Recordings & Info 4. Molly Bawn (Polly Vaughn)
CONTENTS:
Attached articles:
1. "The Irish Origins and Variations of the Ballad 'Molly Bawn'."
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[Traditional Ballad Index]
Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36]
DESCRIPTION: Jimmy goes out hunting and shoots his true love (Molly, mistaking her for a swan). He is afraid of the law, but is told that the law will forgive him. At his trial Molly's ghost appears and explains the situation; the young man is freed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1806 (Jamieson, volume i, p. 194 -- a partial text in the notes to "Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour)
KEYWORDS: hunting death trial reprieve help ghost
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (36 citations):
Laws O36, "Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear)"
Randolph 54, "Molly Vaughn" (3 texts plus 2 fragments and 1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Eddy 77, "Mollie Vaughn (Polly Band)" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 14, "Molly Baun" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 274-276, "Polly Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 26, "Shooting of His Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 111, "As Jimmie Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 76, "Molly Bawn" (1 text plus a fragment)
BrownSchinhanIV 76, "Molly Bawn" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Morris, #214, "Molly Baun" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 117, "Molly Vaughn" (1 text, properly titled "The Death of Molly Bender," with very peculiar orthography; it looks like it came from a semi-literate manuscript but is said to be from a field recording)
Chappell-FSRA 57, "Polly Bond" (1 fragment)
SharpAp 50, "Shooting of His Dear" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Hudson 32, pp. 145-146, "Shooting of His Dear" (2 texts)
Moore-Southwest 73, "Molly Bond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boswell/Wolfe 24, pp. 44-46, "Molly Bond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 700-701, "Molly Bawn" (1 text)
Leach-Heritage, pp. 176-177, "Molly Bawn" (1 text)
Korson-PennLegends, pp. 46-47, "Molly Banding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 26, "Molly Bawn" (1 text)
PBB 92, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 96-97, "Molly Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 196, "Molly Baun Lavery" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 206, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text)
Graham/Holmes 49, "Molly Ban Lavery" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H114, p. 143, "Molly Bawn Lowry" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 29, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 1, pp. 1-2,99,154-155, "Molly Bawn Lowry" (1 text, 1 tune)
OCroinin-Cronin 92, "Molly Bawn" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy 330, "Polly Vaughan" (2 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 102, "Mollie Vaughn" (3 texts, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 33, pp. 78-79, "Mollie Bond" (1 text)
WolfAmericanSongSheets, #1896, p. 128, "Polly von Luther and Jamie Randall" (1 reference)
Darling-NAS, pp. 133-134, "Molly Bawn"; "Molly Bander" (2 texts)
DT 308, POLLYVON POLLVON1 POLLVON2
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 304, "Young Molly Bawn" (1 short text)
Roud #166
RECORDINGS:
Louis Boutilier, "As Jimmie Went A-Hunting" (on MRHCreighton)
Anne Briggs, "Polly Vaughan" (on Briggs1, Briggs3)
Packie Manus Byrne, "Molly Bawn" (on Voice06)
Sara Cleveland, "Molly Bawn" (on SCleveland01)
Elizabeth Cronin, "Molly Bawn" (on IRECronin01)
Seamus Ennis, "Molly Bawn" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
A. L. Lloyd, "Polly Vaughan" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
John Maguire, "Molly Bawn Lowry" (on IRJMaguire01)
Maggie Murphy, "Molly Bawn" (on IRHardySons)
Pete Seeger, "Shoo Fly" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Phoebe Smith, "Molly Vaughan" (on Voice03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(11), "Young Molly Bawn," J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 b.11(131), "Young Molly Bawn"
LOCSinging, as111140, "Polly Von Luther and Jamie Randall," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Molly Ban
Peggy Baun
Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour
NOTES: Darling compares this to the story of Cephalus and Procris. The standard version is supplied by Ovid in the Metamorphoses (VII.685 and following; it starts on page 174 of the Penguin edition translated by Mary M. Innes). First he tested her love in disguise, and she passed the test. But then she heard a rumor of his unfaithfulness, and set out to watch him. He heard her in hiding, without seeing her, and threw his javelin on the assumption that she was a wild beast. It killed her.
Incidentally, Michael Grant and John Hazel, Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology: A Dictionary, article on Cephalus, thinks Ovid's version of the story may conflate legends of two different heroes named Cephalus. In any case, I don't see a particularly strong parallel to the ballad; yes, the hunter kills his lover, but the motivations are very different. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as111140: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
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Polly Vaughn/Van/Vann [Laws O36/Sh 50/Me I-A37]
At - Shooting of His Dear ; At the Setting of the Sun ; Molly Whan
Sm - Come Rest on this Bosum
Pound, Louise (ed.) / American Ballads and Songs, Scribner, Sof (1972/1922), p 78/# 33 [1915ca] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p243 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
de Ville, Paul (ed.) / Concertina and How To Play It, Carl Fischer, sof (1905), # 66 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p 26 [1910s] (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p700
Leach, MacEdward / The Heritage Book of Ballads, Heritage, Bk (1967), p176 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Allen, Lucy. Linscott, Eloise Hubbard (ed.) / Folk Songs of Old New England, Dover, Bk (1993/1939), p274 [1920-30s]
Armstrong, George and Gerry. Simple Gifts, Folkways FW 2335, LP (1961), trk# B.04
Baber, Carrie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p255/# 54B [1922/02/06] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Bailey, Mike. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1982/02,p27 (Polly Von)
Beers Family. Introducing the Beers Family, Columbia MS 6705, LP (1965), trk# A.01 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Bouttilier, Louis. Maritime Folk Songs, Folkways FE 4307, LP (1956), trk# A.05 [1950/08] (As Jimmie Went a-Hunting)
Briggs, Anne. Collection, Topic TSCD 504, CD (1999), trk# 7 [1964]
Burke, Joe; and Charlie Lennon. Traditional Music of Ireland, Green Linnet SIF 1048, LP (1983/1973), trk# A.07a (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Carthy, Martin. Byker Hill, Topic 12TS 342, LP (1977/1967), trk# A.02 [1967] (Fowler)
Cleveland, Sara. Ballads of the Upper Hudson Valley, Folk Legacy FSA 033, Cas (1968), trk# A.03 [1966/12] (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Collins, Shirley. Classic Collection, Highpoint HPO 6008, CD (2004), trk# 15 [2000?]
Cox, Harry. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 7. Fair Game and Fowl, Caedmon TC 1163, LP (1962), trk# B.03 [1953/12]
Cox, Harry. Kennedy, Peter (ed.) / Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, Oak, Sof (1984/1975), #330, p716 [1953]
Crane, Addy. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p329/# 50B [1916/08/31] (Shooting of His Dear)
Dillards. Back Porch Bluegrass, Elektra EKS-7 232, LP (1963), trk# 3
Drain, Dellie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p257/# 54F [1942/02/10] (Molly Vonder)
Dunagan, Margaret. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p332/# 50F [1917/09/09] (Shooting of His Dear)
Ennis, Seamus. World Library of Folk and Primitive Music. Vol 2. Ireland, Rounder 1742, CD/ (1998), trk# 25 [1951] (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Ervine, Valera (Miss). Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p341/#102C [1917] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Fitzgerald, Florence. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p330/# 50D [1918/04/27] (Shooting of His Dear)
Foley, Connie. Ireland in Song, Copley DWL 9-613, LP (195?), trk# A.03 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Galvin, Patrick. Irish Street Songs, Riverside RLP 12-613, LP (1950s?), trk# B.07 (Young Molly Ban)
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p328/# 50A [1916/08/25] (Shooting of His Dear)
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Smith, Betty N. / Jane Hicks Gentry. A Singer Among Singers, U. Ky, Sof (1998), p164/#23 [1916/08/25] (Shooting of His Dear)
Gibson, George W.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p329/# 50C [1917/08/21] (Shooting of His Dear)
Gregg, George. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p340/#102B [1917/02] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Hall, Mary. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p257/# 54E [1942/03/14] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Hatcher, Charlie. Wolfe, Charles K.(ed.) / Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee. George Boswell, Univ. Tennesse, Sof (1997), p 44/# 24 [1954/03/07] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Kruse, Mrs. Homer. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p254/# 54A [1928/07/20] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaun
Lambertson, Elsie Clark. Gardner, Emelyn E. & Geraldine Chickering / Ballads and Songs of Souther, Folklore Associates, Bk (1967/1939), p 68/# 14B (Polly Bam/Band)
