The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #171345 Message #4144051
Posted By: Joe Offer
11-Jun-22 - 07:59 PM
Thread Name: Origins: I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night
Subject: ADD: I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I SAW LAST NIGHT
All: I'll tell you what I saw last night, First Voice: I'll tell you what Second Voice: I saw last night, First Voice: I'll tell you what Second Voice: I saw last night, All: I'll tell you what I saw last night,
All: A poor ungodly womankind, First Voice: A poor ungodly Second Voice womankind, First Voice: A poor ungodly Second Voice: womankind, All: A poor ungodly womankind,
She went to the ball, She danced and played.
She danced and played her life away.
She called her mother to her side.
She called her father to her side.
She called her loved one to her side.
She said, "Dear loved one, fare you well. "
"Dear father and mother, fare you well. "
"Your daughter Mary dreams in Hell, screams in Hell. "
The Hickory Nuts, OKeh 45189. NLCR, Vol. 5. Also known as "Wicked Polly", "The Unfortunate Girl", and "Awful, Oh, How Awful", this version is the only one known on a phonograph record, and seems to be a condensation of the full ballad, which is widely sung in oral tradition. (See George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals.) The moralizing verses are left out of this arrangement, and 2 remains is a pointed story.
Source: Old-Time String Band Songbook (New Lost City Ramblers Songbook), edited by John Cohen and Mike Seeger, Oak Publications, New York, 1964 & 1976 (page 86)