| Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Oh, where have you been, Charming Billy?
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| I have been to seek a wife, she’s the joy of my whole life
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Where does she live, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Oh, where does she live, Charming Billy?
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| She lives on the hill, forty miles from the mill
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Did she bid you to come in, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Did she bid you to come in, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, she bade me to come in, there’s a dimple in her chin
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Did she take your hat, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Did she take your hat, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, she took my hat and she threw it at the cat
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Did she set for you a chair, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, she set for me a chair, she has ringlets in her hair
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she cook and can she spin, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she cook and can she spin, Charming Billy?
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| She can cook and she can spin, she can do most anything
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
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| She can bake a cherry pie, quick as a cat can wink her eye
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she make a feather bed, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she make a feather bed, Charming Billy?
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| She can make a feather bed and put pillows at the head
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she make a pudding well, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she make a pudding well, Charming Billy?
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| She can make a pudding well, I can tell it by the smell
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she milk a heifer calf, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she milk a heifer calf, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, she can, and not miss the bucket more than half
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Is she often seen at church, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Is she often seen at church, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, she’s often seen at church, with her bonnet white as birch
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| And is she very tall, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| And is she very tall, Charming Billy?
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| She’s as tall as any pine, and as straight as a pumpkin vine
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Are her eyes very bright, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Are her eyes very bright, Charming Billy?
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| Yes, her eyes are very bright, but alas, they’re minus sight
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Can she sing a pretty song, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Can she sing a pretty song, Charming Billy?
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| She can sing a pretty song, but she often sings it wrong
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| How old may she be, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| How old may she be, Charming Billy?
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| Three times six and four times seven, twenty-eight and eleven
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother
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| Is she fit to be a wife, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
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| Is she fit to be a wife, Charming Billy?
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| She’s as fit to be a wife as a fork fits to a knife
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| But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother |