Lyrics
(English folk song)
Call – How many miles to Babylon?
Response – Three score and ten.
Call – Can I get there by candle-light?
Response – Yes and back again.
Call – Open your gates and let us through.
Response – Not without a beck and boo.
There’s the beck, there’s the boo
Open your gates and let us through.
Movement
Formation: Students in 2 rows facing each other (Row 1 and Row 2).
Measures 1-12:
Row 1 sings the Call.
Row 2 sings the Response.
Optional: Each time a row sings, they step forward 4 steps and back up 4 steps when then other row is singing.
Measures 13-14 – On the word “beck,” everyone leans back. On the word “boo,” everyone bows forward.
Measures 15-16 – Row 2 holds hands and raises them to form an arch. Row 1 students walk through the arch, and rows change places.
See also
- movement / dance songs
- call and response songs
- songs with chords I & V
- similar song: How Many Miles to Bethlehem
- source: Kerr’s Guild of Play, 1912
(or available for purchase here)
- Song with chords (PDF)
- MIDI file
- Listen to the song
