Jingle bells

1. Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh,

O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way.

Bells on Bobtail ring, making spirits bright,

What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight!

CHORUS:

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!

2. A day or two ago, I thought I’d take a ride,

And soon Miss Fannie Bright was sitting by my side.

The horse was lean and lank, misfortune was his lot.

He got into a snowdrift bank – and we? We got upsot!

CHORUS

3. So now the moon is bright, enjoy it while you’re young.

Invite your friends tonight to sing this sleighing song.

Just get a bob-tailed nag and give him extra feed.

Then hitch him to an open sleigh – and crack! You’ll take the lead!

CHORUS

o’er = over

Bobtail – a nickname for a horse with a short or “bobbed” tail

upsot – the past tense of upset

nag = horse

2. “Billy Boy” is a Protestant song from Glasgow. It originated in the 1930s as the song of a Glasgow street gang led by Billy Fullerton. It is associated in particular with Rangers football club. It is also sung by supporters of other football clubs, using slightly different lyrics.

In the New World a woman’s work was essential for her family’s survival. For the first two hundred years of American life, almost everything that the family ate or wore was produced at home. Women helped to plow the fields, plant seeds and pick crops. They made wheat or corn into flour and made the flour into bread. Women made clothes. A girl who learned to cook and sew well became a valuable wife.

In the song, Billy’s mother questions him about the girl he plans to marry. Like a mother in any country, she wants her son to find a wife who is polite (“Did she ask you to come in?”), attractive (“How tall is she?”), skillful at housekeeping (“Can she bake a cherry pie?” “Can she make a feather bed?”) and young (“How old is she?”). In answering his mother, Billy is joking speaking about the qualities of the girl he wants to marry.

Billy boy

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy, Can she bake a cherry pie, charming Billy? She can bake a cherry pie, quick as you can wink an eye. She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

4. Can she make a feather bed, Billy Boy, Billy Boy, Can she make a feather bed, charming Billy?

She can make a feather bed, while a-standing on her head,

She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

5. How tall is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,

How tall is she, charming Billy?

She is tall as any pine, and as straight as a pumpkin vine,

She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

6. How old is she, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,

How old is she, charming Billy?

She is sixty times eleven, twenty-eight and forty-seven,

She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

seek = look for

young thing – a youthful, innocent quality

dimple – in the chin or cheek

quick as you can wink an eye – as quick as a wink (a wink is a rapid closing and opening of one eye)

feather bed – a mattress filled with feathers ( a feather bed was a luxury)

a-standing on her head – the prefix “a-” was used with present continuous verbs

pumpkin vine – a round, orange vegetable that grows on the ground with a very crooked vine

3. “Oh, My Darling, Clementine” is an American western folk ballad, written by Percy Montrose. The song is about the California gold rush of 1849.

A sad lover sings about his darling, the daughter of a miner in California Gold Rush. He loses her in a drowning accident, though he consoles himself towards the end of the song with Clementine’s little sister.

Another theory is that the song is from the view of Clementine’s father, and not a lover. The song was made popular by Mexican miners during the Gold Rush.