LeGere, Eddie. My Home By the Sea, Arc AS 784, LP (196?), trk# A.06 (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Lind, Bob. Elusive Bob Lind, Verve/Folkways FT 3005, LP (196?), trk# B.02 (Swan)
Lloyd, A. L. (Bert). World Library of Folk and Primitive Music. Vol 1. England, Rounder 1741, CD (1998), trk# 23 [1951]
Lloyd, A. L. (Bert). Great British Ballads Not Included in the Child Collection, Riverside RLP 12-629, LP (1956), trk# B.05 (Shooting of His Dear)
Lynch, Miriam. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p255/# 54C [1934/09/12] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
MacArthur, Margaret. Them Stars, Whetstone WS 04, CD (1996), trk# 13 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Marks, Phyllis. Folksongs and Ballads, Vol 2. Phyllis Marks, Augusta Heritage AHR 008, Cas (1991), trk# 2.12 (Molly Bender)
Mayhan, Judy. Folk Songs of Old Eire, Tradition TR 2075, LP (1962), trk# 3 (Johnny Went Foling)
McClellan, Mrs. Allan. Gardner, Emelyn E. & Geraldine Chickering / Ballads and Songs of Souther, Folklore Associates, Bk (1967/1939), p 68/# 14B [1935] (Molly Bawn/Ban/Band
Murphy, Squire R. D.. Scarborough, Dorothy(ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p117 [1930] (Death of Mollie Bender)
O'Bryant, Joan. Folksongs and Ballads of Kansas, Folkways FA 2134, LP (1957), trk# B.04 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Pace, Eliza. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p331/# 50E [1917/10/06] (Shooting of His Dear)
Peak, Mrs. Georgia. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p170/# 73 [1940s] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Phelps, Doris. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Sof (1990/1950), p400/#214C [1934-39]
Pointer, Mrs. Joseph (Joe). Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p255/# 54D [1940/03/22] (Molly Bendon
Richter, Albert E.. Korson, George (ed.) / Pennsylvania Songs and Legends, Univ. of Penna., Bk (1949), p 46 [1946] (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Roberts, John; and Tony Barrand. Dark Ships in the Forest. Ballads of the Supernatural, Folk Legacy CD 065, CD (1977), trk# B.05
Rose, Tony. On Banks of Green Willow, Leader/Trailer LER-2 101, LP (1976), trk# 4
Scanlon, Pauline. Red Colour Sun, Compass 7 4393 2, CD (2004), trk# 9 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Seeger, Peggy. Bring Me Home, Appleseed APR-CD 1106, CD (2008), trk# 5 (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Smith, Janet. Unicorn, Vol. 1, Takoma A 1027, LP (196?), trk# A.04 (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
Smith, Mrs. J. H.. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Sof (1990/1950), p400/#214B [1934-39]
Stover, Hazel. Folksongs and Ballads, Vol 3, Augusta Heritage AHR 009, Cas (1991), trk# 1.07 [1990/01/11] (Molly Bender)
Stump, Mrs. D. S.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p339,529/#102A [1917/02] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Tate, Dan. Appalachia, The Old Traditions, Vol. 2, Home Made Music LP-002, LP (1983), trk# A.06b [1979/08/06] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Tate, Dan. McNeil, W. K. (ed.) / Southern Folk Ballads, Vol 1, August House, Sof (1987), p 96 [1962/06/01] (Molly Van/Vaughn/Vaunders)
Walsh, Patrick. O Lochlainn, Colm (ed.) / Irish Street Ballads, Corinth, Sof (1960/1939), p 58/# 29 [1920s?] (Young Molly Ban)
West, Hedy. Love, Hell and Biscuits, Bear Family BF 15009, LP (1975), trk# 3 (Molly Bawn/Ban/Banding/Baun)
Wilson, Jenny (Aunt Jenny). Aunt Jenny Wilson, Field Recorder FRC 408, CD (2007), trk# 22 [1969ca] (Molly Bond/Bon/Bonder)
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MOLLY BAWN (LOWRY) - "As young Jimmy went a-fowling" he shoots his own truelove in the "room" (place) of a swan - he goes to his uncle's to keep out of the way until the trial - in the court Polly appears as a ghost and pleads a case of mistaken identity - LAWS #O36 "Molly Bawn" & ABBB 1957 p243-4 - ROUD#166 - JAMIESON 1806 1 p194 "Peggy Bawn" - BARING GOULD SOW 1898 Rev Ed only #62 from Samuel Fone (frag) FWB Blackdown (words adapted by SBG) "At the Setting of the Sun" - SHARP-MARSON FSS1904 1 pp32-3 7 p65 Lucy White, Hambridge, Somerset - SHARP-KARPELES CSC 1974 1 p235 3var Somerset "The Shooting of his dear" - JFSS 2:6 1905 pp59-60 Sharp: Lucy White & Louis Hooper, Hambridge, Somerset & Carence Rook, Kent - JFSS 7:26 1923 pp17-21 Moeran: Walter Gales, Sutton. Norfolk 1921 "The Fowler" (notes by Anne Gilchrist on supernatural content) - PETRIE 1905 724/1171 tune only - JOYCE OIFM 1909 p220 5v/m "Molly Bawn" - MOERAN SFSN 1924 pp20-23 Walter Gales & Harry Cox, Norfolk - HENRY SOP #114/ HUNTINGTON 1990 p143 Peggy McGarry/ Hugh Clarke Ballycastle, Co Antrim/ Co Derry "Molly Bawn Lowry" - JIFSS 3 p25 - O'LOCHLAINN ISB 1939 #29 p58 - JEFDSS 1955 p241 Ennis: Connell Cork - PURSLOW MB 1965 p70 Gardiner: Wm Bone, Medstead, Hampsh 1907-8 - MORTON CDGD 1973 pp1-2 John Maguire, Tonaydrumallard, Co Fermanagh "Molly Bawn Lowry" - KENNEDY FSBI 1975 #330 p716 Harry Cox - PALMER EBBB 1980 #21 Packie Byrne "Molly Bawn"- CROININ 2000 #92 pp151-3 --- SHARP FSSA 1917/32 #50 (vol I p328) 6var: Mrs Jane Gentry, Hot Springs, NC 1916/ Mrs Addy Crane, Flag Pond, Tenn 1916/ George W.Gibson, Oneida, Clay Co., Ky 1917/ Mrs Florence Fitzgerald, Royal Orchard, Afton, Va 1918/ Mrs Eliza Pace, Hyden, Leslie Co., Ky 1917/ Mrs Margaret Dunagan, St Helens, Lee Co., Ky 1917 - POUND AB&S 1922 p78 13v (Ky) - COX FSOS 1925 p339-341 W Va & 529 (W Va) - HUDSON FSM 1936 pp145-6 9v Mississippi "Johnny Randle" "Mollie Vaughan" - SCARBOROUGH 1937 p116 (Va) - CHAPPELL R&A 1939 p101 (NC) - EDDY Ohio 1939 p194 13v - GARDNER-CHICKERING Mich 1939 p66 18v/m - LINSCOTT 1939 p274 5v/m (Mass) "Polly Van" - RANDOLPH OFS 1946 1 pp254-7 Missouri 2var "Molly Bendum and Jimmy Randolph" "Song Ballet of Molly Bunder" - KORSON Penn 1949 p46 15v/m "Molly Banding" - MORRIS FSOF 1950 pp398-401 Fla 3var "Jimmy Ransom" & "Polly Vann"- BROWN NC 1952-62 #76 II & IV - CREIGHTON MFS 1961 p111 Louis Botilier, NS "As Jimmie went a-hunting" - MEREDITH- ANDERSON Australia 1967 p196 "M B Lavery" - KARPELES FSFN 1971 p113 Nfl "Shooting of his dear" - JAFL 22 p387 Me - JAFL 30 p359 Mass & Ky - JAFL 52 p32 (Ky via Wis) - JAFL 52 p56 (NJ) -- Harry COX rec "Windmill", Sutton, Norfolk 1947: RPL 13864/ rec by PK, Sutton, Norfolk 1953: RPL 13864/ CAEDMON TC-1163/ TOPIC 12- T-195/ FTX-029/ rec by Mervyn Plunkett 21/10/59: TOPIC TSCD-512 (D) 2000 "The Fowler" (also playing tune on fiddle rec by Mervyn Plunkett 10/10/59) - Seamus ENNIS rec Dublin 1949: RPL 13776 "Molly Bawn"/ rec by Alan Lomax 1951: COLUMBIA SL-204 1952/ ROUNDER CD-1742 1998/ 7"RTR#0588/ rec by PK, London 1958: FTX-079 "MB" -- A L "Bert" LLOYD rec by AL & PK, London 22/4/51: FTX-056/ RPL 16421/ COLUMBIA SL-206 1952/ featured on Jim Lloyd's tribute to A L Lloyd RPL Radio 1982 CASS 15-0762/ RIVERSIDE RLP-12-629 1956 (version from Harry Cox) - John CONNELL rec by Seamus Ennis, Ballyvourney, Co Cork 1952: RPL 19024 "MB" - Elizabeth CRONIN rec by Seamus Ennis, Macroom, Co Cork 29/8/52: FTX-162/ rec by Jean Ritchie & George Pickow, Ballyvourney, Co Cork 24/11/52: FOUR COURTS CD-2 #26 "MB" - Phoebe SMITH (gypsy) rec by PK, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk 1956: RPL LP 23099 "Molly Varden"/ FTX-100/ TOPIC 12-T-193 1970/ TSCD-653 1998 - Christine SMALLMAN & Children's choir, rec by PK, Wisbech, Cambs 23.7.56 (story before): 7"RTR-0078/ FTX-424 (Moeran) - Shirley COLLINS with John HASTED (banjo), Ralph RINZLER (gtr), Guy Carawan (gtr) rec by PK, London 1958 (ARGO): SEE FOR MILES SEE-212 1987 - Patrick EGAN rec by Seamus Ennis, Co Clare 1960: RPL LP 29984 "MB" ("in Carlow Town") - McPEAKES: FONTANA TL-5258 1965 - Martin CARTHY: FONTANA STL-5434 1967/ PHILLIPS international 6382-022 1967 (Cox version) with Dave SWARBRICK (fid) - Shirley with Dolly COLLINS (flute organ): POLYDOR 583-025 1968 (her own tune) - Ewan McCOLL: ARGO ZFB-12 1972 - John MAGUIRE rec by Robin Morton Fermanagh: LEADER LEE-4062 1973 - Peter BELLAMY: FOLKSOUND FS-100 1974 from Walter Pardon - Packie Manus BYRNE of Co Donegal: TOPIC 12-TS-257 1975 "The Jolly Ploughboy"/ TOPIC TSCD-656 "Molly Bawn" - Clive SKIPPER (unacc): FOREST TRACKS FT-2006 1975 - Walter PARDON Knapton Norfolk: TOPIC 12-TS-392 1982 - John CORRY rec by James Foley, Castlederg, Co Tyrone 1985: FTX-178 - Tim LAYCOCK (with concertina drone, fiddle & ham dulc): Radio 2: 6/6/89: CASS#0719-C10 Harry Cox version - Maggie MURPHY rec by John Howson, Tempo, Co Fermanagh: VETERAN VT134CD 1996 "MB" - Clare CLAYTON, rec by Geoff Biggs, Hassocks, Sussex April 1961: FTX-147 "The Shooting of his dear" -- Mrs J PUCKETT (Florence Fitzgerald) rec by Maud Karpeles, Afton, Va USA Sept 1950: RPL 17141/ rec by MK 31/7/55: RPL 23793/ FTX-908
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Jamieson was Born 1772 heard c. 1777, acquired version in 1799.
From: Popular Ballads and Songs: From Tradition, Manuscripts and Scarce editions, Volume 1 edited by Robert Jamieson, 1806
LORD KENNETH
FAIR ELLINOUR.
In August, 1799, the editor, to save the trouble of transcribing, and, at the same time, shew a few of his literary correspondents how he was employing his leisure hours, got a few copies of this little piece printed along with "Donul and Evir," on a sheet of letter-paper, for the convenience of being sent by the post. To that copy was prefixed this short notice: "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." A considerable time after, he was favoured with the rude original of "Peggy Baun," (i. e. fair-haired Peggy) by his much-valued friend, professor Scott, of King's College, Aberdeen, to whose zeal, industry, and politeness, he owes, either directly or indirectly, the greater part of the best traditionary ballads in this collection. It was taken from the recitation of one of his maidservants; and, indeed, it is fit only for the nursery. In it, the unlucky sportsman runs home to his father, and tells him what he has done, and that he will" run his country."
