Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Be Baw Babbity

Be Baw Babbity

Be Baw Babbity

1.
Be baw babbity,
Babbity, babbity,
Be baw babbity,
Kiss the bonnie wee lassie.

2.
B O Babbity, babbity, babbity,
B O Babbity, babbity, busty barley.

Kneel down, kiss the ground,
Kiss the ground, kiss the ground,
Kneel down, kiss the ground,
Kiss a bonnie lassie.

3.
Be Bo Babbity, Babbity, Babbity,
Be Bo Babbity, Babbity Bouster, Boully.
Kneel down and kiss the ground, kiss the ground, kiss
   the ground,
Kneel down and kiss the ground, kiss a bonnie lassie.
Take any one you choose, sir, you choose, sir, you
   choose, sir,
Take any one you choose, sir, the fairest in the ring.

4.
Bee, baw, babbity,
Babbity, babbity,
Bee, baw, babbity,
Bab at the bowster brawly.

Kneel down, kiss the ground,
Kiss the ground, kiss the ground,
Kneel down, kiss the ground,
Kiss a bonnie wee lassie.

I wadna hae a laddie O,
A laddie O, a laddie O,
I wadna hae a laddie O,
I'll choose a bonnie wee lassie.
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(1) M.S., Leslie, Fife, c. 1936.  The tune is the same
as Bab at the Bowster, q.v.
(2) Maclagan, GDA (1901), 57.  Tune = the original, and
The Keel Row. Girl in front dances with handkerchief,
and the line answers.  She spreads the hankie on the
ground before her choice, and the two kneel and kiss.
Then they exchange places, and the game continues.
(3) Maclagan, 58; a ring dance; "one in the centre lays
hold [at the word "ring"] of any one she chooses, kisses
her, and takes her place in the ring.  The one chosen
takes her place in the centre, and the game proceeds as
before."
(4) MacLennan SNR (1909), 34.
Cf. Opies Singing Games (1985), 207, with tune (Paisley,
1961), = Sheriffmuir.

MS