Pretty Polly- Dock Boggs (VA) 1927 Brunswick REC
[From Brunswick recording Br 132; August 1927. Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs (February 7, 1898 – February 7, 1971) auditioned at the Norton in late 1926 or early 1927 and secured a record contract. In August 1927 he recorded 8 sides for Brunswick of primarily "white" blues songs. After the stock market crash in 1929 Boggs returned to coal mining. In 1963 he was rediscovered by Mike Seeger and made additional recordings for Folkways.
In Boggs' later version [June 1963 for Folkways], there is no murder at all. Boggs finishes with the penultimate verse of his 1927 version, with Polly falling asleep (See also Staton's 1919 versions whcih ends similarly). Mike Seeger noted, however, in 'Dock Boggs: His Folkways Years' [2CD reissue - Smithsonian/Folkways] that Boggs sometimes sang the last line as 'He threw her in the river where the water's twenty foot deep'.
R. Matteson 2016]
PRETTY POLLY - Sung and played on banjo by Dock Boggs of Norton, Virginia; recorded for Brunswick in NYC in 1927
"I used to be a rambler, I stayed around in town
I used to be a rambler, I stayed around in the town
I courted Pretty Polly, and her beauty has never been found."
"Oh where is Pretty Polly, oh yonder she stands
Oh where is Pretty Polly, oh yonder she stands
With rings on her fingers, her lily-white hands."
"Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, come take a walk with me
Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, come take a walk with me
When we get married, some pleasure to see."
He led her over hills and valleys so deep
He led her over hills and valleys so deep
At length, Pretty Polly, she began to weep
"Oh Willie, oh Willie, I'm 'fraid of your way
Oh Willie, oh Willie, I'm 'fraid of your way
Your mind is to ramble and lead me astray."
"Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, you're guessing about right
Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, you're guessing about right
I dug on your grave, two thirds of last night."
They went on a piece farther and what did they spy?
Went on a piece farther and what did she spy?
A new dug grave and a spade lying by.
She threw her arms around him and began for to weep
She threw her arms around him and began for to weep
At length Pretty Polly soon fell asleep.
He threw the dirt over her and turned away to go
Threw the dirt over her and turned away to go
Down to the river where the deep waters flow.