"Billy Boy," again

[Garson O'Toole]

Topis: Billy Boy," again
> Could that
> "_Twice_ twelve and twenty"
> be
> "_Twixt_ …"
>
> for Coowife's age?

Here is a link to Beadle's Dime-Song-Book, Volume 10. There is no
clear publication date. GB assigns a date of 1864. WorldCat suggests
1863. The is a match in the volume for "July 1964" in a
self-advertisement that says Beadle's Dime Publications were reviewed
positively in the North American Review for July 1864.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RmhMAAAAcAAJ&q=%22three+times%22#v=snippet&

Short link: http://goo.gl/bVFtX

[Begin excerpt]
How old is she, Billie Boy, Billie Boy,
How old is she, charming Billie Boy,
   She's three times six, four times seven,
   Twenty eight and eleven, etc.
[End excerpt]

This might be viewed as a sequence: 18, 28, and 39. Perhaps Billy
Boy's desires were repeated thwarted over a span of many years.

Garson

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