Polly Van- Paul Clayton (MA) pre1956 REC
[No source or informant named. From: Bay State Ballads FW02106 / FA 2106, released in 1956. The liner notes follow. Is this the source for Bob Dylan's version?
Clayton doesn't mention the source for copyright reasons--it was sung by Lucy Allen of West Newton, Massachusetts and was published by Linscott in 1939. Clayton adds a chorus.
Richard Matteson 2016]
Paul Clayton (Massachusetts ballads)
SIDE II, Band 4: POLLY VAN
This hauntingly beautiful ballad with its overtones of the supernatural is probably derived from ancient mythology, though the first appearance in print of the ballad itself was not until the end of the 18th century. In 1799, Robert Jamieson, who thought little enough of the ballad, wrote the following in a printed circular letter of his:
"The author remembers having, when a child, heard a silly ditty of a young man, who, returning homeward from shooting with his gun, saw his sweetheart and shot her for a swan. This is all he remembers of this piece, of which he has not been able to procure a copy. In 1806, Jamieson again wrote of this ballad, in the meantime having procured a copy as taken down from the recitation of a friend's maidservant. His comment on this second occasion was even more severe: "This seems to be one of the very lowest description of vulgar modern English ballads, which are sung about the streets in country towns, and sold, four or five for a halfpenny, to maidservants and children; and lowe an apology to my readers for attempting to introduce such paltry stuff to their notice .... "
Though correct in his description of this ballad as being popular in broadside form (early 19th century broadsides of this ballad have been collected both in England and America) his criticism of it as ballad poetry appears to have been unjustified. Indeed,
modern scholars are inclined to disagree both with Jamieson and Francis James Child, who did not believe it worthy of inclusion in his great collection. If the popularity of the ballad may be considered an index of its worth, then the folk have made a strong claim for rising it to a new level of consideration. The song has been collected throughout the British Isles and even more widely in the U. S. where it is still being sung.
. . . concerning Cephalus and Procris in which the two lovers are hunting together and Cephalus, hearing Procris beating the bush and believing it to be some animal, hurls his spear and kills her. A large body of ancient lore also concerns itself with the transfiguration of people into birds upon death. Such beliefs may still be found in parts of Ireland where it is believed that ducks and other birds flying at night are really souls in bird form, and this theme may have appended itself to the ballad story in terms of the swan element. There are many mythological forms of this story in Gaelic lore, and this undoubtedly led to the conclusion on the part of scholars like Phillips Barry and Cecil Sharp that it may indeed be a translation from a Gaelic ballad. This theory has been given strong support by the reporting of the English collector-scholar Lucy E. Broadwood of a Gaelic song from the Western Highlands of Scotland on the same subject. Of worthy consideration in further support of this theory is the fact that the tunes collected are usually Irish or Scottish in character.
For comparison with an interesting Ohio variant, see Folkways album FP 23-2, Ohio Valley Ballads sung by Bruce Buckley, where it appears under the title Molly Bonder. See also FP 917, English Folk Songs sung by Audrey Coppard, for a Norfolk version with the title Polly Vaughan.
"Polly Van" - sung by Paul Clayton on Folkways recording 1956.
All ye brave huntsmen who follow the gun,
Beware of a shooting at the setting of the sun,
For her true love went a-hunting and he shot in the dark,
But, oh, and alas, Polly Van was his mark.
Refrain: For she'd her apron wrapped about her and he took her for a swan,
But, oh, and alas, it was she, Polly Van.
He run up beside her when he found it was she,
His legs they grew weak, his eyes scarce could see,
He embraced her in his arms when he found she was dead,
And a fountain of tears for his true love he shed.
Refrain:
He took her in his arms and home ran he,
Crying, "Father, dear father, I've shot fair Polly;
I've shot that fair female in the bloom of her life,
And I always intended to make her my wife."
Refrain:
At midnight in his chamber Polly Van did appear,
Crying "Jimmy, dear Jimmy, you have nothing to fear,
But stay in your country till your trial comes on,
And you shall not be convicted for what you have done."
Refrain:
In the midst of his trial Polly Van did appear,
Crying, "Uncle, dear uncle, Jimmy Randall must be clear."
The judges and lawyers stood around in a row,
Polly Van in the middle like a fountain of snow.
Refrain: