"Billy Boy" is a traditional American folk song and nursery rhyme. It is a variant of the traditional English folk song "My Boy Billy", collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and published by him in 1912 in Novello's School Songs. While the tone of the nursery rhyme is ironic and teasing, both the question and answer form and the narrative of the song have been related to "Lord Randall", a murder ballad in which the suitor is poisoned by the woman he visits. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 326. There are two versions printed in The Burl Ives Song Book, one English and one Irish. The English version has similar lyrics but a different tune. The Irish version is only slightly similar. It was collected by Alan and John Lomax and appears in American Ballads and Folk Songs. Malvina Reynolds used the tune for a parody song about the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.