Bernard’s daughter used to sing the song below with an American friend of hers. Could anyone record the tune or point to an online recording? Thanks!
When Billy Boy was one, he learned to suck his thumb,
Thumb Billy, thumb Billy, half past one.When Billy Boy was two, he learned to tie his shoe,
Shoe Billy, shoe Billy, half past two.When Billy Boy was three, he learned to climb a tree,
Tree Billy, tree Billy, half past three.When Billy Boy was four, he learned to close the door,
Door Billy, door Billy, half past four.When Billy Boy was five, he learned to swim and dive,
Dive Billy, dive Billy, half past five.When Billy Boy was six, he learned to pick up sticks,
Sticks Billy, sticks Billy, half past six.When Billy Boy was seven, he learned to pray to heaven,
Heaven Billy, heaven Billy, half past seven.When Billy Boy was eight, he learned to roller skate,
Skate Billy, skate Billy, half past eight.When Billy Boy was nine, he learned to tell the time,
Time Billy, time Billy, half past nine.When Billy Boy was ten, he learned to catch the hens,
Hens Billy, hens Billy, half past ten.
Please email me or comment below if you can help with the tune.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
UPDATE: Curtis sent us a score which Monique kindly made a midi from – click the link to hear it. Many thanks to Curtis and Monique!
This article was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, English, Hand Clapping Rhymes, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, United Kingdom, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
22 Responses to “Can Anyone Help with the Tune to “When Billy Boy Was One”?”
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February 14th, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Hi!
My Grand Parents were from Sicily, and I remember my Grandpop saying this little rhyme something about (in English) it would be “Pinch, Pinch the little grapes off the vine” Or something like that.
Is there such a rhyme? Or was this just something my Grandpop made up??
My sister and I can remember some of the words, but not all of them, and I wouldn’t even want to attempt spelling them!
Anyone ever hear this one?
June 7th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
I actually have heard this song before; I’ve played it with my sister. The words do appear to be accurate, except I believe you’ve left out one minor thing. Before the phrase “When Billy Boy…”, you are supposed to say, “‘Cross down’ when Billy Boy….” You say this because at the same time, you pat your shoulders, your lap, and your hands together (as in the first three notes of Miss Mary Mack.) But other than that, the song sounds fine. I don’t know how to send you the tune…sorry about that. Even so, I hope the best for you.
June 7th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
I actually have heard this song before; I’ve played it with my sister. The words do appear to be accurate, except I believe you’ve left out one minor thing. Before the phrase “When Billy Boy…”, you are supposed to say, “‘Cross down’ when Billy Boy….” You say this because at the same time, you pat your shoulders, your lap, and your hands together (as in the first three notes of Miss Mary Mack.) But other than that, the song sounds fine. I don’t know how to send you the tune…sorry about that. Even so, I hope that you do get the right melody soon.
December 9th, 2014 at 12:54 am
hi um my friends and we play this game and this is how we say:
when billy was one, he learned to suck his thumb.
thumb de-li-da-la thumb de-li-da-la.
half past one cross down.
when billy was two, he learned to tie his shoe.
shoe de-li-da-la shoe de-li-da-la.
half past two cross down.
when billy was three, he learned to climb a tree.
tree de-li-da-la tree de-li-da-la.
half past three cross down.
when billy was four, he learned to shut the door.
door de-li-da-la door de-li-da-la.
half past four cross down.
when billy was five, he learned to swim and dive.
dive de-li-da-la dive de-li-da-la.
half past five cross down.
when billy was six, he learned to pick up sticks.
stick de-li-da-la stick de-li-da-la.
half past six cross down.
when billy was seven, he learned about heaven.
heaven de-li-da-la heaven de-li-da-la.
half past seven cross down.
when billy was eight, he learned to skate.
skate de-li-da-la skate de-li-da-la.
half past eight cross down.
when billy was nine, he learned to draw a line.
line de-li-da-la line de-li-da-la.
half past nine cross down.
when billt was ten, he learned to do this again.
again de-li-da-la again de-li-da-la.
half past ten cross down.
then we just repeat it all over it again.
December 9th, 2014 at 1:02 am
That’s cool Bryanna!
January 5th, 2015 at 6:44 pm
I saw a first verse that went, “When Billy boy was zero he learned to be a hero.”
August 28th, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Genesha wrote, “Hi … when billy was 1 its he learned to run and jump and when he was nine he learned to sing so fine.”
October 30th, 2015 at 7:37 pm
I used to sing a similar one when I was in elementary school but it went like this: (not sure about the spelling on the second line of each verse)
When Billy boy was cero, he learned to be a hero
so herioca, herioca, half past cero.
When Billy Boy was one, he learned to suck his thumb,
So thumbioca, thumbioca, half past one.
When Billy Boy was two, he learned to tie his shoes,
so shoe-ioca, shoe-ioca, half past two.
When Billy Boy was three, he learned to climb a tree,
So treeioca, treeioca, half past three.
