Molly Bawn- Sarah Cleveland (NY) 1966 REC
[From: "Ballads and Songs of the Upper Hudson Valley" by Sarah Cleveland; 1968 (recorded in 1966). Very similar to the Ohio version (Eddy, 1939).
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzWfjxTEn3A
R. Matteson 2016]
MOLLY BAWN- Sung by Sarah Cleveland, 1966
1 Come all you young hunters who follow the gun,
Beware of late shooting by the setting of the sun.
Jimmy Randall, the squire, was a-fowling in the dark;
He aimed at his true love and ne'er missed his mark.
2 Being late in the evening when the shower came on,
She ran under a green bush, the shower to shun.
With her apron around her, he took her for a swan,
But oh, and alas, wasn't she Molly Bawn?
3 He went to his home and he threw down his gun,
Crying, "Uncle, dear uncle, I have shot Molly Bawn.
I have shot that fair maiden, the pride of my life.
It was my intention to make her my wife."
4. "Oh Jimmy, dear Jimmy, you have nothing to fear,
But you shall not be punished for the loss of Molly
But stay in you at home till the trial comes on,
You will not be banished for what you have done."
5. The night before the trial, her ghost did appear,
Saying: "Father, dear father, Jimmy Randall shall go clear,
With my apron around me, he took me for a swan,
But oh, and alas wasn't I Molly Bawn."
6. The girls of old England were all very glad,
That the flower of Killarney was shot and killed dead,
If we gather them all together and stand them in a row,
Molly Bawn will stand among them like a mountain of snow.