«Билли Бой» - американдық халық әні

American folk song

"Billy Boy" is a traditional folk song and nursery rhyme found in the United States, in which "Billy Boy" is asked various questions, and the answers all center on his quest to marry a girl who is said to be too young to leave her mother. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 326. It is a variant of the traditional English folk song "My Boy Billy", collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and published by him in 1912 as number 232 in Novello's School Songs.

A line from the song was used as the title for Henry Jaglom's 1983 film Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, which concerns a middle aged New York City musician who, after being dumped by her husband, develops a relationship with a middle aged divorced social worker. The song "Billy Boy" is also performed in the film. In the 1948 Walt Disney film So Dear to My Heart, Burl Ives performs snippets of the song throughout the movie. In the 1981 movie Bill, both Bill and Barry play and sing the song. The song is used in the Sarah, Plain and Tall movie trilogy.

Further variants have been recorded, some greatly extending the number of verses and the tasks that the wife can perform. An extended version of the song in which the lover performs many tasks besides baking a cherry pie was collected by Alan Lomax and John Avery Lomax; it appears in American Ballads and Folk Songs. The Lomax version names the woman being courted Betsy Jane. A version of the song by Jerry Lee Lewis was released on the 1975 album Rare, Vol. 1. Guitarist Bill Frisell included an instrumental version of "Billy Boy" in his 1992 album Have a Little Faith.