I don't want to rush you, Susanne, I want to rush me, for if I don't post it today, I can't before next thursday. So here it is.

The song is related to but not very close to the Bonnie lass of Fyfe. The tunes are about as closely related as the lyrics, so if you listen closely it sounds familiar if you know the other song.

Handsome Polly-O

1. Oh a regiment of soldiers came to (Mowillow?)
when the captain on parade
he fell in love with the lady's maid
and the name that she was called was handsome Polly-O.

2. "Will you list in the army, handsome Polly-O,
are you going to horse to ride
and your rifle by your side
and a (cool?) band of music going afore ye-O?"

3. "Didn't I give you your answer long, long ago
that I ne'er intend to roam
into any foreign shore
nor to marry a poor soldier in the army-O?"

4. Now when she came in presence of the captain-O,
ah, she made him there to stand
with his captain gun in hand
and she loved him to scorn his soldiers-O.

5. The regiment got the rout into (Ivy-O?)
and the captain he fell sick
and he died all in a week
and it was all for the love of handsome Polly-O.
Ah, the captain he fell sick
and he died all in a week
and it was all for the love of handsome Polly-O.

6. The soldiers went to mourn for the captain-O
(for if Polly wouldn't do
they would get another view?)
for there were far better girls out in Ivy-O.

transcribed as I hear Martin Carthy singing it on the LP Shearwater.

Wolfgang

---

See also Pretty Peggy-O