Pretty Polly
[This is the murder ballad, "Pretty Polly" (not Child ballad No. 4), also known as "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (Laws 36, Roud 15). Early recordings include BF Shelton in 1927 and in the late 1930s - The Coon Creek Girls. Also listen to the Stanley Brothers excellent version. See my version on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJjrxxCNmc
At the bottom of the page are two versions: "Wagoner's Lad," and "Inconstant Lover/The Cuckoo," which are not usually part of the Pretty Polly songs. Two verses of a similar waltz, usually titled Rye Whiskey, have been attached to the second stanza of this murder ballad.
R. Matteson 2014]
Painting by Richard Matteson
PRETTY POLLY
1. Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly , would you think it unkind,
If I were to sit, by you and tell you my mind?
My mind is to marry and never to part,
For the first time I saw you, you wounded my heart.
2. Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly , would you think it amiss,
if I were to sit with you and steal me a kiss.
I'll eat when I'm hungry , I'll drink when I'm dry
If a tree don't fall on me I'll live till I die.[1]
1. My footnote- the last two lines are part of Rye Whiskey songs, not Pretty Polly. The next stanza (below) is part of Wagoner's Lad and not part of Pretty Polly.
The two verses and the tune are as remembered by Mrs. McDowell and her husband, who both heard them in their youth, sung by Ed Rascoe, Luther Charles and others. Mrs. W.F. Lassiter, also, remembers them in the same form, and adds the following stanza, which she says belongs to the same song:
At the foot of yon mountain there lies the cold snow,
There could be my lodging and there I must go.
"Come put up your horses and feed them some hay,
My horses aren't hungry, they won't eat your hay."
In a very old manuscript copy of old songs furnished by the family of John Hibdon, there occurs the following verses.
To the meeting, to tho meeting, to the meeting says I,
I'll meet him, I'll meet him, I'll meet him or die.
Meeting is a pleasure but parting is a grief,
An unconstant sweetheart is worse than a thief.
A thief will but rob you and take what, you have,
But an unconstant sweetheart will carry you to your grave.
The grave will destroy you and turn you to dust,
Not one in a thousand that, a poor girl can trust.
The cuckoo's a pretty bird ; she sings as she flies,
She gives us good tidings and tells us no lies.
She gathers sweet berries to keep her voice clear,
And never says "cuckoo" till the spring of the year.
Come all you young, men and take warning by me,
Never place your affections on a green growing tree,
For the leaves they will wither and the roots will decay,
And the beauty of a young girl will soon fade away.
The third verse of the above as sung by the family of Billy Watson, along with a number of other verses, including one or more about "Rye Whlskey," to the tune remembered by Mrs. McDowell and printed herewith. The Watsons call the song "Cuckoo."
The followlng verses are supplled by Mrs. Earl Keaton, and are sung by her to the same tune:
"Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, come go along with me."
Before we are married some pleasure to see."
"O Willie, O Willie, I fear from your way,
They say you are going- will lead me astray."
"Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, you're thinking just right,
I dug a new grave for six hours last night.
She went along, further to see what she could spy,
A new-made grave with the spade lying by.
She throw her arms around him and suffered no fear,
"How could you kill a poor girl who loves you so dear?"