Molly Vanders- Carrie Baber (MO) 1922 Randolph B
[Fragment from Ozark Folksongs I, 1946 by Vance Randolph. 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.
B. "Molly Vanders." Sung by Mrs. Carrie Baber, Pineville, Mo., Feb. 6, 1922.
Young Jimmy went a-huntin',
A-huntin' in the dark,
He shot at Molly Vanders
An' he missed not his mark.
I've shot that fair jewell,
She's the joy of my life,
I always intended
For to make her my wife.
* * *
My apron around me,
He took me for a fawn,
. . .
. . .