Pretty Sally- Hunt (WV) 1917 Cox A
[From John Harrington Cox; Folk Songs of the South; 1925- his notes follow. This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is commonly known in the US, and Canada as "The Brown Girl."
US and Canada versions are based on the hundreds of late 18th century English broadsides sometimes titled "The Sailor from Dover" or "Sally and her Truelove Billy."
Child's B version of 295, "The Brown, Brown Girl" collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, introduced stanzas from the "Sally and her Truelove Billy" songs. In his article "Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation" Steve Gardham has shown that Baring-Gould's ballad is a re-creation of two ballads and not traditional.
To put it simply, the versions are not related to "The Brown Girl" but are part of the "The Sailor from Dover" and "Sally and her Truelove Billy" song group. In the US and Canada some common titles are "Pretty Sally," "Sally," and "A Rich Irish Lady." They have been put here following Bronson and others who have attached them to Child 295, not because they belong here.
R. Matteson 2014]
114. PRETTY SALLY
This is the English song usually known as "Sally and her True-love Billy" or "Sally and Billy"; also as "The Bold Sailor" and "The (Young) Sailor from Dover" (see Journal, xxix, 178, note 1; add De Vaynes, The Kentish Garland, No. 153, 11, 678). For other American texts see Barry, Journal, xxvii, 73 (Kansas; reported from Iowa); Campbell and Sharp, No. 36 (North Carolina,
Virginia, Georgia); Tolman, Journal, xxix, 178 (Indiana); Belden's Missouri collection. The piece, as Barry has noted, is a variety of "The Brown Girl" (Child, No. 295), a ballad known in print in the latter half of the eighteenth century; or rather, as Kittredge suggests, it is mixed with a version of "The Brown Girl" similar to that taken down in Devonshire by Baring-Gould and printed by Child as Version B.
A. "Pretty Sally." Contributed by Mrs. E. A. Hunt, Belington, Barbour County, January, 1917.
1 There was a royal damsel, from London she came,
A royal fair damsel, called Sally by name;
Her beauty was so great, and her riches so high
That upon this poor man she would not cast an eye.
2 "O Sally, pretty Sally, Sally, my love," said he,
"I fear that your love and mine won't agree;
I fear that your beauty to mine rue [1] untrue,
Unless your hatred is turned into love."
3 "No hatred to you, sir, nor no other man,
But to say that I love you is more than I can;
So you may drop your intentions, we'll end our discourse;
I'll never wed with you, sir, unless I am forced."
4 "No forcing, pretty Sally, no forcing, love," said he,
"No forcing, pretty Sally, for you to marry me;
But the time it will come when you will relent,
And for your past actions I hope will repent."
5 So the fourteen weeks were over, were over and past,
This royal fair damsel fell sick at the last;
. . . and she knew not for why,
She sent for this young man she once did deny.
6 "O Sally, pretty Sally, O Sally, love," said he,
"Am I the doctor, that you have sent for me?"
"Yes, you are the doctor, both kill and can cure,
And without your assistance I am lost, I am sure."
7 "O where does the pain lie? Does it lie in your side?
where does the pain lie? Does it lie in your head?"
"Neither of them; the right you have not guessed:
The pain that torments me lies sore in my breast."
8 "O Sally, pretty Sally, O Sally, my love," says he,
"0 don't you remember when I first courted thee,
. . . you denied me with scorn?
And I'll reward you for what's past and gone."
9 "O for what's past and gone, love, forget and forgive,
And do grant me some longer on this earth to live."
"I never will forgive you as long as you have breath,
And I'll dance on your grave when you are buried in the dust."
10 Off of her fingers she pulled diamonds three,
Saying, "Take these and wear them while dancing on me;
And when you're done dancing, call Sally your queen,
And fly from your country [2] , never more to be seen."
11 Now Sally she is dead and in her low grave doth lie,
And William he 's dead and buried close by.
1 "to my ruin you'll prove." At least this is probably what the singer intended, Cox said it was --Unintelligible.
2. Sharp A and B have "colours" as to abandon or go away from your general's ensign (flag), to fly from your colours; [from] Latin a, away from, bandum, the general's banner. (E. Cobham Brewer, 1887); Altered English: Surprising Meanings of Familiar Words - Page 11 by Jeffrey Kacirk