Polly Vann- Mrs. J.H. Smith (GA-FL) c.1933 Morris B
[From Morris; Folksongs of Florida; 1950.
R. Matteson 2016]
B. "POLLY VANN." My date. Recorded from the singing of Mrs. J. H. Smith, who has spent all her life near Newberry, and who learned this song from relatives in southern Georgia when she was a young girl.
Polly Vann walked out at the setting of the sun,
All under a bower a shower to shun.
Jimmie Ranson went a-fowling just as it was dark,
But alas, oh alas, he did not miss his mark.
With her apron pinned around her he shot her for a swine[1];
His knees they grew weak, and his eyes they grew dim;
He picked her up in his arms and he found she was dead;
And oh the fountain of tears around her he shed.
With his gun in his hand and home he did run,
Saying: "Father, dearest Father, I've killed Polly Vann;
I've killed that fair creature, the flower of the morning,
And to think I will be hanged for killing my own darling."
Up jumps the old man with his head so gray,
Saying: "Jimmie, dearest Jimmie, don't you run away;
Stay in your own country until your trial comes on,
For you never shall be hanged for killing Polly Vann."
There were four and twenty ladies sitting all in one row,.
Polly Vann in the middle like a mountain of snow;
The ladies in this country will surely be glad,
That that fair creature Polly Vandorious is dead.
1. swan