The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #43711   Message #1476118
Posted By: Jim Dixon
01-May-05 - 09:27 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Irish Molly / My Irish Molly O
Subject: Lyr Add: IRISH MOLLY, O (from Bodleian)
From Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, Harding B 17(140b):

IRISH MOLLY, O.

As I walked out one morning all in the month of May,
I met a pretty Irish girl, and thus to her did say:
"I put my hand into my pocket, as it happened so,
And pulled out a guinea to treat my Molly, O!"

CHORUS: She is young. She is beautiful. She is the fairest one I know.
The primrose of Ireland before my guinea go,
And the only one that entices me is my Irish Molly, O!

I said, "My pretty fair maid, will you go along with me?
I will show you the straightway across the country."
"My parents would be angry if they should come to know.
They will lay all the blame to my Scotch laddie, O."

When Molly's own father he came for to know
That she'd been courted by a Scotch laddie, O,
He sent for young McDonald and these words to him did say:
"If you will court my daughter Mary, I will send her far away."

Since Molly has deceived me all by her father's ways,
Through some lone woods and valleys, it's there I'll spend my days.
Like some poor forlorn pilgrim I will wander to and fro.
It's all for the sake of my Irish Molly, O!

There is a rose in Ireland. I thought she would be mine.
For to come to my funeral I hope she will incline.
My body shall be ready by the dawning of the day.
It is all for the sake of my bonny Irish maid.

When that I'm buried, there is one thing more I crave:
To lay a marble tombstone at the head of my grave,
And on this marble tombstone a prayer shall be said,
That young McDonald lies here for his bonny Irish maid.

Come all you pretty fair maids. A warning take by me,
And never build a nest at the top of any tree,
For the green leaves will wither, and the root it will decay,
And the beauty of a fair maid will soon fade away.

[The Bodleian has about 15 copies of broadsides with the title IRISH MOLLY or IRISH MOLLY O. I haven't compared them all.]