Pretty Polly- W.P. Detherow (AR) 1952 Wolf Coll.
[From the Wolf Collection, online. This is a version of M, two stanzas of the ballad in waltz time combined with stanzas from Wagoner's Lad/Rye Whiskey songs.
It was recorded later and appears in the Ozark Collection Reel 228, Item 16 (see bottom of this page).
R. Matteson 2016]
PRETTY POLLY- Sung by: W.P. Detherow. Recorded in Batesville, AR, 7/19/52
Listen to the original recording: http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/detherowpretty1232.html
Oh, Polly, pretty Polly,
Will you think it unkind
For me to sit down by you
And tell you my mind?
My mind is for to marry
And never more part,
For the first time that I saw you,
You wounded my heart.
Go away from my window;
Go away from my door.
Go a-courting pretty Sally,
Where you have been before.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey,
Rye whiskey I crave,
And if I can't get rye whiskey,
I'll go to my grave.
I'll eat when I'm hungry,
And I'll drink when I'm dry.
If the trees don't fall on me,
I'll live 'til I die.
____________________
Ozark Collection Reel 228, Item 16
Collected by Mary Celestia Parler; Transcribed by Neil Byer
Polly, Pretty Polly sung by T. W. Dethero of Batesville, Ark April 13, 1955
Oh, Polly, pretty Polly,
Would you think it unkind
For me to sit down by you
And tell you my mind?
My mind is for to marry you,
And never more part,
'Cause the first time that I saw you
You wounded my heart.
Go way from my window,
Go way from my door,
Go courting, pretty ally,
Where you have been before.
I'll eat when I'm hungry,
And I'll eat when I'm dry,
If a tree don't fall on me,
I'll live till I die.