BILLY BOY

(MILLARD LAMPELL) (1941)

Millard Lampell

DOWNLOAD & LISTEN to an excerpt (Real Audio, format, approximately 30 seconds, 67 KB)

[Pete] Seeger remembers writing "Liza Jane," "Plow Under" and "Billy Boy" with Lee Hays on Helen Simon's apartment floor in early February 1941.
Lampell... claims sole credit for "Billy Boy."

Ronald D. Cohen & Dave Samuelson, liner notes for "Songs for Political Action," Bear Family Records BCD 15720 JL, 1996, p. 77.

Will you go to the war, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Will you go to the war, charmin' Billy?
It's a long ways away, they are dying every day.
He's a young boy and cannot leave his mother.

Can you use a bayonet, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Can you use a bayonet, charming Billy?
No, I haven't got the skill to murder and to kill...

Don't you want a silver medal, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Don't you want a silver medal, charlin' [sic] Billy?
No desire do I feel to defend Republic Steel...

Don't you want to see the world, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Don't you want to see the world, charmin' Billy?
No, it wouldn't be much thrill to die for Dupont in Brazil...

Girls would like your uniform, Billy boy, Billy boy.
Girls would like your uniform, charlin' [sic] Billy.
They wouldn't get much chance to love me with six feet of earth above me...

Are you afraid to fight, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Are you afraid to fight, charling [sic] Billy?
You can come around to me when England's a democracy...

Will they take you from my side, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Will they take you from my side, charming Billy?
Don't you worry, mother dear, I'm a-stayin' over here...