Young Molly Ban- P. Walsh (Tyrone) 1938 O'Lochlain
[From: "Irish Street Ballads," by Colm O'Lochlainn Dublin 1939; Clogher (from Irish: Clochar, meaning "stony place") is a village and civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
R. Matteson 2016]
Young Molly Ban- from P. Walsh, Clogher Valley c. 1938
Come all you young fellows follow the gun
Beware of goin' a-shootin’ by the late setting sun.
It might happen to anyone, it happened to me
To your own love in under a tree.
She was going to her uncle’s when the shower it came on
She went under a bush, the rain for to shun.
With her apron all around her I took her for a swan
But oh and alas! it was my Molly Ban.
I ran to her Uncle's in haste and great fear,
Saying, Uncle, dear Uncle I've shot Molly dear,
With her apron all around her I took her for a swan
But Oh and alas! it was my Molly Ban.
I shot my own true love-- alas I'm undone,
While she was in the shade by the setting of the sun
If I thought she was there I'd caress her tenderly,
And soon I'd get married to my own dear Molly.
My curse on you, Toby, that lent me your gun,
To go out a shooting by the late setting sun
I rubbed her fair temples and found she was dead,
A fountain of tears for my Molly I shed.
Up come my father and his locks they were grey,
Stay in your own country and don't run away
Stay in your own country till your trial comes on
And I'll see you set free by the laws of the land
Oh, the maids of this country they will all be very glad,
When they hear the sad news that my Molly is dead.
Take them all in their hundred, set them in a row,
Molly Ban she shone above them like a mountain of snow.