Out spuk his old father,
(His head it was grey)
"O, keep your ain country,
My son," he did say.
"O, keep your ain country
Let your trial come on, &c.
* * * *
She appeared to her uncle,
And to him said she,
"O uncle, dear uncle,
Jamie Warick is free.
"Ye'll neither hang him nor head him,
Nor do him any wrong;
Be kind to my darling.
Now since I am gone.
"For once as I was walking,
It fell a shower of rain;
I went under the hedging,
The rain for to shun.
"As he was a-hunting,
With his dog and his gun,
By my white apron,
He took me for a swan."
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 half penny, to maid-servants and children; and I owe an apology to my readers for attempting to introduce such paltry stuff to their notice; but one of my classical friends, on reading "Lord Kenneth," asked me whether I had not Ovid's beautiful and romantic story of Procris and Aura in my eye, when I wrote it. Had that been the case, I ought certainly to have made something better of it than I have done; but I most assuredly thought as little of Procris and Aura, when I was writing "Lord Kenneth," as did the great author of "Peggy Baun." A lover killing his mistress, a grey-headed old father, and a ghost, seemed very fine things to a child of five or six years old; and I remembered the story long after I had forgot the terms in which it was conveyed.
LORD KENNETH AND FAIR ELLINOUR.
Lord Kenneth, in a gay mornin',
Pat on the goud and green;
And never had a comlier youth
Don, Spey, or Lossie seen.
He's greathit him fu' gallantlie,
Wi' a' his tackle yare;
Syne, like a baron bauld and free,
To gude green wood can fare.
The rae-buck startit frae his lair
The girsie hows amang;
But ne'er his sleekie marrow fand,
An Kenneth's bow mat twang.
Frae out the haslie holt the deer
Sprang glancing thro' the schaw;
But little did their light feet boot,
An he his bow mat draw.
The caiper-caillie and tarmachin
Craw'd crouse on hill and muir;
But mony a gorie wing or e'en
Shaw'd Kenneth's flane was sure.
He shot them east, he shot them west,
The black cock and the brown;
He shot them on hill, moss, and muir,
Till the sun was gangin' down.
He shot them up, he shot them down,
The deer but and the rae;
And he has scour'd the gude green wood
Till to-fall o' the day.
The quarry till his menyie he
Has gie'n herewith to bear;
Syne, lanelie by the lover's lamp,
Thro' frith and fell can fare.
And blythe he fare, and merrilie;
I wate he thocht na lang,
While o' his winsome Ellinour
With lightsome heart he sang.
And weel he mat, for Ellinour
Had set the bride-ale day;
And Ellinour had ne'er a feer
In Bad'nach or Strathspey.
And as he near'd her bigly bower,
The fainer ay he grew;
The primrose bank, the burn, the bield,
Whare they had been to view.
And he had passed the birken heugh,
And dipt and kist the tree,
That heard the blushing Ellinour
Consent his bride to be.
And now he raught the glassie lin,
And thro' the saughs sae grey;
He saw what kidied a milk-white swan,
That there did sport and play.
Fair swelled her bosom o'er the broo,
As driven snaw to see;—
He shot—o'er true to Kenneth's hand,
The deadly flane did flee!
A shriek he heard; and swithe a graen
Sank gugglin in the wave!
Aghast, he ran, he sprang, he wist
Nor what nor wha to save!
But oh! the teen o' Kenneth's heart,
What tongue can mind to tell?
He drew the dead corse to the strand;
Twas Ellinour hersell!
Molly Bawn
Come all you young fowlers who carries a gun
Don't ever go a-shooting by the setting of the sun
I was once a brave young fowler, as you may understand
And I shot my own true love, I took her for a fawn.
She was going to her uncle when the rain it came on
She went under a tree for to let the rain pass
With her apron all around her, I took her for a fawn
Oh, I never would have shot my own Molly Bawn.
And when he came to her, and found it was she
His limbs, they were shaking, his eyes could not see
His heart it was broken with sorrow and with grief
And he implored up to heaven to give him relief.
Young Jimmy went home with his gun in his hand
Saying, "Father, dearest Father, I have done what's wrong
With her apron all around her, I took her for a fawn
Oh, alas, and alas, I shot my Molly Bawn."
I wrapped her fair temples, and found she was dead
A torrent of tears for my true love I shed
And now I'll be forced by the laws of the land
For the killing of my darling, my trial for to stand.
And the day of her funeral, her spirit it appeared
Saying, "Uncle, dearest Uncle, do not hang my dear
With my apron all around me, he took me for a fawn
Oh, he never would have shot his own Molly Bawn."
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Here's a broadside version, transcribed from a Bodley scan:
Harding B 16(152d); between 1802 and 1819
Molly Whan.
Printed and sold by J. Pitts 14 Great st. Andrew street 7 Dials [London]
A story, a story, to you I'll relate,
Of a loving young damsel a Maying she went,
As she was a Maying a shower it began,
she went under the green bush the shower to shun,
As Jemmy was fowling with his dog and his gun.
He to his great grief shot his dear Molly Whan.
And when he came to her and found it was she,
His limbs they did tremble his eyes could scarce see
Then home to his father away he did run,
saying father dear father great harm have I done
I've shot the fairest creature that ever was known,
I have shot my true love my dear Molly Whan.
His father came running with hair handing grey,
Saying Jemmy love, Jemmy love don't run away
Stay in your own country 'till trial come on,
I'll warrant you'll be righted by the laws of the land
In two or three nights after the lady did appear,
saying uncle loveing uncle pray let my love clear
For my apron hung round me took me for a swan
But to his great grief shot his dear Molly Whan
set them up all together stand them all in a row,
Molly Whan was the fairest like mountain of snow,
Curse light upon Toby who lent me his gun,
Which to my great grief shot my dear Molly Whan.
----------------
Malcolm Douglas
Background to Molly Bawn[Bán]/Polly Vaughan/The Fowler/The Shooting of his Dear etc.
A.L.Lloyd has a good bit to say about it in Folksong in England; some of his ideas may be a little fanciful (to say the least), but they are still interesting. Here is a (shortened) version:
"[A song] despised by Jamieson (who thought it 'one of the very lowest descriptions of vulgar modern English ballads') and rejected by Child but still much loved by singers in Ireland and the eastern counties of England...[synopsis omitted].It seems clear enough that the story is a come-down relic of the same myth that, long before Ovid's time, became attached to the figures of Cephalus and Procris. Procris, an enthusiastic huntress, had a dog that never failed to catch its quarry and a dart that never missed its mark (she obtained them both from Minos in return for bed-favours). She gave both dog and dart to her husband Cephalus. He went out hunting in the dusk, and Procris, suspecting that he was visiting a mistress, put on a camouflage robe and stole out after him. As she hid in a thicket, the dog detected her, and Cephalus, mistaking her for a deer, cast his unerring dart and killed her. He was banished for her murder and haunted by her ghost.
Several commentators...have identified the girl under the apron as a descendant either of a swan maiden or an enchanted doe...in any case the magical maiden who is a woman by day and a beast by night, and fatally hunted by her brother as like as not, is as familiar a figure in folklore as the swans and other birds flying by night, who are thought to be souls in bird form. So the modern-seeming ballad of Molly-Polly Bawn-Vaughan, that Jamieson thought so paltry, in fact reaches far back beyond the time of classical mythology. The song that the experienced Irish folk song collector, Patrick Joyce, thought 'obviously commemorates a tragedy in real life' turns out to be connected with the fantasies of primitive hunting societies...."
Douglas:' To be honest, my feeling was, and is, that Bert Lloyd's comments were over-romantic and barely even peripherally relevant. The "swan maiden" motif may very well have informed the song, but there's no evidence that any actual transformation is implied in (so far as I can tell) any version ever found anywhere.
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According to W. K. McNeil (Southern Folk Ballads, Vol 1, 1987) the song is a British broadside that first appeared in print in Robert Jamieson's "Popular Ballads and Songs" (1806) under the title of "Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour". He apparently got it from Professor Robert Scott of King's College who in turn transcribed it from a recitation by one of his maids. A version from Scotland was known a "Peggy Baun" In the American oral tradition it is known under a host of titles: Molly Van; Molly Vaughn; Polly Van; Molly Banding; Molly Vanders; Molly Vonder; Molly Bendon; Mollie Bonder; Polly Bon; Polly Bond; Shooting of His Dear. The last title is telling because VAnce Randolph (Ozark Folksongs) has a couple versions in which the young woman is mistaken for a "fawn" in the fatal hunting accident. A number of people (and dogs and cows etc.) a killed each year in the US deer hunting season. The young man is most often, Jimmy, Jimmy Randolph, Jimmy Randall, or Jimmy Rangal.
Journal of American Folklore, Volumes 30-31, 1917 Kittredge.
POLLY vaNN (MOLLY whaN).
Jamieson founded his ballad of “Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour.” " on his recollection of the story of “a silly ditty of a young man, who, returning homeward from shooting with his gun, saw his sweetheart, and shot her for a swan;” and, in circulating “Lord Kenneth" (as a printed sheet) among his friends in 1799, he prefixed a note to that effect, remarking that he had not been able to procure a copy. In 1803 he mentioned the ditty as “the tragic ballad of ‘Peggie Baun” in his list of desiderata in the “Scots Magazine,” 65 : 7oo. In 1806 he was able to publish an incomplete text, “Peggy Baun,” in his “Popular Ballads” (1 : 194) from the recitation of a maidservant. He apologized to his readers “for attempting to introduce such paltry stuff to their notice.” A slip issued by Pitts very early in the nineteenth century contains a variant under the style of “Molly Whan” (Harvard College, 25242.4, ii, 67); and almost the same text, similarly entitled, occurs in “The Lover's Harmony” (London, about 1840), p. 158.” J. Andrews (38 Chatham Street, New York) published a text about 1857 in one of his broadsides (List 5, Song 50): “Polly von Luther and Jamie Randall” (Harris Collection, Brown University). Shearin and Coombs, p. 28, describe the ballad (from Kentucky) under the title of “Polly Vaughn.” Barry (JAFL 22 : 387) prints a four-stanza medley (“Mollie Bawn.” or “At the Setting of the Sun”) which contains four lines of the ballad. The song now in circulation in England, known to collectors as “The Shooting of his Dear,” is a disordered form of the broadside. It may be found in Sharp and Marson, “Folk Songs from Somerset,” No. 16, I : 32–33; “Journal of the Folk-Song Society,” 2 : 59–60.
