Johnnie Randle- Jesse Harvey (MS) 1926 Hudson A
[From: Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr.- Jun., 1926), pp. 93-194. Hudson's notes follow. Also in Folksongs of Mississippi, 1936, version A "Polly Van".
R. Matteson 2016]
25. SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR.
A. "Johnnie Randle." Communicated by Miss Annie Laurie Roberts, Poplarville, Mississippi, who obtained it from Jesse Harvey, a pupil in the Pearl River County Agricultural High School, in MS. written from memory.[1] See Cox, No. 102, "Mollie Vaughan"; Rosa S. Allen, Family Songs, p. 5.
I. Johnnie Randle was rambling
Between sunset and dark,
He shot his own true love
And wounded her heart.
2. It being late
And the showers coming on,
She had crawled under a thorn bush
The showers to shun.
3. With her apron pinned around her,
He took her for a swan,
But ah-oo-o-o-oo[2],
It was poor Polly Van.
4. Then he ran up toward home
With his gun in his hand,
Saying, "Father, dear father,
I have killed Polly Van,
5. "And in my own country
No longer can stay.
For killing Polly Van
I must run away."
6. Out came his old father
With his head almost gray,
Saying, "Johnnie, son Johnnie,
Don't you run away.
7. "Stay in your own country
Till the trial comes on.
For killing Polly Van
You never shall be hung."
8. Just the night before the trial
To her uncle she appeared,
Saying, "Uncle, dear uncle,
Johnnie Randle is clear.
9. "With my apron pinned around me,
He took me for a swan,
But oh-o-o-o-o,
It was poor Polly Van.
1. I have divided young Harvey's couplets and have added punctuation.
2. Usually "But oh, and alas"