Pretty Mollie- Roxy Gay (GA) 1914 Rawn/Campbell
[Sharp MS collection from MS by Isabel N. Rawn, 1914. The MS was given to Campbell. Several of Rawn's versions appeared in Sharp's EFSSA without attribution to Rawn.
This was collected in Georgia and only the first two stanzas are "Pretty Polly" the rest is from "Wagoner's Lad" family.
R. Matteson 2016]
Pretty Mollie- Roxy Gay of Canton Georgia, 1914; Collected by Isabel Rawn.
Oh Mollie, pretty Mollie
Would you think it unkind
For me to sit beside you
And tell you my mind?
My mind is to marry
And never to part.
The first time I saw you
You wounded my heart.
Oh Mollie, pretty Mollie
I bid you adieu
I'm ruined forever
For the loving of you.
My heart it is broken
And my mind it is gone.
So I give you my heart
And you wouldn't give me your own.
Oh Mollie, pretty Mollie
I bid you adieu
I'm ruined forever
For the loving of you.
[Go take your horse out[1]
And feed him some hay
And seat yourself beside me
As long as you stay.]
My horse is not hungry
And won't eat your hay
So farewell pretty Mollie
I'll feed on my way.
My foot is in my stirrup
My hat's in my hand
So farewell pretty Mollie
My horse will not stand.
I'll tune up my fiddle,
And rosin my bow,
And across this wide country
A-courting I'll go.
1. this is the stanza that precedes the following stanza in standard Wagoner's Lad text.