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Child MSS., Harvard College Library, ii, Io?–108, in the hand of the late Mr. W. W. Newell. “From Mrs. Ellis Allen, West Newton, Mass., born in Scituate, now 89 years old.” A similar text is printed in “Family Songs,” “ compiled by Rosa S. Allen (Medfield, Mass.,
1899).
| Popular Ballads, I : 193–199. * Issued in fifty numbers of eight pages each (“Pitts, Printer”). * Compare Frank Smith, Dover Farms, pp. 28–29.
. “Beware all ye huntsmen who follow the gun,
Beware of the shooting at the setting of the sun,
For I'd my apron about me, and he took me for a swan,
But O and alas! it was I, Polly Vann!” -
. He ran up to her when he found she was dead,
And a fountain of tears for his true love he shed.
. He took her in his arms, and ran home, crying, “Father,
Dear father, I have shot Polly Vann.
I have shot that fair female in the bloom of her life,
And I always intended to have made her my wife.”
. One night to his chamber Polly Vann did appear,
Crying, “Jamie, dear Jamie, you have nothing to fear,
But stay in your own country till your trial comes on,
You shall never be condemned by the laws of the land.”
. In the heighth of his trial Polly Vann did appear,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, Jamie Randall must be clear,
For I'd my apron about me, and he took me for a swan,
But O and alas! it was I, Polly Vann!”
. The judges and lawyers stood round in a row,
Polly Vaun in the middle, like a fountain of snow.
II.
Mollie Bond.
From Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Lauda Whitt, McGoffin County, Kentucky, 1916.
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Come all you young men who han - dle a gun, Be
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. Mollie Bond was out walking, and a shower came On ;
She sat under a beech tree the showers to shun.
. Jim Random was out hunting, a hunting in the dark;
He shot at his true love and missed not his mark.
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With a white apron pinned around her he took her for a swan;
He shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond.
. He ran to her; these words to her he said,
And a fountain of tears on her bosom he shed:
. Saying, “Mollie, dear Mollie, you're the joy of my life;
I always intended to make you my wife.”
. Jim ran to his uncle with his gun in his hand,
Saying, “Uncle, dear uncle, I've killed Mollie Bond.
“With her apron pinned around her, I took her for a swan;
I shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond.”
Up stepped his dear uncle with his locks all so gray,
Saying, “Stay at home, Jimmie, and do not run away.
“Stay in your own country till your trial comes on;
You shall not be molested if it costs me my farm.”
The day of Jimmy's trial Mollie's ghost did appear,
Saying to this jury, “Jim Random, come clear!
“With my apron pinned around me he took me for a swan,
He shot and killed me, and now I am gone.”
III.
Molly Baun.
From Miss Wyman, as sung by Sallie Adams, Letcher County, Kentucky, May, 1916.
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Jimmie Randall was a-hunting, a-hunting in the dark;
He shot at Molly Bawn O and he missed not his spot.
Molly Bawn O was a-walking when the shower came down;
She sat under a green tree the shower to shun;
With her apron pinned around her he took her for a swan;
He shot her and he killed her, it was poor Molly Bawn.
. He runned up to her with his gun in his hand:
“Dear Molly, dear Molly, you're the joy of my life;
For I always intended to make you my wife.”
He went to his old uncle with his locks all so gray:
“Dear uncle, dear uncle, I’ve killed Molly Bawn:
With her apron pinned around her I took her for a swan.
. “I shot her, I killed her; it was poor Molly Bawn.”
“Stay at home, Jimmie, and don’t run away;
They never shall hang you, and I'll spend my whole farm.”
On the day of Jimmie's trial young Molly did appear,
Saying, “Judges and jury, Jimmie Randall come clear!
With my apron pinned around me he took me for a swan,
And through his misfortune it was poor Molly Bawn.”
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Polly Vaughn: A Traditional British Ballad
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0316585416
Barry Moser - 1992 - No preview
Inspired by a traditional English ballad, this tragedy set in the deep South of the U.S. features two sweethearts whose love is interrupted by a hunting accident.
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Folk Ballads - Page 26
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0670001368
Albert B. Friedman - 1964 - Snippet view - More editions
The folk versions of "Molly Bawn" are mainly traceable to nineteenth-century Irish broadsides. The story the ballad tells, however, though sadly rationalized, goes back to the dawn of European culture. For Molly Bawn is a swan-maiden, a woman under enchantment who assumes at times the form of a swan. From the emphasis on the setting of the sun in the ballad, one gathers that she became a swan each evening. While in her bird state, Molly was unwittingly shot by her hunter lover. Metamorphosis of this kind was beyond the imagination of later singers; therefore they invented the rain, the apron drawn over Molly's head, the cringing in the bushes
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Street Ballads, Popular Poetry, and Household Songs of Ireland. 1865
A TRUE STORY-CALLED MOLLY BAWN.
s'rnsn'r BALLAD.‘
A STORY, :1. sad story, to you I will relate,
Of a beautiful young maiden, who met a woful fate;
As she walked out one evening, at the setting of the sun
And nested in a bower, a passing shower to shun.
Young Jemmy with his gun had been fowling all the day And down beside the lake he came at close of twilight
grey ‘ Her apr’on being about her, he took her for a fawn; But, alas, to his grief, 'twas his own Molly Bawn!
Now all ye brave young men, who go sporting with the gun,
Beware of shooting late, and grey mists about the sun :
Her apron being about her, he took her for a fawn;
But, alas, to his grief, ’twas his own Molly Bawn!
When he came to the bower, and found that it was she
His liinbs they grew feeble, his eyes they could not see ;
He took her in his arms, across her uncle’s lawn,
And his tears flowed like fountains on his ownMolly Bawn.
Young J emmy he went home, with his gun beneath
his hand, Sick and broken-hearted, like a felon in the land;
Crying_“ Father, 0, my father—by the lake—a fair . white fawn— I levelled and I shot her dead—my own Molly Bawn !”
That night to her uncle her spirit did appear,
Saying__“ Uncle, dearest uncle, my truelove he is clear:
My apron being about me, he took me for a fawn ;
But, alas, to his grief, ’twas his own Molly Bawn !"
Oh, Molly was his jewel, his sweetheart and his pride!
If she had lived another year, she would have been his bride '
The flower of all the valley, the pride of but and hall,
Oh, Jemmy soon will follow his own Molly Bawn.
1. Highly popular in several of the mldland counties of Ireland.
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A Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark - Page 61
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1895176360
Edith Fowke, Jay Rahn, LaRena LeBarr Clark - 1994 - Preview - More editions
Another suggestion is that the alternate title "The Shooting of His Dear" may originally have referred to a deer, and Vaughan to a fawn, relating it to ancient tales of a maiden who was a woman by day and a deer by night. Perhaps the white
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29.—THE SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR.
Sung By Mrs. Lucy White And Mrs. Louie Iiooi'er, At Hambridge, Sept., 1903.
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Young Jim he went hunt • ing with his dog and gun, On put - potc to
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took her to be a swan, So he shoot his dear dar - ling with a rat - tel - ing gun.
And when he came to her and found it was she,
His heart bled with sorrow till his eyes could not see;
Crying, " Polly, dear Polly, my own heart's delight,
If you was but living you should be my bride."
He took up his gun and straightway went home,
Crying, " Uncle, dear uncle, do you know what I've done?
With my love swifrling round me, I took her to be a swan,
So I shoot my dear darling with a ratteling gun."
Then up spokes his Uncle, with his hair growing grey,
"You're sure to be hung if you do run away;
Stay at home in your own country till the 'Sizes come on,
You never shall be hung, if I lose all my land."
In six weeks' time when the 'Sizes come on,
Young Polly appeared in the form of a swan;
Crying, " Jimmy, young Jimmy, young Jimmy, you're clear:
He never shall be hung lor the shooting of his dear."
SECOND VERSION.
MOLIAN.
Andante.
ears - ed be my un - ele for a - lend - ing of me
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gun. For I bin and shot my true love in de room* of a swan.
"With my apyrin tied ower nie,
I 'peared like unto a swan;
All underneath the green tree,
While the showers they did come on."
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould has published a harmonised version of this ballad in sheet form, called " The Setting of the Sun " (Weekes and Co.), both words and tune of which are quite different from the Somerset version, although the subject of the two ballads is the same.
I noted the second version—which is but a fragment—from Mr. Clarence Rook, who heard it sung twenty years ago by a very old man at a Harvest Supper at Homestall, Doddington, near Faversham, Kent. This shows that the ballad is sung in the extreme East of England as well as in the West.
The supernatural element enters so rarely into the English Ballad that one is inclined to see in its occurrence an indication of Celtic origin. In the present case this suspicion is perhaps strengthened by the presence of certain Irish characteristics in the tune.
The incidents related in the song are a strange admixture of fancy with matter of fact. I would hazard the suggestion that the ballad is the survival of a genuine piece of Celtic or, still more probably, of Norse imagination, and that the efforts made to account for the tragedy without resorting to the supernatural (e.g. the white apron, shower of rain, etc.) and of course the mention of the Assizes, are the work of a more modern and less imaginative generation of singers.—C. J. S.
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The Late Victorian Folksong Revival: The Persistence of English ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0810869888
E. David Gregory - 2010 - Preview - More editions
“The Setting of the Sun,” a variant of the ballad also known as “Polly Vaughan” or “The Shooting of His Dear,” was collected from Fone on 12 July 1893, the tune by F.W. Bussell and the words by Baring-Gould: The Setting of the Sun ..
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Folk Songs from Somerset
edited by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson
SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR.
YOUNG Jim he went hunting with his dog and gun,
On purpose to shoot at some lily-white swan :
With his love peering round him he took her to be a swan, So he shot his dear darling with a ratteling gun.
And when he came to her and found it was she,
His heart bled with sorrow till his eyes could not see,
Crying : Polly, dear Polly, my own heart’s delight,
If you were but living you should be my bride.
He took up his gun and straightway went home,
Crying : Uncle, dear Uncle, do you know what I’ve done ? With my love swifiling round me I took her to be a swan, SO I shot my dear darling with a ratteling gun.
Then up spoke his Uncle with his hair growing gray :
You’re sure to be hung if you do run away :
Stay at home in your country till the ’Sizes come on,
You never shall be hang-ed for the shooting of one.
