Polly Band- Mrs. S. T. Topper (OH) pre1939 Eddy
[From: Ballads and Songs from Ohio, Eddy, 1939. Cf. Sara Cleveland's version 1966.
R. Matteson 2016]
MOLLIE VAUGHN: other Texts -Cox, No. 102. / Sharp, vol. I, No. 5o. / Hudson, P. 145.
POLLY BAND- Sung by Mrs. S. T. Topper, Ashland, Ohio.
1. Come, all ye young hunters that follow the gun,
Beware of late shooting by the setting of the sun.
2, Jimmy Ransom, the squire, was a-fowling in the dark;
He aimed at his true love, and never missed the mark.
3. Being late in the evening when the showers come on,
She run under a green bush the rains for to shun.
4. With her apron pinned around her, I took her for a swan,
But like the Lord in mercy[1], it was my Polly Band.
5. He threw down his gun, straight home he did run,
Saying, "Uncle, dear uncle, I am forever undone!"
6."I have shot the bright female, the choice[2] of my life,
Whom I always had intended for to make my sweet wife."
7. "Oh, Jimmy, oh, Jimmy, to be sure it is grief,
But you ne'er shall be banished for the loss of Polly Band.
8. "Oh, stay you at home till your trial comes on;
Before you shall be banished i'll give all I own."
9. On the night before trial, her ghost it did appear,
Crying, "Uncle, dear uncle, Jimmy Ransom go clear."
10. "Being late in the evening when the showers come on,
I run under a green bush the rains for to shun,
11. "With my apron pinned around me he took me for a swan,
But it's like the Lord in mercy[1], it was I, Polly Band."
12. Oh, the girls of old England were all very glad
That the flowers of Killberney were shot and killed dead.
13. But we will gather them together and set them in a row,
Polly Band in the middle like a mountain of snow.
1. But oh and alas! it was I, Polly Band (standard)
2. "joy" rarely "joys" (standard)