ukryj menu          

Billy Boy

(song traditional XIX w.)

Where have you been all the day bonny boy Billy Boy
Where have you been all the day O me dear darling Billy O
Oh I have been all the day walking with a lady gay
Isn't she a young thing lately from her mummy o

 

Is she fitting for your wife bonny boy Billy Boy
Is she fitting for your wife O me dear darling Billy O
She's as fit to be me 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 me 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 me dear darling Billy O
Yes 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 so close to you bonny boy Billy Boy
Did she lie so close to you O me dear darling Billy O
Yes 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 me 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

The words of Billy Boy come from James Reeves The Everlasting Circle and the tune from the magnificent Mrs Marina Russell of Upwey, Dorset whose predilection for tunes in the Dorian mode, whilst being a delight to people like me, is probably a source of some annoyance to those academics who like to say the English, as a race, like this or that kind of a tune (and make charts to prove it). She was one of Sharp's more extraordinary 'finds' in his hunt for traditional song, music nd dance, being by all accounts an incredibly gifted an inventive singer (and person). From her also, comes Mary Neal of which she had three verses, so I took the liberty of filling it out from other printed sources. (Martin Carthy's note on the Sweet Wivelsfield LP sleeve. )
 

Śpiewnik

Folder plików

 

Najnowsze piosenki

więcej
 
na górę