Come, Pretty Polly- E. Jarrell (WV) 1916 Cox A
[From: Folk-Songs Of The South by John H. Cox, 1925. His detailed notes follow. Cox's assessment the "three West Virginia texts represent 'Polly's Love, or, The Cruel Ship Carpenter,' an English song in eleven stanzas" is incorrect. West Virginia A and B are similar to the standard text taken from the Fleet/Roxburghe broadsides from the 1700s. Part of the standard text is also found in "Polly's Love" - however, none of the identifying text from "Polly's Love" c. 1820 is present. The last line of A in the final stanza is found in the early broadsides but not Polly's Love.
R. Matteson 2016]
89. COME, PRETTY POLLY
The three West Virginia texts represent "Polly's Love, or, The Cruel Ship Carpenter," an English song in eleven stanzas, which is a condensation of "The Gosport Tragedy; or, The Perjured Ship Carpenter," a long broadside ballad that goes back at least to the middle of the eighteenth century (Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, viii, 143, 173). Polly's lover is a ship carpenter. After the
murder he goes to sea, but the ship "cannot sail on," because he is on board. The captain suspects that there is a murderer among the crew. William, like the rest, protests innocence, but he is torn to pieces by Polly's ghost. In "The Gosport Tragedy" the ghost appears before the ship sails, and the captain is afraid to leave port with a murderer as shipmate; the ghost causes the guilty man to die raving distracted.
For references see Kittredge, Journal, xx, 261. Add Ashton, Real Sailor-Songs, 86, and A Century of Ballads, p. 101 ; Sharp,
Folk-Songs from Somerset, rv, 8; broadsides by Catnach, Such (No. 142), Dalton (York, No. 17), Gilbert (Newcastle, No. 59), Cadman (Manchester, No. 213), Bebbington (Manchester, No. 343). A comic version of "Polly's Love" called "Molly the Betrayed, or The Fog-bound Vessel" was popular on the English stage about the middle of the last century (broadsides by Bebbington, Manchester, No. 477; W. S. Fortey; Sam CowelVs Budget from Yankee Land, p. [12]; cf. Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, viii, 143).
For American texts from oral tradition see Journal, xx, 262 (Kentucky); Campbell and Sharp, No. 39 (Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee); Mackenzie 55 (NovaScotia: " The Gaspard Tragedy "). " The Gosport Tragedy " was printed in this country as a chapbook (at Philadelphia?) in 181 6, and again (at Philadelphia) in 1829 (Harvard College Library, 25276, 43, 81). It
occurs also in The New American Song Book (Philadelphia, 181 7), p. 69, in The Forget Me Not Songster (New York, Nans & Cornish), p. 232, and elsewhere. There is an American broadside of about 1820, "The Ship Carpenter, or, The Gosport Tragedy" (Harvard College Library).
A. "Come, Pretty Polly." Contributed by Miss Esther M. Jarrell, Van, Boone County, June, 1916; learned from her sister, Miss Gladys Jarrell.
1 "Come, pretty Polly, come go with me,
Come, pretty Polly, come go with me,
Come, pretty Polly, come go with me,
Before we get married some pleasure to see."
2 He led her o'er hills and dark valleys so deep,
He led her o'er hills and dark valleys so deep,
He led her o'er hills and dark valleys so deep,
And then pretty Polly began to weep.
3 "O Willie, O Willie, I'm afraid of your way,
O Willie, O Willie, I 'm afraid of your way,
O Willie, O Willie, I 'm afraid of your way,
I'm afraid you are leading me astray."
4 "Polly, pretty Polly, you've guessed just right,
Polly, pretty Polly, you've guessed just right,
Polly, pretty Polly, you've guessed just right,
For I dug on your grave a part of last night!"
5 No time to study, no time to stand,
No time to study, no time to stand,
No time to study, no time to stand,
He drew his knife out all in his right hand.
6 He stabbed her to the heart, and the blood did flow,
He stabbed her to the heart, and the blood did flow,
He stabbed her to the heart, and the blood did flow,
And into her grave pretty Polly did go.
7 He threw some dirt o'er and turned to go home,
He threw some dirt o'er and turned to go home,
He threw some dirt o'er and turned to go home,
Leaving no one but the birds to mourn.
8 Come, gents and ladies, I bid you good-night,
Come, gents and ladies, I bid you good-night,
Come, gents and ladies, I bid you good-night,
And raving distracted he died that same night.