Mollie Van- Addy Crane (TN) 1916 Sharp B
[My title, replacing "The Shooting of his Dear." Single stanza with additional text from Sharp MS 3356. From: English Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachians (1917 and 1932) by Olive Dame Campbell, Cecil James Sharp, ed. Maud Karpeles. The 1932 notes follow. There's also an excerpt from Mike Yeats article.
R. Matteson 2016]
1932 Notes: No. 50. Shooting of his Dear.
Texts without tunes :—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxii. 387 ; xxxix. 136.
Texts with tunes: Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii. 59; vii. 17. Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, iii. 25. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 62. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 16. ' Molly Ban (pronounced Van) so fair/ Petrie's Collection of Irish Music, Nos. 724 and 1171 (tunes only). Joyce's Ancient Irish Music, p. 20. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxx. 358, Cox's Folk Songs of the South, pp. 339 (see also further references) and 529.
Mike Yate's article excerpts:
"Returning from Higgin's Creek on 1st September, 1916, Sharp and Karpeles called on other singers, such as twenty-one year old Mrs Addy Crane, Sylvaney Ramsey and Mr & Mrs James Gabriel Coates. Mrs Addy Crane also gave Sharp a tune for The Daemon Lover as well as tunes for Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor, Goodbye Sweet Jane, Brisk Young Lover and Awake, Awake. She was also able to give complete versions of The Lily of the West, The Shooting of His Dear, The Rejected Lover and what seems to be a song that was unique to her, called The Discontented Husband.
On Saturday, 2nd September Sharp and Karpeles again called on Mr & Mrs Coates during the morning. It rained for most of the time. After lunch they tried to find Mrs Crane's husband, Hezekiah, a possible singer, but he was away from home.
On Sunday, 3rd September, Sharp had a lie-in, not having breakfast until 'half-an-hour later', at 7am! He spent the morning copying out song tunes before walking over to the Crane household. Sharp spells the surname as 'Crane', although most families in the area use the spelling 'Crain'. It would seem that Sharp had been told that Hezekiah sang a song which, so Sharp believed, was a version of the ballad The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin. Hezekiah was in when they called, but the song turned out to be 'a very moderate version of My Boy Billy!' But all was not lost, as Hezekiah also gave Sharp versions of three other songs, William Hall, The Brisk Young Lover and Awake, Awake."
B. [Mollie Van] Shooting of His Dear; Sung by Mrs. ADDY CRANE at Flag Pond, Tenn., Aug. 31, 1916. Sharp MS 3356 additional text.
Come all you young men
Who handle a gun
Beware of your shooting
Between the moon and sun[1].
Mollie Van was a-walking
When the showers came down,
And under a beech tree
For the showers to shun.
Jimmy Ramson was a-hunting.
Was a-hunting one night.
He shot his own true love,
O he shot her for a swan.
Jimmy ran to her,
But he found she was dead.
A fountain of tears
In her bosom he shed.
I've shot that fair lady
I loved as mu life.
I always intended,
For to make her my wife.
Up stepped Jimmy's father,
With his hair turning grey,
Says: "Stay at home Jimmy
And don't run away."
Stay at home, Jimmy
Till your trial draws near,
The laws of your country,
Sure will bring you clear.
On the day of Jimmy's trial,
Molly ghost did appear,
With judges and juries
Jimmy Ransom came clear.
Go bring them all to me,
And place them in a row,
Molly Van's all amid us[2]
Like a fountain of snow.
1. original: "after the damsel. . " this line was forgotten
2. original: "Molly Van all amiddance"