When Billy Boy was four, he learned to shut the door,
so doorioca, doorioca, half past four.
When Billy Boy was five, he learned to swim and dive,
so diveioca, diveioca, half past five.
When Billy Boy was six, he learned to pick up sticks,
so stickioca, stickioca, half past six.
When Billy Boy was seven, he learned to climb to heaven,
so heavy-oca, heavy-oca, half past seven.
When Billy Boy was eight, he learned to shut the gate,
so gate-ioca, gate-ioca, half past eight.
When Billy Boy was nine, he learned to stand in line,
so lineioca, lineioca, half past nine.
When Billy Boy was ten, he learned to feed the hens,
so henioca, henioca, half past ten.
December 15th, 2016 at 9:26 pm
We played this game back in the 1960’s. But instead of saying “thumb de-li-da-la” or “thumbioca”, we said: “thumb billy-ona”. This was in the south central Pennsylvania area of the US
December 17th, 2016 at 7:35 am
I remember this; in fact remembering it was what brought me to this site. The nonsense syllables for us were “thumb-deola,” “shoe-deola,” etc. This was in central Connecticut.
The tune is what started me remembering it in the first place. The first couple lines were the same as the Looney Tunes theme, “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.”
August 3rd, 2017 at 10:09 pm
Hey, a long time ago when I was in school, our rhymes we’re like this.
When billy boy was one, he learned to jump and run.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was two, he learned to tie his shoe.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was three, he learned to climb a tree.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was four, he learned to close the door.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was five, he learned to swim and dive.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was six, he learned how to pick up sticks.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was seven, he learned to look up to heaven.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was eight, he learned to roller skate.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was nine, he learned to sing so fine.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was ten, he learned to feed the hens.
Cross down. Billy boy.
When billy boy was eleven, he learned to count to seven.
Is this strange? We learned this in Music at Middle School.
December 10th, 2017 at 5:01 am
We used to play this game in grammar school in the 60’s in Southern California. The lyrics were similar on each line except we used to say “olioca” twice, then “half past (whatever number was next)” then “cross-down” and then start the next line. For instance:
When Billy Boy was one, he learned to suck his thumb,
Olioca, Olioca, half past one, cross-down,
When Billy Boy was two, he learned to tie his shoe,
Olioca, Olioca, half past two, cross-down,
and so on…
I don’t know, it’s just the way I learned it from other kids. I like everyone else’s version too. I love the internet enabling us to look up these old games and songs!
December 10th, 2017 at 2:59 pm
That’s cool Jen!
I saw a similar version that had it as:
“When Billy was one, he learned to jump and run.
Run Olly Olly, Run Olly, Olly. Half past one. Cross Down.”
January 16th, 2018 at 9:57 pm
Tammy wrote:
My mom taught me this one..
When Barney the bear was one he learned to play the drum,
Barney over in the clover half past one…
Words are the same and this song is driving me nuts.
Have a good evening..
September 4th, 2018 at 3:15 am
Hi!
I know a slightly different version of this song… we have the words and audio at https://mysongfile.com/songs/when_billy_was_one
The print music and audio are free for this song, but to access the print music you need to register and log in (which is also free).
Happy singing!
September 21st, 2018 at 6:47 pm
Jerry wrote, “Billy Boy was sung to the tune of ‘The Merry Go Round Broke Down’ (Looney Toons theme).”
September 21st, 2018 at 6:47 pm
I found this rendition:
October 31st, 2019 at 1:03 am
When billy boy was zero
He learned to be a hero
Hero billy hero billy half past one
December 19th, 2019 at 5:26 am
I learned this when I was little, in the late 1950s and early 60s, in Providence RI. The last line in our version used the word “olina”. For example, with one and thumb, we’d say “Thumbolina, thumbolina, half past one-one-one.”
It sort of makes sense with Thumbolina, because of the song about the little dancer with that name. But when you get Shoebolina, and Treebolina, it just seems weird!
August 13th, 2021 at 2:18 pm
My older sister played this with me when I was a kid in the 90s, San Francisco Bay Area. I remember the version Patty describes—”thumbioca” or perhaps “thumb yolk-a”. We never went through the zero/hero stanza though, it always just started with one/thumb.
As for the melody, I distinctly remember it being a loose approximation of the ‘Looney Tunes’ theme just as Jeanne Wardwell mentioned.
July 15th, 2022 at 12:59 am
When I was a kid I learned a version with slightly different lyrics:
When Johnny was one he used to suck his thumb. Thumb olly olly, Thumb olly olly. Half past one.
etc, etc…
November 30th, 2022 at 3:39 pm
I remember playing Billy Boy the way Patty does, with thumbioca, but I don’t think we said “so” before the thumbioca lines. Also, we said “Cross out” between the verses, instead of “cross down” like some others have said, but I could possibly have misunderstood what other girls were singing. That was in the early 70s. A fun memory!