Molly Bawn Aroo- (Coleraine) 1905 Houston
[No informant named. From Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, London, Volumes 3, p. 25, by Irish Folk Song Society. Their notes follow. (unconfirmed source: from Peggy McGarry of Ballycastle, Co Antrim)
R. Matteson 2016]
THIS very imperfect ballad was taken down by the late Mrs. Houston in Coleraine. In No. 6, Journal of the English Folk Song Society, Mr. Cecil Sharp records a version of this ballad, which he took down at Hambridge. The ballad is entitled, “ The Shooting of His Dear," and the subject is the same. Mr. Sharp also took down a second version in Kent, and he adds: “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 strengthened by the presence of certain Irish characteristics." It is therefore interesting to insert Mrs. Houston's version, and compare it with Mr. Sharp's two versions, found in the East and South of England.
Molly Bawn Aroo- As sung in Coleraine; Co. Londonderry, N. Ireland as collected by Maud Houston before 1905.
She bein' goin' to her uncle's, it came on to rain,
She went under a green bush to shade from the rain.
With her apron pinned 'round her, he took her for a swan,
He shot in the dark and ne'er missed his mark.
And when he drew nigh her, and saw his love dead
A well-full of tears for his true love he shed.
When he came home with the gun in his hand,
Crying, "Father, dear father I have killed Molly Bawn."
(Father) "Stay at home in your country, and just be a man,
For you'll never be condemned by the laws of the land."