammie Scolla Inbye er(?) the muckle chair Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Inbye er(?) the muckle chair Bonnie Minnie Merrin Whits do gaan tae gier tae et(eat) Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Whits do gaan tae gier tae et(eat) Bonnie Tammie Scolla A corn o meal upon a plate Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie A corn o meal upon a plate Bonnie Minnie Merrin That's whit dool gie her tae et Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie That's whit dool gie her tae et Bonnie Tammie Scolla Dats whit ah'll gie her tae et Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Dats whit ah'll gie her tae et Bonnie Minnie Merrin Far his do bin aw di day Bonnie Tammie, Bonnie Tammie Far his do bin aw di day Bonnie Tammie Scolla Up a bank and doon a brae Bonnie Minnie, bonnie Minnie Up a bank and doon a brae Bonnie Minnie Merrin Last two verses sung together others sung question and answer |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Megan L Date: 07 Jun 14 - 10:39 AM this song from Shetland is obviously is one I grew up wie Bonnie Tammie Scolla I will get round to transcribing it soon |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 07 Jun 14 - 09:03 AM Really, mm, I wasn't trying to "link" (as they say) "BB" to "TB" (though there *is* the curious 50% correspondence of initials...). I was suggesting that the "greater" resemblance was clearly coincidental. In other words, the burden of proof is on those who think something significant must be going on between the songs. But as I've said many times before, people who want to believe something will insist on it, no matter how shaky or inconclusive the evidence. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 06 Jun 14 - 04:41 PM See Malcolm's posting 13th Jan 04 12.47 p.m. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 06 Jun 14 - 04:29 PM This conversation is surely pointless. Magherafelt Hiring Fair which has the chorus 'Tam bo' is definitely a version of Roud 366 otherwise known as: Bargain with me The Wanton Widow Billy Boy II Tom Boy My Boy Billy II The Rigwiddy Carlin It is known in England, Scotland and Ireland in oral tradition though no broadside has surfaced yet. Scottish versions dating back to the early nineteenth century are probably closest to the original. The mention of eels in the NI version is pure coincidence. None of the other versions mentions eels. The English version is much more explicit and comic and nothing at all to do with either LR or BB. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: mayomick Date: 06 Jun 14 - 11:56 AM You seem to be trying to disprove any L R influence on Tam Boy,Lighter. You see Tam Boy's resemblance to Balocky Bill, but where's the mention of buggery hairs and stairs in Tammboy? Tamboy wasn't a sailor either! Differences abound , but there are interesting similarities between the two songs, surely ? If you heard a sad question and answer type song from the sixteenth century called "Sailor, Sailor won't thou marry me" and if it mentioned a grandfather's chest , you wouldn't make such a big fuss if somebody said that there could possibly be any influence . are there While it's true that Tamboy doesn't get poisoned from eating eels, they they are what the widow proposes feeding him on. She is more than a prospective employer, the whole comic point is that that the widow is a prospective lover , who concludes by asking Tam to get married; he is uneasy about this .I believe Tam Boy appears in the "uneasy and unrequited love" section of Henry's book , which I don't have to hand right now . |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 06 Jun 14 - 08:39 AM In other versions, "Tam Boy" bears some resemblance to "Ballocky Bill the Sailor." |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 06 Jun 14 - 08:37 AM But the woman in Henry's "Tam Boy" isn't his mother and there's no uneasy love. She's a prospective employer. And nobody gets poisoned. And the dinner has no sinister significance. Qeustion: Why do people think it's so important to show that "Billy Boy" (or "Tam Boy") is "really" a folk-processed version of "Lord Randall"? Are there no clearer, less dubious examples of song mutation? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: mayomick Date: 06 Jun 14 - 06:36 AM Of course every mother who ever "said" , "And where have *you* been all the day?" wasn't inspired by Lord Randall.But, if she asks the question in the lyric of an English/ Scots Q&A folk song about uneasy love, and, if she slips in a mention of eating eels, the mother is making a reference to the Lord Randall song . |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Jim Carroll Date: 05 Jun 14 - 03:10 AM Stories of men or women who poison their lovers are at least as old as literature and almost certainly older. What little knowledge we have of oral tradition dates largely to the end of the 19th century, when (extremely limited) collecting of folk songs began in earnest. It is highly speculative to suggest that we will ever be able to pin down any of these ballads to any particular time. Man, as a species, is a natural song and story maker and probably always has been, and the sooner scholars deal with the implications of that fact, the sooner they will take on board that these songs are just as likely to have been the creations of the unlettered as they are the literate - more likely, in fact. Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 04 Jun 14 - 06:41 PM Another big clue for Randall's mom, of course, is that in full texts his hounds "swelled and died" after consuming the buttered eels. