LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,103)
  • Text Authors (19,448)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Billy Boy
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE
Oh, where have you been,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Oh, where have you been,
Charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife,
She's the joy of my life,
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.

Did she ask you to come in,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she ask you to come in,
Charming Billy?
Yes, she asked me to come in,
There's a dimple in her chin.
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.

Can she make a cherry pie,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie,
Charming Billy?
She can make a cherry pie,
Quick as a cat can wink an eye,
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.

How old is she,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How old is she,
Charming Billy?
Three times six and four times seven,
Twenty-eight and eleven,
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Billy Boy", 1943, first performed 1944 [ voice(s) and orchestra ], from Eight British and American Folk Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Billy Boy", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 32
Word count: 154

Billy Boy
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Oh, où es-tu allé,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy ?
Oh, où es-tu allé,
Charmant Billy ?
Je suis allé chercher une femme,
Elle est la joie de ma vie,
C'est une jeune chose,
Et ne peut pas quitter sa mère.

A-t-elle demandé à venir,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy ?
A-t-elle demandé à venir,
Charmant Billy ?
Oui, elle m'a demandé à venir,
Il y a une fossette sur son menton.
C'est une jeune chose,
Et ne peut pas quitter sa mère.

Sait-elle faire un gâteau à la cerise,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy ?
Sait-elle faire un gâteau à la cerise,
Charmant Billy ?
Elle sait faire un gâteau à la cerise
Aussi vit qu'un chat cligne de l'œil,
C'est une jeune chose,
Et ne peut pas quitter sa mère.

Quel âge a-t-elle,
Billy Boy, Billy Boy ?
Quel âge a-t-elle,
Charmant Billy ?
Trois fois six et quatre fois sept,
Vingt-huit et onze,
C'est une jeune chose,
Et ne peut pas quitter sa mère.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Guy Laffaille, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-08-27
Line count: 32
Word count: 156

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris