Come In, Loving Henery- Keene (Va) pre1936 Scarborough B
[My title. From Dorothy Scarborough; 1937, A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2104]
Laura Keene, of Murphy's Hollow, Council, Virginia, knew a shorter and somewhat different version. There is some confusion in the conversation with the parrot, because it is not clear whether it is the woman or the man who answers. The last line is American slang of a time more recent than ballad origins. Here the girl and the parrot are obviously mixed up, for the man calls the girl, polly parrot.
B. Come In, Loving Henery- Keene (Va) pre1936
Come in, come in, loving Henery, she said,
And stay all night with me.
Your bed shall be made of the finest silk,
And a golden silvery.
I can't come in, polly parrot, he said,
Nor stay all night with you,
For the girl I left in the foreign land
Will think I've proved untrue.
Fly down, fly down, polly parrot, she said,
And rest on my right knee.
f can't fly down, loving Henry, she said,
Nor rest on your right knee.
For you've just killed your own true love.
I'm afraid you might kill me.
I have not killed my own true love,
But she's gone back on me.