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 04 Jun 14 - 06:28 PM It's also worth pointing out that the earliest versions of LR in English do not have the 'all the day' phrase, so this may be an interloper from BB. 'O where ha you been, Lord Randal, my son?' has more in common with 'Edward' and related ballads. The 'all the day' phrase doesn't creep in until after c1825. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 04 Jun 14 - 01:29 PM > The association with Lord Randall is clear conceptually in the opening lines of the two songs, which are so similar as to suggest the one inspired the other. I acknowledge that the resemblances might be above average, but the weight of the evidence seems to favor coincidence (which often is a "conceptual association"). Not every mother who said, "And where have *you* been all the day?" was inspired by "Lord Randall." Re "Tam Boy." Eels were a popular dish in fishing communities. They're just fish. That's not why Randy's mother thinks he's poisoned: it's because he wants to lie down, evidently looks like hell, and was fed by his sweetie - whom the mother has presumably long been suspicious of. I see even less of a resemblance among "Tam Boy" and the other two songs than between "BB" and "LR." |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Amos Date: 04 Jun 14 - 01:10 PM The association with Lord Randall is clear conceptually in the opening lines of the two songs, which are so similar as to suggest the one inspired the other, at least as a touchstone for what follows. The substance of the dialogue is of course entirely different. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: mayomick Date: 04 Jun 14 - 07:21 AM Sam Henry's Songs Of the People has Tom Boy (or perhaps Tamboy?)From what I remember, Tom is a farm labourer hiring to a fine young widow who clearly has her eyes set on him for other things . It seems to be a spin- off from Billy Boy . And re. Lord Randall, it also gets in a mention of eels for dinner |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Mo the caller Date: 04 Jun 14 - 05:36 AM I was quite impressed by hearing Vicky Swan & Johny Dyer sing a Scandinavian version, at Chester Folk festival. The emphasis was not on her fitness to be his wife as a Housewife, but what they'd been up to in bed last night. English speaking mothers obviously have different priorities. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST Date: 04 Jun 14 - 12:06 AM The parody listed above near the beginning of this thread is from the Almanac Singers SONGS FOR JOHN DOE, a recording of anti war songs. I believe that Millard Lampell sings it with Josh White on guitar. Mark Ross |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 03 Jun 14 - 06:19 PM And presumably the only way to "prove" a connection would be to find an early broadside stating something unequivocal, along the lines of "Billy Boy! A bang-up parody of 'Lord Randall, My Son'!! by Mr. W. RANDALL." I concur that if anything like that were extant and findable, it would have been found long before now. Either that or an early version of "Billy" mentioning treachery would be about the only kind of evidence that could make the case. Very interesting indeed that "Billy" appears to be so much older in English than "Randall." That would effectively rule out any theory of parody. Unless "Lord Randall" is the "parody." ... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 03 Jun 14 - 05:25 PM Agreed, Jon, and by the same token Earl Brand is not the same song as The Douglas Tragedy despite Child's putting them both together. There are also other examples in ESPB. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 03 Jun 14 - 03:50 PM A big part of the problem is the notion that "Billy Boy" is somehow a "version" of "Lord Randal." "Version" suggests a direct genealogical connection - with the poisoning somehow forgotten or elided. But if "Billy Boy" is indeed a parody, it's still a different song. If it was "inspired" by "LR" well and good, but every song is "inspired" by something. No textual evidence exists that "Billy Boy" is any kind of "version" of "LR." If Steve's dates are correct and definitive, it isn't even a parody. If it isn't a parody, then it's still a different song. Either way, the resemblances are merely superficial, whether by design or by accident. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 03 Jun 14 - 03:15 PM Another important point to make in connecting it to Lord Randal is that there is no evidence to show that LR in the English language is any older than about 1790 (according to Child) and Burns supplied this version to Johnson. It could well have been translated into English shortly before that time making My Boy Tammy/Billy older in English. Fowler, Bronson and others have demonstrated quite convincingly (IMHO) that many of the ballads Child included were products/adaptations of the 18thc. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 03 Jun 14 - 02:56 PM By the way the reference for McNeil's 'My Boy Tammy' being in Herd and on broadsides in 1776. McNeil was born in 1746 so this could easily still be one of his earlier pieces. That he based it on an older song closer to Billy Boy is indisputable. Stenhouse in his 'Illustrations of the lyric Poetry and Music of Scotland' 1853 which is in effect a concordance to Johnson's Musical Museum, gives 2 verses of the earlier piece NcNeil based it on. Is she fit to soop the house, My boy Tammy? x2 She's just as fit to soop the house As the cat to tak a mouse; And yet she's but a young thing just come frae her mammy. How auld's the bonny young thing, my boy Tammy? x2 She's twice six and twice seven, Twice twenty and eleven And yet she's but a young thing just come frae her mammy. