Molly Bawn- N. Kennedy (Aberd-VT) 1957 REC
[From the singing of Norman Kennedy, a hand-weaver from Aberdeen, who moved to Vermont in the 1960s after singing at a Newport festival. According to an online source: "Norman Kennedy's Gaelic ballads are sung from memory in the tradition of Scot minstrels who learn their songs by heart and have a repertoire numbering thousands of lines."
R. Matteson 2016]
Molly Bawn- As sung by Norman Kennedy.
Come all ye brave heroes who handle a gun
Beware of night ramblin’ by the setting of the sun.
And be aware of an accident that happened of late
To young Molly Bawn and sad was her fate.
She was going to her uncle’s when a shower came on
She went ’neath a green bush the shower to shun.
With her apron ’around her he took her for a swan
It’s a sob and a sigh it was Oh! Oh! Molly Bawn.
He quickly ran to her and saw that she was dead
And it’s many’s a salt tear on her bosom he shed
He went home to his father with his gun in his hand
Crying father, dear father, I have shot Molly Bawn.
I have shot that young colleen I have taken the life
Of the one I intended to take for my wife.
Oh Johnny, young Johnny, do not run away
Don’t you leave your own country till your trial day.
Don’t you leave your own country till your trial comes on
For you’ll never be convicted for the loss of a swan.
The night before Molly’s funeral her ghost it did appear
Saying mother, dear mother, young Johnny he’s clear.
I was going to my uncle when a shower came on
But tell him he’s forgiven by his own Molly Bawn.
The girls in this country they are all very glad
Since the pride of Glen Allen, Molly Bawn is now dead.
The girls in this country stand them all in a row
Molly Bawn would shine above them like a mountain of snow.