Pretty Polly- H. Smith (KY) 1907 Pettit/Sharp C
[From: Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1907 (Kittredge); also EFSSA, Sharp C, 1917. Kittredge's notes from JAF follow.
"Pretty Polly," was sung by Senator Hilliard (Hillard) Smith of Kentucky and sent to Kittredge at Harvard by Katherine Pettit at Hindman Settlement School. It was published by Kittredge in the JAF in 1907 without Smith being named as the informant. Apparently Pettit gave an MS to Olive Dame Campbell in 1910 (since it's found as a Campbell MS in the Sharp MS Collection at Vaughn Williams Library). Smith's version was also collected by Josiah Combs (his C version, no date given but before 1924) who attended Hindman Settlement School. Sharp (his C version) in 1917. This represents the extended Appalachian version. Smith had an alternate ending which may be found in Sharp's MS (see footnote) and is at the bottom of this page.
If you wonder if Smith's texts are authentic-- if you can't trust a politician who can you trust? Smith was mentioned as an advisor to McGill in her 1917 book, Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, which she began in 1914 in the Knott County region. so he was more than just an itinerant folk singer. His version is unusual because 1) he uses a revolver and 2) she appears with their baby in her arms stanzas 14)-- only one of two US versions of E where this occurs.
Pettit evidently introduced Smith's version at Hindman where it was sung by a Hindman music teacher, Miss Catherine Sutherland, and sent to John Harrington Cox on December 20, 1925. Cox published it in 1939 in his "Mainly from West Virginia" book where it appears, slightly re-written:
1. O Polly, Pretty Polly, oh yonder she stands,
O Polly, Pretty Polly, oh yonder she stands,
Gold rings on her fingers, her lily white hands.
R. Matteson 2016]
PRETTY POLLY
"The Gosport Tragedy" or "Polly's Love; or, The Cruel Ship Carpenter," is a favorite broadside (and garland) ballad which may be found in Ebsworth's "Roxburghe Ballads," viii, 143-144, 173-174, and, with the tune, in the " Journal of the Folk-Song Society," i, 172-173. Of the two versions given below, the first is much corrupted and the second is a fragment. In the complete ballad Polly's lover is a ship carpenter. He goes to sea after the murder, and, according to the Folk-Song Society's version,
It was early one morning before it was day,
The captain came up, these words he did say,
"There's a murderer on board, and he it lately has done,
Our ship is in mourning and cannot sail on."
William, like the rest of the crew, denies all knowledge of the crime, but —
As he was turning from the captain with speed
He met his Polly, which made his heart bleed;
She stript him and tore him, she tore him in three,
Because he had murdered her baby and she.
The incident of the ship that cannot sail on because there is a murderer on board is like "Brown Robyn's Confession" (Child, No. 57); see, also, "Captain Glen" ("Roxburghe Ballads," ed. Ebsworth, viii, 141 ff., with the editor's notes). The ghost reminds one of the terrific phantom in "Willie's Fatal Visit" (Child, No. 255). The Harvard College Library has three copies of the garland, — "The Gosport Tragedy; or, The Perjured Ship Carpenter" (Boswell, viii, 27; xxviii, 5; xxix, 40), as well as two broadsides, — "Polly's Love; or, The Cruel Ship Carpenter," J. Catnach (fol. 201 in 25242.2), and "Love and Murder," J. Booth, Selby (p. 26 in 25242.7). In the garland the ghost does not tear William to pieces, but merely causes him to "die raving distracted."
[1 See also, Buchan, Gleanings, 1825, pp. 46 ff., with which, should be compared the note in Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, ii, 98. ]
A. Pretty Polly.
1. "O where is Pretty Polly?"
"O yonder she stands,
Gold rings upon her fingers,
Her lily-white hands."
2. "O Polly, O Polly,
O Polly," said he,
"Let's take a little walk
Before married we be."
3. "O William, O William,
I don't want to go;
Your people is all against it,
And this you will know."
4. He led her over high hills,
And hollows so steep,
At length pretty Polly
Began to weep.
5. "O William, O William,
O William," says she,
" I fear your intention
Is for to murder me."
6. "Polly, O Polly,
You have guessed about right;
I was digging your grave
The best part of last night."
7. They went on a little farther,
And she began to shy;
She saw her grave dug
And the spade a-sitting by.
8. She threw her arms around his neck,
Saying, "I am in no fear;
How can you kill a poor girl
That loves you so dear?"
9. "O Polly, O Polly,
We have no time to stand."
He drew his revolver
All out in his hand.
10. He shot her through the heart,
Which caused the blood to flow,
And into her grave
Her fair body he did throw.
11. He threw her in the grave[1]
Straightways he did run,
Left no one to weep
But them small birds to mourn.
12. The ship sitting ready
All on the sea-side,
He swore by his Maker
He'd sail the other side.
13. All on whilst he was sailing,
The ship she sprang a leak,
And away to the bottom
Sweet William he sank.
14. There he met with pretty Polly,
All in the gores of blood,
In her lily-white arms
An infant of mine.
15. Such screaming and hallowing,
It all passed away;
A debt to the devil,
He surely had to pay.
___________
Footnote:
1. Additional ending by Smith where Polly appears as a ghost in a dream:
11. He threw a little dust o'er her
And turned to go home.
Left nothing behind
But the small birds to mourn.
12. Sweet William was lying
in his cabin asleep,
Her thought he heard the voice,
Of Pretty Polly speak.
13. "O yonder's Pretty Polly
O yonder she stands,
With gold rings upon her fingers,
Her lily-white hands."