In six weeks’ time when the ’Sizes came on
Young Polly appeared in the form of a swan,
Crying : Jimmy, young Jimmy, young Jimmy is clear,
He never shall be hang-ed for the shooting of his dear.
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nglish Dance and Song - Volumes 68-69 - Page 12
https://books.google.com/books?id=APzZAAAAMAAJ
2006 - Snippet view - More editions
Polly Vaughan The Shooting of His Dear from William Bone Polly Vaughan from Mrs Matthews Polly Vaughan (words from Marrowbones) One Midsummer's evening the sun being gone down, Young Polly went a-walking by the side of a pond,
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Folk Songs of Old New England - Page 274
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0486278271
Eloise Hubbard Linscott - 1993 - Preview - More editions
The ballad is known also as "Molly Bawn" or "The Shooting of His Dear," and in the text may occur a swan, hind, or other magic symbol. The white apron of Polly in this version is the symbol of enchantment. In Irish lore, the bewitched maiden is .
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Folksongs of Mississippi and Their Background - Page 134
https://books.google.com/books?id=PSYMAAAAMAAJ
Arthur Palmer Hudson - 1936 - Snippet view - More editions
The "Shooting of His Dear" ballad mentioned above affords an example in the B text of a ghost substituted for the swan which, in the oldest version, was the metamorphosed girl. The A text preserves a memory of the swan motif, ..
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Mainly Norfolk:
Polly Vaughan / The Fowler / The Shooting of His Dear
[Roud 166; Laws O36 ; Ballad Index LO36 ; Full English ; trad.]
A.L. Lloyd sang this tragic ballad in a 1951 BBC recording that has been included in the Alan Lomax Collection CD World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England. He also sang it in the early 1950s on his 78rpm record The Shooting of His Dear / Lord Bateman and on the 1956 Riverside LP Great British Ballads Not Included in the Child Collection. Both of these recordings had the title The Shooting of His Dear. The former was reissued in 2008 on Ten Thousand Miles Away and the latter in 2011 on Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun; both anthologies are on the Fellside label.
Elizabeth Cronin sang Molly Bawn in a recording made in the early 1950s on the 2012 Topic anthology Good People, Take Warning (The Voice of the People Series Volume 23).
Shirley Collins recorded Polly Vaughan three times with a self-composed tune: in 1959 for her album Sweet England, and twice in 1967 for her albums The Sweet Primeroses (reissued on Fountain of Snow) and The Power of the True Love Knot (reissued on Within Sound and on The Classic Collection). Strangely, the The Sweet Primeroses version isn't mentioned on album cover, sleeve notes and record label.
Harry Cox of Yarmouth, Norfolk, sang this song as The Fowler in the Sutton Windmill, which was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in late 1947, and published in about 2000 on the Snatch'd from Oblivion CD East Anglia Sings. He also sang Polly Vaughan in a Peter Kennedy recording on the anthology Fair Game and Foul (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 7; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970), and he sang The Fowler in another recording made by Mervyn Plunkett on October 21, 1959 on his 2000 Topic anthology The Bonny Labouring Boy: Traditional Songs and Tunes from a Norfolk Farm Worker.
Anne Briggs sang Polly Vaughan in 1964 on her Topic Records EP The Hazards of Love. This recording was reissued on her Fellside and Topic compilation CDs, Classic Anne Briggs and A Collection. A.L. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:
Patrick Joyce heard it as Molly Bawn, “sung in fine style in the streets of Dublin by a poor woman with a child on her arm.” He felt it “obviously commemorates a tragedy in real life”. That was in the mid-19th century. Fifty years earlier, an Aberdeen maidservant sang it to Robert Jamieson, who thought it “a silly ditty… one of the very lowest description of vulgar modern English ballads… paltry stuff.” Neither Joyce nor Jamieson saw what lay behind the ballad's simple but odd story. Modern scholars have little doubt that in fact Polly Vaughan is a fine relic of a very ancient ballad concerning one of those magic maidens, familiar in folklore, who are girls by day light but swans (or white does) after sunset, and are tragically hunted and killed by brother or lover. Somerset, Kent and Norfolk are some areas from which the ballad has been recovered, but almost surely it came to England from Ireland. The “fountain of snow” seems a typical bit of Gaelic exuberance, though it may have something to to with the wraith-like appearance of magical Polly.
Martin Carthy sang a version very similar to Anne Brigg's—except for one missing verse—as The Fowler on his and Dave Swarbrick's 1967 album Byker Hill. It was reissued on their compilation album This Is… Martin Carthy. Carthy said in the original album's sleeve notes:
The Fowler or The Shooting of His Dear is another song from the Norfolk collection of E.J. Moeran with an additional verse. It seems curious that Child should have passed over this song when compiling his English and Scottish Popular Ballads as he undoubtedly knew of its existence. Perhaps he felt himself more than usually guided by the opinions of notable predecessors like Jamieson who called it a “silly ditty” and “one of the very lowest of vulgar modern English ballads” and “paltry stuff” before stating his apology for printing it. To be fair, it is in a very confused state. Anne Gilchrist in the Journal of the Folksong Society (number 26) points to many tales, Hessian, Celtic, Scandinavian, and French, telling of girls as milk-white doves or swan maidens who can only be released from enchantment by death. Some have the girls resuming human form at night (Swan Lake is an obvious close relative). It would seem that a less blurred version of the ballad might have the young man coming upon the maiden at sunset, about to undergo the transformation from swan to maiden, thus doing away with the need for the “apron” rationalisation in the last verse. Miss Gilchrist goes further to suggest that in the alternative title “dear” has become confused with “deer” and that “fountains of snow” could possibly have been “fawn, white as snow”. She concludes “Molly Bawn (as she is known in some versions) is no kingless waif of vulgar balladry, but her ultimate ancestry may be left to folklorists to trace…”
Peter Bellamy sang this song unaccompanied as The Shooting of His Dear on his first solo LP, Mainly Norfolk (1968). He commented in the album's liner notes:
The Shooting of His Dear is Harry Cox's superb variant of Polly Vaughan, a strange and ancient ballad. Perhaps when the song was born, Polly really did become a swan and only in more recent and less magical times did she herself wrap up in her apron and become a sad victim of mistaken identity and questionable eyesight.
Phoebe Smith sang Molly Vaughan in a recording made by Paul Carter and Frank Purslow in her home in Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1969. This was published in 1970 on her Topic album Once I Had a True Love and in 1998 on the Topic anthology O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green (The Voice of the People Series Volume 3).
Ewan MacColl sang The Fowler on his 1972 Argo LP Solo Flight.
John Maguire sang Molly Bawn Lowry in a recording made by Robin Morton in 1972 on his Leader album Come Day, Go Day, God Send Sunday.
Packie Manus Byrne sang Molly Bawn in a recording made by Tony Engle and Mike Yates, London, in 1974 on his 1975 Topic album Songs of a Donegal Man and in 1998 on the Topic anthology Tonight I'll Make You My Bride (The Voice of the People Series Volume 6). Mike Yates commented in the sleeve notes:
Packie learnt Molly Bawn from Charlie Waters of Meentinadea near Ardara, Donegal, many years ago when they were both trapped in a deserted farm house at Glendown during a snow storm. The farm belonged to Packie’s sister who was away in hospital expecting a baby, and Packie and Charlie had gone there to look after the farm animals, expecting to only stay for an hour or two. A storm blew up and it was not until four days later that they were able to leave the house where they had been trapped without food or turf. In order to keep warm and cheerful Packie and Charlie had huddled together and spent the time teaching one another songs. According to A.L. Lloyd the ballad is but a remake of the Greek myth of Cephalus and Procris in which Procris, suspecting that her husband Cephalus is about to visit a mistress, hides in a thicket to watch his progress. ln fact Cephalus was out hunting and, mistaking Procris for a deer, he killed her with a magic dart. Others, including P.W. Joyce and Professor Hugh Shields, have sought to identify the ballad with an actual event, albeit one which has incorporated the swan-maiden theme. Packie’s tune, in common with most that are associated with this ballad, is especially fine.
Tony Rose recorded Polly Vaughan in 1976 for his LP On Banks of Green Willow. A live recording from Eagle Tavern, New York, in 1981 was included in 2008 on his CD Exe. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:
There is a strong element of the supernatural in Polly Vaughan where the ghost of a young girl, shot by her sweetheart in mistake for a swan, appears at his trial to plead for his freedom. This is substantially the version collected by George Gardiner from William Bone of Alton, Hampshire, and published in Frank Purslow's Marrow Bones.
Frankie Armstrong sang Polly Vaughn in 1976 on the LP Here's a Health to the Man and the Maid. The album notes comment:
A broadside ballad found in both England and America, is known by various names (Molly Bawn, Molly Bond, The Shooting of the Deer). A young lad accidentally shoots his girlfriend. The theme can be traced back to the Greek myth of Cephalus who shoots his wife Procris, thinking she is a deer. For complete story, see A.L. Lloyd's Folk Song in England.
John Roberts and Tony Barrand sang Polly Vaughn in 1977 on their Folk-Legacy album Dark Ships in the Forest: Ballads of the Supernatural. They commented in their liner notes:
Child apparently did not think enough of this ballad to canonize it; it does not seem possible that he would not have known it. The Scot Robert Jamieson, who published his collection of ballads in 1806, characterized it as “one of the very lowest descriptions of vulgar modern English ballads.” Yet the ballad has remained popular in the tradition, and the plot shows every indication of considerable antiquity. Lloyd points out that the girl, using her apron as protection from the rain, has been identified as a modern relative of a swan maiden or an enchanted doe, Maiden by day, swan by night, hated and envied, killed with a magic gun, reappearing as a spirit to clear her lover—this is the stuff of epic fairy tales.
Our tune comes from Maine, from the book of songs, learned from her parents, authored by Carrie Grover of Bethel; our text comes from Harry Cox and A.L. Lloyd.
Dave Burland sang The Shooting of His Dear in 1979 on his Rubber Records album You Can't Fool the Fat Man.