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Steve Gardham Date: 03 Jun 14 - 02:30 PM Sadie, a laudable project, but I fear you are being led astray. If there had been a tangible connection, what with all the research that has gone on since the first posting we would have added it by now. I think others would probably agree that if Malcolm couldn't connect it then no-one could. Some people get great kicks from trying to connect things that in reality have no real connection. The parody/burlesque theory is possible but without concrete proof that's all it is, possible. If it was a parody of LR then it is more likely to be a parody of one of the many non-English language versions. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Mike Yates Date: 03 Jun 14 - 11:51 AM That grand old singer Johnny Doughty of Sussex sang a good version, titled "My Boy Billy". You can hear it on the Musical Traditions double CD "Up in the North, Down in the South" (MTCD 311-2). |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,Sadie Damascus Date: 03 Jun 14 - 11:07 AM Joe and folks, I am striving to prove the oft-assumed connection between Lord Randall and Billy Boy (or Tammy Boy). I just can't find any version of Billy Boy that even suggests a poisoning or bad blood between Billy and his sweetheart/grandmother/stepmother at all. Has anyone proof? I have read many theories, boiling down to "Well, Billy Boy might be a comic take on the ballad; certainly So-and-So believeds it. Is there any intermediary song that can hook them for me for once and for all? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: radriano Date: 14 Dec 11 - 04:48 PM Hi Lighter, Those are my additions. Actually, they are PG versions of bawdy lyrics I had written. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Richie Date: 12 Dec 11 - 09:56 PM Hi, Here's a shanty version from 1920: http://bluegrassmessengers.com/billy-boy--terry-northumbrian-1920.aspx Richie |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 12 Dec 11 - 05:52 PM Just to be clear on the Roud numbers issue. Whatever was the situation in 2004, Lord Randal is Roud 12 and all versions of 'Billy Boy/My Boy Tammie etc are Roud 326. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Lighter Date: 12 Dec 11 - 05:48 PM Radriano, did you get those bracketed lines from Hugill? Or are they newly "folk-processed"? "I have met many seamen from London, Liverpool, and South Wales who also knew this shanty. Like Terry states, it had many unprintable stanzas not lending themselves to easy camouflage." The existence of so many singers and unprintable stanzas suggests that it was rather well known as a shanty. Perhaps other collectors, aside from Terry, didn't mention it because it was both largely unprintable and, in the clean stanzas, indistinguishable from the shore song. (I.e., "not really a shanty.") |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: radriano Date: 12 Dec 11 - 04:54 PM This is one of those songs that went to sea and became a capstan shanty: Billy Boy capstan Stan Hugill, Shanties from the Seven Seas Where have ye bin all the day, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Where have ye bin all the day, me Billy Boy? I've bin walin' on the quay, with me charmin' Nancy Lee An' sweet Nancy tickled me fancy, oh, me charmin' Billy Boy! Is she fit to be yer wife, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Is she fit to be yer wife, me Billy Boy? Aye, she's fit to be me wife as the fork is to the knive Can she cook a bit o' steak, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? She can cook a bit o' steak, aye, an' make a gridle cake Can she make an Irish stew, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? She can make an Irish stew, aye, an' a Cornish pasty too Does she sleep close unto thee, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Aye, she sleeps close unto me, like the bark is to the tree Can she make a feather bed, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? She can make a feather bed, fit for any sailor's head Can she darn and can she sew, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Aye, she can darn and she can sew, there is nought she cannot do Can she wash and can she clean, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Aye, she can wash and she can clean, an' she plays the tambourine Can she heave the dipsy lead, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? [She can heave the dipsy lead an' she loves to roll in bed] Can she strop a block, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? [Aye, she can strop a block an' she'll be waiting on the dock] Notes from the book: " … Billy Boy is given by Terry as a Northumbrian capstan shanty, and he gives it in the Northumbrian dialect, but I rather fancy it had a wider field than Northumberland. I have met many seamen from London, Liverpool, and South Wales who also knew this shanty. Like Terry states, it had many unprintable stanzas not lending themselves to easy camouflage. There are two main versions, the well known one and one in a minor key. Of course they have both stemmed from similar shore songs of which there are many. At times two shantymen would sing, one for the questions and one for the answers. Bill Fuller, who had sailed in Sunbeam I, told me that Sir Walter Runciman would often sing it at the windlass aboard that vessel. