Molly Bendon- Mrs. Pointer (MO) 1940 Randolph D
[From Ozark Folksongs I, 1946 by Vance Randolph. Another version appears on he next page with no heading. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2016]
54. MOLLY VAUGHN
The "Molly Vaughn" ballad was first printed in 1806, under the title "Peggy Baun" (Jamieson, Popular Ballads, 1806, I, p. 194). There are numerous American variants. Campbell bell and Sharp (English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917, No. 40) give a version from North Carolina and a fragment from Tennessee, while Pound (American Ballad's and Songs, 1922, p. 78) reprints the song as Wyman heard it in Kentucky. Kittredge (JAFL 30, 1917 p. 358) reports several texts from Massachusetts and Kentucky, and gives many British and American references. Recently reported versions include those of Chappell (Folk Songs from Roanoke and the Albemarle, 1939, p. 101), Eddy (Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939, p. 192 Gardner (Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan,1939, pp. 66-67), Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England, 1939, pp.274-276), Halpert (JAFL 52, 1939, pp. 56-58), Treat (JAFL 52, p. 32) and Morris (Southern Folklore Quarterly 8, 1944, p. 176). This ballad appears also in the Bromn (North Carolina Folk-Lore Society) collection.
D. "Molly Bendon and Jimmy Randolph." Fragment recalled by Mrs. Joseph Pointer, Cabool, Mo., Mar. 22, 1940. She called it 'Molly Bendon and Jimmy Randolph."
Beware of the fate of Jimmy Randolph who was young,
He was out a-hunting, out a-hunting with a gun.
* * * *
On the day of the trial Molly Bendon did appear,
Saying uncle, dear uncle, Jimmy Randolph is clear.
My apron thrown round me, he took me for a fawn,
Alas and alas, it was only Molly Bendon.