Patti Reid sang The Fowler in 1992 on the Fellside anthology Voices. Paul Adams commented in the liner notes:
This is another old story and seems to be based upon an old Celtic folk tale, An Cailin (The Fair Girl). The story simply is that of a jealous girl who thinks that her lover is going to meet someone else when he goes out shooting. She disguises herself as a swan to follow him. The theme, of course, finds it way into the ballet, Swan Lake. Although alterations have crept in, Patti's version is loosely based on that collected from Harry Cox of Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Walter Pardon sang Polly Vaughan in a Mike Yates recording on his 2000 Musical Traditions anthology Put a Bit of Powder on It, Father. Rod Stradling and Mike Yates commented in the album's booklet:
[…] this is another extremely popular song (122 instances) all over the British Isles and USA, with a few versions found in Canada and just Sally Sloane, again, in Australia. Given the supernatural elements in some versions, it could be a very old song indeed, yet it still has enormous appeal, so that there are some 25 sound recordings—most of the English ones being from East Anglia.
Chris Foster sang The Fowler in 2003 on his Tradition Bearers CD Traces.
Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher sang Polly Vaughan in 2005 on the Fellside anthology Song Links 2: A Celebration of English Traditional Songs and Their American Variants; the corresponding American version on this double CD is Molly Varne sung by Kieron Means.
Martha Tilston recorded Polly Vaughan in 2006 for her CD Of Milkmaids & Architects. This YouTube video shows her at Acoustic Routes, in the Cellar of CB2 Cambridge, in April 2008:
Jim Causley sang Polly Vaughn in 2007 on his WildGoose CD Lost Love Found.
Bella Hardy sang Molly Vaughan in 2007 on her CD Night Visiting.
Jon Boden sang Polly Vaughan as the August 17, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He commented in the project's blog:
Very interested in the idea that this might be a remnant of a shape shifting myth, rather than a song about bad eyesight. Interesting in reference to blacksmith ballads and the lay of Völundr.
Andy Turner sang The Setting of the Sun as the February 2, 2013 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. He noted in his blog:
This is quite the jolliest version of Polly Vaughan that I’ve come across.
Dave Parry introduced me to the song, which he’d found in Sabine Baring-Gould’s Songs of the West (the 1905 edition, for which Cecil Sharp acted as musical editor). Baring-Gould collected the song on July 12, 1893 from Sam Fone of Mary Tavy in Devon. The words as printed in Songs of the West struck me at the time as having been rewritten and unnecessarily prettified by Baring-Gould, and now that we can see the original—thanks to Martin Graebe and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library—I think my suspicions are confirmed. In any case, I retained only the tune, first verse and chorus, with the remaining verses taken from what I’d probably consider the definitive version of this song, from the great Harry Cox.
Incidentally, I’ve always thought that the “I shot my true love because I thought she was a swan” argument a rather dodgy line of defence. Wasn’t killing one of the Queen’s swans a crime which was subject to fairly severe penalties?
Lyrics
A.L. Lloyd sings The Shooting of His Dear (78rpm record)
Come all you young fellows that carry a gun,
I'll have you come home by the light of the sun.
For young Jimmy was a fowler, and a-fowling alone,
When he shot his own true love in the room of a swan.
As Polly went out in a shower of hail,
She crept unto the bushes herself to conceal
With her apron thrown over her, and he took her for a swan,
With a shot in the dark he killed Polly his own.
Then home rushed young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, have you heard what I've done?
O cursed be that old gunsmith that made my old gun,
For I've shot my own true love in the room of a swan!”
Then out rushed bold uncle with his locks hanging grey,
Crying, “Jimmy, dear Jimmy, don't you run away.
O don't you leave your own country till your trial do come on,
For they never would hang you for shooting a swan.“
Now the girls of this country, they're all glad we know,
To see Polly Vaughan a-lying so low.
You could gather them into a mountain, you could plant them in a row,
And her beauty'd shine among them like a fountain of snow.
Well, in six weeks time the assizes were on
And Polly did appear in the form of a swan,
Crying, “Uncle, dearest uncle, let Jimmy go clear,
For he never should be hung for shooting his dear.”
Come all you young fellows that carry a gun,
I'll have you come home by the light of the sun.
For young Jimmy was a fowler, and a-fowling alone,
When he shot his own true love in mistake for a swan.
As young Polly went out in a shower of rain,
She hid under the bushes her beauty to gain.
With her apron thrown over and he took her for a swan,
He aimed and he fired, shot Polly, his own.
Well, home run young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, have you heard what I've done?
O cursed be that old gunsmith what made my old gun,
For I've shot my own true love in mistake for a swan!”
Well, the funeral of Polly it was a brave sight,
With four-and-twenty young men and all dressed in white,
And they carried her to the graveyard and they laid her in the grave,
And they said, “Farewell Polly,” and went weeping away.
Shirley Collins sings Polly Vaughan
Come all you young fellows that follow the gun
And beware of sharpshooting by the light of the moon.
Young Polly, she was a-walking in a shower of rain
And she hid by the bushes her beauty to maintain.
Young Jimmy, he was a-fowling, a-fowling all alone,
When he shot his own true love in the place of a swan.
Oh Jimmy, dear Jimmy, don't you see what you have done?
And his poor heart lies bleeding for Polly his own.
Now the girls of this country they're all glad, I know,
To see Polly Vaughan a-lying so low.
You could stand them on a mountain and stand them all in a row,
And her beauty it would shine for line a fountain of snow.
Anne Briggs sings Polly Vaughan
Come all you young fellows that handle a gun,
Beware how you shoot when the night's coming on.
For young Jimmy met his true love, he mistook her for a swan,
And he shot her and killed her by the setting of the sun.
As Polly was walking all in a shower of rain,
She sheltered in the green bush her beauty to save.
With her apron throwed over her, he mistook her for a swan,
And he shot her and killed her by the setting of the sun.
Then home ran young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, have you heard what I done?
I met my own true love, I mistook her for a swan,
And I shot her and killed her by the setting of the sun.”
Then out rushed his uncle with his locks hanging grey,
Crying, “Jimmy, oh dear Jimmy, don't you run away.
Don't leave your own country till the trial do come on,
For they never will hang you for the shooting of a swan.”
Oh, the girls of this country they're all glad, we know,
To see Polly Vaughan brought down so low.
You could take them poor girls and set them in a row,
And her beauty would outshine 'em like a fountain of snow.
Well, the trial were on and Polly's ghost did appear,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, let Jimmy go clear,
For my apron was thrown round me, he mistook me for a swan,
And he never would have shot his own Polly Vaughan.”
Martin Carthy sings The Fowler
Come all you young fellows that follow the gun,
I'll have you not go out by the light of the sun.
For young Jimmy was a fowler and a-fowling all alone
When he shot his own true love in the room of a swan.
Then it's home went young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Saying, “Uncle dear uncle, do you see what I've done,
Oh, cursed be that old gunsmith who made me my gun
For I've been and shot me true love in the room of a swan.”
Then out came his uncle with his locks hanging grey,
Saying, “Jimmy, dear Jimmy, don't you run away.
And don't you leave your own country till your trial it come on,
For you never will be hanged for the shooting of a swan.“
All the girls in this country, they're all glad we know,
For to see pretty Polly and lying so low.
Oh, you could pile them into a mountain, you could line them all in a row,
And her beauty would shine among them like a fountain of snow.
Now the trial it came on and pretty Polly did appear,
Saying, “Uncle, dear uncle, let Jimmy go clear,
For with me apron thrown over me he took me for a swan,
And his own love lay bleeding for it was Polly his own.”
Peter Bellamy sings The Shooting of His Dear
Come all you young fellows as handle a gun,
I will have you go home by the light of the sun.
For young Jimmy was a-fowling, was a-fowling all alone,
And he shot his own true love in the room of a swan.
When first he went up to her and found it was she,
He was shaken and a-trembling, his eyes scarce could see.
“Well now you are dead, love, and your sorrows are all o'er,
Fare the well, my dear Polly, I will see you no more.”
Then home went young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Crying, “Uncle, dear uncle, have you heard what I've done?
Oh cursed be that old gunsmith who made my own gun,
For I shot my own true love in the room of a swan.”
Then out come old uncle with his locks hanging grey,
Saying, “Jimmy, dear Jimmy, don't you run away.
Don't you leave your own country till your trial it do come on,
For they never will hang you for the crime you have done.”
Oh, the girls of this country they're all glad, we know,
To see Polly Vaughan brought down so low.
You could take them poor girls and set them in a row,
And her beauty would outshine 'em like a fountain of snow.
Well, the trial die come on, pretty Polly did appear,
Crying, “Uncle, dearest uncle, let Jimmy go clear,
For my apron was wrapped round me when he took me for a swan,
And his poor heart lay bleeding for Polly his own.”
[spoken:] Polly his own
Tony Rose sings Polly Vaughan
One midsummer's evening, the sun being gone down,
Young Polly went walking by the side of a pond.
She sat under the shady trees, the showers for to shun,
With her apron wrapped around her, as white as a swan.
Young Willy went hunting with his dog and his gun,
Young Willy went hunting as the evening came on.
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
He shot his own true love in the room of a swan.
And when he'd seen what he'd done away he did run
Crying, “Father, dear father, do you see what I've done?
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
I shot my own true love in the room of a swan.”
“Stay at home, dear Willy, till your trial do come on,
That you may not be banished to some far land.
On the day of your trial your father will appear
With a hundred bright guineas if that will you clear.”
On the day of the trial young Polly did appear,
Crying, “People, oh people, let Willy go clear,
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
He shot his own true love in the room of a swan.”
Acknowledgements
Martin Carthy's version transcribed by Garry Gillard.
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[unknown source]
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Molly Ban lyrics and chords print version
[G]Come along all you young [D7]fellows that [C]follow the [D7]gun
Be[G]ware of going [Am]shooting by the [C]late setting [D7]sun
It might [G]happen to [D7]anyone as it [Am]happened to [D7]me
To [G]shoot your own [Am]true love in [Em]under a [D7]tree
She was going to her uncles when a shower came on
She went under a bush, the rain for to shun
With her apron all around her I took her for a swan
And I levelled my gun and I shot my Molly Ban
I ran to my father’s in haste and great fear
Saying ‘Father, dear father, I’ve shot Molly dear
With her apron all around her, I took her for a swan
But oh, and alas, it was my own Molly Ban.’
My father said to me ‘My son don’t run away
Don’t run from the land ’till the law has had its say
Stay in your own country ‘till the trial it comes on
For there’s no judge who will hang you for the shooting of a swan.’
My curse on you, Toby, that lent me the gun
For to go out hunting by the late setting sun
I rubbed her fair temples and found she was dead
A fountain of tears for my Molly I shed
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"Come, rest on this bosom, my own stricken deer!
Tho' the herd have fled from thee, thy home is still here,
Here still is the smile that no cloud can o'ercast,
And the heart and the hand, all thine own to the last.