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 12 Dec 11 - 03:12 PM Scottish and English oral versions aside, the Northumbrian chantey could easily be derived from American versions as are many other chanteys. I'm not sure if Roud numbers still put both songs together, but if that is the case I'll recommend he separates the two, unless anyone has any further proof they are linked in any other way than parody. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Richie Date: 12 Dec 11 - 11:31 AM Although attributed to Hector Macneill in 1791, a nearly identical text was printed in 1776 by David Herd, George Paton in Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, titled "The Lammy." The first verse is repeated throughout: THE LAMMY. "Whare hae ye been a' day, my boy, Tammy? Whare hae ye been a' day, my boy, Tammy?" "I've been by burn and flow'ry brae, Meadow green, and mountain gray, Courting o' this young thing, Just come frae her mammy." "And whare got ye that young thing, my boy, Tammy?" "I gat her down in yonder how, Smiling on a broomy know, Herding ae wee lamb and ewe for her poor Mammy." "What said ye to the bounie bairn, my boy, Tammy?" "I praised her een, sae bonnie blue, Her dimpled cheek, and cherry mou'; I pree'd it aft, as ye may trow;— she said she'd tell her Mammy. "I held her to my beating heart, my young, my smiling Lammie! "I hae a house, it cost me dear; I've wealth o' plenLshin' and gear;— Ye'se get it a' war't ten times mair, gin ye will leave your Mammy.' "The smile gaed aff her bonnie face, "I manna leave my Mammy; She's gi'en me meat, she's gi'en me claise, She's been my comfort a' my days; "my father's death brought mony waes--"I canna leave my Mammy; Richie |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 03 Jul 11 - 06:27 PM Lyr. Add: (MY BOY WILLY) Halliwell, 1846, CCCXIX without title Where have you been all the day, My boy Willy?I've been all the day, Courting of a lady gay: But oh ! she's too young To be taken from her mammy. 2 What work can she do, My boy Willy? Can she bake and can she brew, My boy Willy? 3 She can brew and she can bake, And she can make our wedding cake: But oh ! she's too young To be taken from her mammy. 4 What age may she be? What age may she be? My boy Willy? 5 Twice two, twice seven, Twice ten, twice eleven: But oh ! she's too young To be taken from her mammy. Fourteenth Class, Love and Matrimony. James Orchard Halliwell, 1846, The Nursery Rhymes of England, 4th edition. http://www.presscom.co.uk/nursery.html |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BILLY BOY (Opie & Opie) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 03 Jul 11 - 05:34 PM Lyr. Add: BILLY BOY Opie & Opie, The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book Where have you been al the day, Billy boy, Billy boy? Where have you been all the day, my boy Billy? I have been all the day Courting of a lady gay, But oh ! she is too young To be taken from her mammy. 2 Is she fit to be thy love, Billy boy, Billy boy? Is she fit to be thy love, my boy Billy? She's as fit to be my love As my hand is for my glove, But oh ! she is too young To be taken from her mammy. 3 Can she brew and can she bake, Billy boy, Billy boy? Can she brew and can she bake, my boy Billy? She can brew and she can bake, And she can make a wedding cake, But oh ! she is too young To be taken from her mammy. 4 Is she fit to be thy wife, Billy boy, Billy boy? Is she fit to be thy wife, my boy Billy? She's as fit to be my wife As a sheath is for a knife, But oh ! she is too young To be taken from her mammy. 5 How old may she be, Billy boy, Billy boy? How old may she be, my boy Billy? Twice six, twice seven, Twice twenty and eleven, But oh ! she is too young To be taken from her mammy. Iona and Peter Opie, 1955 and reprints, The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, Oxford University Press. No date given for the rhyme. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Boy From: Gibb Sahib Date: 03 Jul 11 - 04:23 PM re: the Caribbean life of this song, I just wanted to bring attention to the Lomax-recorded song "Willie Boy" in Nevis/St. Kitts: http://www.amazon.com/Willie-Boy/dp/B0010WFIJK re: Dave's comment, "Stan should know." Or, I'd say, "Stan read it in a book somewhere." It's quite unclear (I think purposefully so) how this song may have fit into Hugill's direct experiences. I haven't seen it appear under the guise of a shanty until Terry's book (1921) -- that's the first version Hugill prints (though he makes a couple lyrical changes that are suspicious!). Though the song up to that point, as far as I am seeing, had not been documented elsewhere as a shanty, recording artists during the shanty "boom" in the 1920s did recorded it among classics like "Rio Grande." By the time Hugill would have gone to see, even shanty aficionados (home listeners) might have considered "Billy Boy" to be a classic shanty in its own right. However, I am skeptical whether it had ever been much of a chanty or else just another one of many "regular" songs that were haphazardly sung by localized crews in later days. I don't know where Hugill's second version comes from. He doesn't say. Usually, if he learned it at sea, he says who he learned it from, so I'm leaving open the possibility that he sourced it elsewhere. |
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