"Oh! what was love made for, if 'tis not the same
Thro' joy and thro' torments, thro' glory and shame?
I know not—I ask not—if guilt's in that heart,
I but know that I love thee, whatever thou art."
—Thomas Moore: " Come Rest on this Bosom."
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The Living Age ... - Volume 112 - Page 309
1872 - Read - More editions
In another song the poet describes a catastrophe which occurred to him in the character of a sportsman. While on a shooting expedition he sees his mistress taking shelter from the rain under a tree. She has turned her apron over her head, and in this guise he mistakes her for a swan in the dusk, and kills her on the spot. The moral of the tragic story is contained in the opening verse : —
“Come, all ye wild fowlers that follow the gun,
Beware of late shooting at the setting of the
Sun.
It is on a misfortune that happened of late
On Molly Bawn Gowrie, and her fortune
was great.”
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"Molly Bawn" is by Sarah Cleveland, learned from her mother and uncle, and recorded on Folk-Legacy FSA-33, Ballads ... of late shooting by the setting of the sun.
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The Universal Irish Song Book: A Complete Collection of the Songs and ...
edited by Patrick John Kenedy, 1865
A TRUE STORY.—CALLED MOLLY BAWN.
A Street Ballad.
A Story, a sad story, to you I will relate,
Of a beautiful young maiden, who met a woful fate;
"As she walked out one evening, at the setting of the sun,
And rested in a bower, a passing shower to shun.
Young Jemmy with his gun, had been fowling all the day;
And down beside the lake he came at close of twilight gray;
Her apron being about her, he took her for a fawn,
But alas, to his grief, 'twas his own Molly Bawn!
Now all ye brave young men who go sporting with the gun,
Beware of shooting late, and gray mists about the sun—
Her apron being about her—he took her for a fawn,
But, alas, to his grief, 'twas his own Molly Bawn!
When he came to the bower, and found that it was she,
His limbs they grew feeble, his eyes they could not see;
He took her in his arms, across her uncle's lawn,
And his tears flowed like fountains on his own Molly Bawn.
Young Jemmy he went home, with his gun beneath his hand,
Sick and broken-hearted, like a felon in the land;
Crying,—" Father, O, my Father—by the lake—a fair white fawn—
I levelled and I shot her dead—-my own Molly Bawn!"
That night to her uncle her spirit did appear,
Saying, " uncle—dearest uncle—my true love—he is clear—
My apron being about me—he took me for a fawn—
But, alas, to his grief, 'twas his own Molly Bawn!"
O. Molly was his jewel, his sweetheart and his pride!
If she had lived another year she would have been his bride.
The flower of all the valley, the pride of hut and hall—
Oh, Jemmy soon will follow his own Molly Bawn.
-----------------
II. Young Molly Bawn
Come, all you young gallants that follow the gun,
Beware of late shooting at the setting sun;
For it’s little you know of what happened of late
To young Molly asthoreen, whose beauty was great.
It happened one evening in a shower of hail,
This maid in a bower herself did conceal;
Her love being a-shooting, took her for a fawn;
He leveled his gun and he shot Molly Bawn.
And when he came to her and found it was she,
His limbs they grew feeble and his eyes could not see;
His heart it was broken with sorrow and grief;
And with eyes up to heaven he implored for relief.
He ran to his uncle with the gun in his hand,
Saying,”Uncle, dear uncle, I’m not able to stand;
I shot my own true lover—alas! I’m undone
While she was in the shade by the setting of the sun.
“I rubbed her fair temples and found she was dead,
And a fountain of tears for my darling I shed;
And now I’ll be forced by the laws of the land
For the killing of my darling my trial to stand.”
-----------------------
Molly Bawn (unknown source)
Oh come all ye late fellows that follows the gun
Beware of night ramblin' by the setting of the sun
Beware of an accident as happened of late
It was Molly Bawn Leary and sad was her fate
She'd been gone to her uncle's when a storm it came on
She drew under a green bush the shower for to shun
With her white apron wrapped around her he took her for a swan
Took aim and alas it was his own Molly Bawn
Oh young Jimmy ran homeward with his gun and his dog
Sayin' uncle, oh, uncle, I have shot Molly Bawn
I have killed that fair female, the joy of my life
For I'd always intended that she would be my wife
Oh young Jimmy Ranlon, do not run away
Stay in your own country till your trial it comes on
For you'll never be convicted of the shootin' of a swan
Well the night before Molly's funeral her ghost it did appear
Saying uncle, dearest uncle, let young Jimmy run clear
It being late of an evening when he took me for a swan
Took aim and alas he killed his own Molly Bawn
Now all the girls of this country they seem to be glad
Now the flower of Glen Ardagh, Molly Bawn she lies dead
Get all the girls of this country and stand them into a row
Molly Bawn would shine above them like a fountain of snow
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A BOOK OF FOLK-LORE by Sabine Baring-Gould [1913]:
There is a ballad sung by the English peasantry that has been picked up by collectors in Kent, Somerset and Devon. It is entitled At the Setting of the Sun, and begins thus:--
Come all you young fellows that carry a gun,
Beware of late shooting when daylight is done;
For 'tis little you reckon what hazards you run,
I shot my true love at the setting of the sun.
In a shower of rain, as my darling did hie
All under the bushes to keep herself dry,
With her head in her apron, I thought her a swan,
And I shot my true love at the setting of the sun.
In the Devonshire version of the story:--
In the night the fair maid as a white swan appears;
She says, O my true love, quick, dry up your tears,
I freely forgive you, I have Paradise won;
I was shot by my true love at the setting of the sun.
But in the Somerset version the young man is had up before the magistrates and tried for his life.
In six weeks' time, when the 'sizes came on,
Young Polly appeared in the form of a swan,
Crying, Jimmy, young Jimmy, young Jimmy is clear;
He never shall be hung for the shooting of his dear.
And he is, of course, acquitted.
The transformation of the damsel into a swan stalking into the Court and proclaiming the innocence of her lover is unquestionably the earlier form of the ballad; the Devonshire version is a later rationalising of the incident. Now, in neither form is the ballad very ancient; and in the passage of the girl's soul into a swan we can see how that among our peasantry to a late period the notion of trans-migration has survived.
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"The Western Cottage Maid."
The West Country Damosel's Complaint. (Child, 292).
The maidens in row, (sometimes lawyers or judges) is a bit perplexing. Molly/Polly stands among them like a mountain/fountain of snow. The snow is believed to be 1) her ghost 2) her swan image or 3) shining amongst them because of her great beauty- with no supernatural meaning.
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know the version BOATING ON LOUGH REE in Amatory Poems by John Keegan Casey [1816-1849] which originally was Mary Ban (fair/white).
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"mountain of snow" from: The Irish Origins and Variations of the Ballad "Molly Bawn" by Jennifer J O'Connor
During this time, Molly's ghost became more ethereal (changing from the form of a swan to a "mountain of snow")
'Mountain of snow.'
No ghost (IMO) It's simply a clumsy figurative way of saying when she was alive she was more beautiful than all of the others
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Boating on Lough Ree (Molly Bawn)
Lyrics: John Keegan Casey (1816-1849), From 'Amatory Poems'.
Mary Hanley came from The Black Island off Lough Ree on the River Shannon. John Keegan Casey was teaching in Newtowncashel, County Longford when he was eighteeen years and went boating every Sunday with the Costello family. On one of these outings he met and fell in love with Mary. The love affair was short-lived, however, as Mary was drowned in a boating accident on the lake and the poet penned this gentle lament.
Here I am now sad and lonely all in the distant west.
The happy scenes of bygone days at night disturb my rest.
For in this faithful heart of mine forgotten it never can be,
Those days I spent with my Mary Bán a-boating on Lough Ree.
Molly Bawn
Performed by Alphonse O'Driscoll Accession # 78-054 NFLD 1 Tape 1 Track 10
Community: Tors Cove Audio: Yes
Genre: Ballad / love killed in error Laws O36 ("The Shooting of His Dear")
Transcription
Here I am sad and lonely here in the distant west
And the pleasant dreams of bygone days at night disturb my rest
But in this faithful heart of mine forgotten never shall be
Oh the days I spent with Molly Bawn of old beyond Loch Lee
For she was young and slender, as gentle as a fawn
Her eyes they shone like diamonds bright or like the stars at dawn
Her smile she had for everyone but her kisses were all for me
Entranced I gazed on Molly Bawn of old beyond Loch Lee
And when I claimed her for my bride how happy then was I
How pleasant were the hours of love and how quickly they'd pass by
A pleasant light shone in her eyes, she was too good for me
When an angel claimed her for his own and took her from Loch Lee
Here I have travelled the stormy world, my hair is silvery hue
A plaintive voice rings in my mind its tone I can't subdue
Her lovely form it haunts me still and her pleasant face I can see
For it is the face of Molly Bawn of old beyond Loch Lee
For she was young and slender, as gentle as a fawn
Her eyes they shone like diamonds bright or like the stars at dawn
Her smile she had for everyone but her kisses were all for me
Notes
Sources: Mercer 156; Fowke 1994: 60 ("Molly Vaughan"); Taft 50; recorded by John White (Rodeo RLP-85, 1959); Randolph I: 254 ("Molly Vaughn"); Henry 114; Roud 166.
History: Thought to be of Irish origin, the earliest reference to this ballad is in 1806 (Randolph, 254), but the swan motif is much older, found for instance in Gaelic as well as Greek mythology.
Text notes: In many variants of this song, the beloved is mistaken for a swan and shot by her lover. (Fowke equates the name "Vaughan" - or "Bawn" in this version - with "fawn." The name is probably an anglicization of the Irish adjective "ban", meaning "fair."). Here we learn of the lover's despair over the loss of his loved one but there is no indication of the cause of her death.
Tune notes: In 6/8 metre, and a major key, this melody has a classic arch-shaped abba pattern.
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Fiddler's Companion- Andrew Kuntz
MOLLY BAWN [1]. AKA and see "Come, Rest on This Bosom," "The Fowler," "Lough Sheeling." Irish, Air (3/4 time). D Minor (Joyce): A Minor (Heymann). Standard tuning. One part. This once-popular song (of the 'come-all-ye' genre, also called "The Fowler") appears on numerous broadside sheets in many different forms. The title "Molly Bawn" is an Englished corruption of the Gaelic "Mailí Bhán," or Fair Mary (Fairhaired Mary, White Haired Mary). Collector Edward Bunting printed the piece three times in his manuscripts, each time noting it was traditionally the first piece learned by beginning harpers. Many songs have been composed to the tune, most of which tell of the accidental shooting death of Molly by her lover, who while hunting mistakes the white clothing she has worn for a swan. Joyce (1909) remarks: "In the last century this song was very popular in the midland and southern counties. I once heard it sung in fine style in the streets of Dublin by a poor woman with a child on her arm. Like several other ballads in this book, it obviously commemorates a tragedy in real life. It has been published by Patrick Kennedy in The Banks of the Boro but his copy is somewhat different from mine; and by 'Dun‑Cathail' in Popular Poetry of Ireland; but this last shows evident marks of literary alterations and additions not tending to improvement. My version is just as I learned it from the intelligent singers of my early days. The air is the same as "Lough Sheeling' of Moore's song, 'Come, rest on this bosom!' but a different version." Words to the ballad begin:
***
Come all you young fellows that follow the gun,
Beware of going shooting by the late setting sun;
It might happen to anyone as it happened to me,
To shoot your own true love in under a tree. (John Loesberg, Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland, vol. 1, 1979).
***
Source for notated version: Bunting's manuscript. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pg. 52. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 409, pg. 220.
MOLLY BAWN'S [2]. AKA and see “Fairhaired Molly.” Irish, Reel. G Mixolydian. Standard tuning. AABB. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 27. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 52.
X:1
T:Molly Bawn’s [2]
M:2/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection
Z: AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K: G Mixolydian
A |: .A/.d/(d/^c/) .d(=c/B/) | .A/.F/.=c/.F/ .d/.F/.c/.F/ | A/d/d/^c/ .d(d/e/) | f/d/c/A/ (A/G/).G |
.A/.d/(d/^c/) .d(=c/B/) | .A/.F/.=c/.F/ .d/.F/.c/.F/ | A/d/d/^c/ .d(d/e/) | f/d/c/A/ (A/G/).G :|
|: .g(d/g/) .g(a/g/) | f/d/d/e/ .f(g/^f/) | .g(g/^f/) .g(a/g/) | ^f/d/c/A/ (A/G/).G | g/d/d/g/ .g(a/g/) |
f/d/d/e/ .f(f/g/) | a/b/a/g/ f/g/a/g/ | f/d/c/A/ (A/G/)G :|
MOLLY BAWN [3]. AKA and see “Fairhaired Mary,” “Finbar Dwyer’s (Reel) [2]." Irish, Reel. A Dorian. Standard tuning. AABB. Fiddler Paddy Canny has recorded the tune under this title. The melody is a variant of O’Carolan’s old composition “Fairhaired Mary.” Black (Music’s the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 172, pg. 90. Breathnach (CRÉ III), 1985; No. 123 (appears as “Gan ainm/No title”). Compass Records 7 4407 2, Ciaran Tourish – “Down the Line” (2005). Shanachie 34014, James Kelly, Paddy O’Brien & Daithi Sproule – “Traditional Music of Ireland” (1995).
See also listing at:
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info
X:1
T:Molly Bán [3]
T:Molly Bawn
T:"Young" John Naughton's (this setting)
C:Traditional
S:Davy Muir, Glasgow
M:C
L:1/8
Q:220
R:reel
D:The Lonely Stranded Band (this setting)
D:The Bothy Band, 'Old Hag You Have Killed Me' (Em)
D:Paddy Carty & Conor Tully (Gm)
Z:Gordon Turnbull
K: A Mix
A2 EA cded | BG G2 eGdG | EAce a2 ed | cedB BAGB |
A2 EA cded | BG G2 eGdG | EAce a2 ed | cedB BA A2 |]
a2 ea a2 ba | geef g2 gb | a2 ea a2 ba | gedB BA A2 |
a2 ea a2 ba | geef g2 gb | b2 ba gbaf | gedB eBdB |]"End" A2 ||
X:2
T: Molly Bawn [3]
S: J.Kelly - P.O'Brien
Q: 350
R: reel
Z:Transcribed by Bill Black
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
Aeed e2 dc | BGdG eGBG | Aeed e2 ef | gedB edcB |
Aeed e2 dc | BGdG eGBG | Aeed e2 ef | gedB cA A2 :|
a2 ea agab | geef g3 g | a2 ea agab | gedB cA A2 |
aece abba | geef g3 a | bc'ba geef | gedB cA A2 :|
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Subject: RE: Polly Von - poaching
From: Malcolm Douglas - PM
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 06:41 PM
There seems to be no evidence at all of an earlier song which involved transformation. The earliest known (and incomplete) text was published by Robert Jamieson in Popular Ballads and Songs (Edinburgh, 1806, I 193-195); it was provided by a Professor Scott of King's College, Aberdeen, who got it from one of his maidservants. Jamieson had recalled the story (but had "forgot the terms in which it was conveyed") from his own childhood.
It's the only variant ever recorded in oral tradition in Scotland, seemingly. As in later forms, the shooting is merely a hunter's mistake made in the failing light of evening. The supernatural element consists solely in the dead girl reappearing as a ghost.
The song was quite common in Ireland and Southern England, having been published by various broadside printers. A number can be seen, under various titles, at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:
Molly Bawn / Whan etc
Wherever the text published by Jamieson came from originally, the broadside form seems to have started out in Ireland, and English variants are frequently sung to Irish tunes. Commentators have frequently waxed lyrical on the subject of swan maidens and magical transformation, but there's no compelling reason to think that is anything more than romantic wishful thinking. Hunters shoot people all the time under the impression that they are game.
I doubt if any version of the song mentions poaching; Jimmy is described as "a hunter" or "a fowler". In England, swans do not belong to landowners; technically they mostly belong to the Crown, so far as I remember. I have no idea what the legal status of swans was in Ireland in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, but the song certainly seems to take for granted that there was nothing remarkable about shooting them.
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olly Von - poaching
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless - PM
Date: 21 Feb 07 - 04:23 PM
This song is also known in England, Ireland, Canada and the U.S.A. as Molly Bawn; Peggy Baun; Molly Ban; Molly Bond; Molly Banding; Molly Vaughan; Polly Vaughn; At the Setting of the Sun; The Shooting of His Dear; As Jimmy Went A-Hunting.
In my opinion, a lot of collectors and commentators have written nonsense about this song, importing elements that are not there. For example, Cecil Sharp identified the changing of the woman to a swan – not in the song! – with Celtic mythology. Roy Palmer in Everyman's Book Of British Ballads, writes, "The mysterious death of a woman in the guise of a swan has profound reverberations. It recalls the death of Procris in classical antiquity and the swan maidens of northern mythology." The similarity with the Procris fable is only surface level. The point of the Procris story (visibly recurring star constellation) is entirely different to that of the song (a shooting accident followed by guilt and a ghostly apparition to plead for clemency). And the swan maidens of northern mythology had been literally turned into swans. Nowhere does this song state or even imply that Polly actually became a swan or that she had to be shot in order for her human soul to be released, as in the ancient myths. She was shot in the dark, by mistake. A search of the internet quickly reveals just how many shooting accidents still happen, including fatalities. A TV documentary in 2006 about modern-day night-time poachers showed just how easy it is to main or kill a person, mistaken for an animal, in the dark. One poacher, seeing two eyes shining in the dark, took aim at his prey: he shot his own son.
Are swans illegal to kill? Not quite that simple. There used to be (don't know if there still is) a law that said only royalty could kill or eat swans. This is often mis-cited as meaning all swans anywhere in England, but the law stated only that commoners could not kill royal swans which lived in grounds owned by royalty - in other words, it was a law against poaching.
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The Dead Lover's Return in Modern English Ballad Tradition
Author(s): Hugh Shields
Source:
Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung
, 17. Jahrg. (1972), pp. 98-114
Published by: Zentrum für Populäre Kultur und Musik
A girl's ghost, on the other hand, may be actively benign; in the Anglo-Irish Molly Bawn (MDS: Shooting of his dear ) a revenant brings salva- tion to an innocent lover accused of her murder. One version of this ballad actu- ally has two apparitions: as well as appearing to her uncle or in the court-room,
the girl revisits her lover on the night before the trial to give him heart57.
57 E. H. Linscott, Folk songs of old New England (Hamden and London 1962),
p. 274-276.
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Leda, daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, was seduced by Jupiter in the form of a swan.
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The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: Q-Z
By Donald Haase
Swan Maiden
Irish story "Aislinge Oengusso" -The vison of Aonghus
also Aengus
Her name was Caer Ibormeith, meaning Yew Berry; and when Aonghus saw her, she was standing by a lake surrounded by thrice fifty maidens linked together by a silver chain. But when Aonghus asked her Father for her hand in marriage he revealed that there was nothing he could do, as his daughter was a swan-maiden, and every year as soon as summer was over, she went with her companions to a lake called Lough Dragan, 'The Mouth of Sloes', and all of them became swans.
On the advice of the Dagdha, Aonghus went to the shore of the lake and waited in patience until "Samhain", the day of the magical change, and called to her. Caer appeared along with thrice fifty swans, herself a swan surpassing all the rest in beauty and whiteness, and promised to be his bride, if he too would become a swan. He agreed , and with aword she changed him into a swan. Together they flew three times around the lake, and took off sideby side for Brugh na Bóinne where they put the dwellers of that place to sleep for three days and three nights with the magic of their singing.
At Aonghus's palace they retook the human form, and theyhave lived happily there ever since.
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The Gospel in the Stars - Page 79
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1602069166
Joseph Seiss - 2007 - Preview - More editions
Another was the son of Poseidon, an ally of the Trojans, who could not be hurt with arms of iron, but was strangled by Achilles — whose body, when the victor meant to rifle it, suddenly took its departure to heaven in the form of a swan.
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The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0870993704
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) - 1984 - Full view - More editions
Most commonly Leda is said to have conceived on the same night two children by her husband and two by Zeus, who came to her in the form of a swan. The children, hatched from two eggs, are generally stated to be the twins Castor and Pollux .
Leda and the swan
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Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: Suffering-Zwingli - Page 125
https://books.google.com/books?id=UD8TAAAAYAAJ
James Hastings, John Alexander Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray - 1922 - Read - More editions
Old Celtic tradition has two beautiful and elaborate swan-maiden tales, as well as an episode in the story of Etain, wife of Eochaid, who is carried off by the hero-god Mider in the form of a swan.* The story of the ' Children of Ler,' one of ' the .
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