Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Abby Sale Date: 07 Oct 01 - 10:33 AM Charlie: Thanks. But I strongly recommend you hear it sung by Peter Bellamy or President Taylor or anyone who uses this tune. A story seems to pop out that was lost to me in the "song" versions common in the US. That is, the US "Pretty Polly" is so familiar as an old-timey piece that I think much (or all) of the ballad disintegrates. Going back to a fine ballad-singer brings its starkness out. And, in this example, the whole difference between a "song" and a "ballad" even when they have essentially the same text. I think so, anyway. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Charley Noble Date: 07 Oct 01 - 09:50 AM Abby - I love the mariner version of the song. Glad the link was revived. |
Subject: Lyr Add: PRETTY POLLY From: GUEST,Clint Keller Date: 07 Oct 01 - 01:13 AM My grandmother was born in the 1880's and raised by her grandmother, who was born about 1830. She used to sing a bare-bones Pretty Polly like this:
"O Polly, pretty Polly Clint Keller |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Mark Clark Date: 06 Oct 01 - 02:29 PM ... or do you say “traditional”? Nuts. Mutter, mutter. Sorry for the bad HTML above. - Mark
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Mark Clark Date: 06 Oct 01 - 01:59 PM John, That occurred to me as well... just after I pressed the submit button. Of course I only meant they may not be &ldq;traditional&rdq; verses. <g> - Mark |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 06 Oct 01 - 01:50 PM Yes, I'd got my carpenters mixed up. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: John P Date: 06 Oct 01 - 09:34 AM Stewie, The verses you posted look to me like they fit the description of what my wife was looking for, but she says they aren't the same as what she heard. These singers! So hard to please! Even though we haven't found what we wanted on this thread yet, we are seeimg lots of great endings for the song. Abby Sale, I've never been in danger of mixing up "Pretty Polly" with "The House Carpenter". Very different songs. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" is obviously the same song, but usually has a mystical/ghostly ending. I've always like the decidely non-mystical story of the version of "Pretty Polly" that Anna sings. She wasn't looking for a ghostly ending for the song. When I said in my original post that Willie was "haunted by the sound of the wild birds for the rest of his life" I was thinking more of a psychological haunting than a ghostly visitation. Thanks, everyone, for all the versions, links, verses, comments. I've been having a lot of fun reading all these slightly different takes on the story, since the way that the words are put together is one of the things that attracts me to tradtional folk songs. Mark Clark, I've never thought there was such a thing as unreal verses to folk songs. John Peekstok |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Mark Clark Date: 06 Oct 01 - 12:09 AM I've always liked Jean's verse but I also used to hear it with these as the last two verses:
Polly, Pretty Polly O yonder she stands, I've never known whether they were real verses or whether the singer was just having some fun with the song. - Mark
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Stewie Date: 05 Oct 01 - 07:51 PM Hi John, I also posted this to your query on oldtimey newsgroup - it may be what you are looking for. The last stanza of the version on Dirk Powell's 'If I Go Ten Thousand Miles' (Rounder CD 0384) is unusual. Powell noted that he learned the version from his grandfather who had claimed 'these events took place right up around Greenup, KY'. Dirk says that, not being an historian, he 'wouldn't speculate on such things'. The vocal is solo - by Tim O'Brien:
William he travelled to far distant lands (x2) --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Abby Sale Date: 04 Oct 01 - 08:44 PM JohnP: Hi. You may want to check the song I linked above and the many good links Malcolm linked there. Start, maybe, with the Bodley one at the bottom. For betrayed & destroyed read falsely promised to marry, lured to the woods then murdered & dumped in a lonely grave. Commonly she suspects her fate & pleads for her life and he explains he's been digging her grave all night & doesn't want to waste it. Often she is a little suspicious when they never arrive at his friends' & especially so when she spots the shovel. There are a number of songs called "Pretty Polly" but I think the usual one follows the story pretty well. Without, as has been said, the ghost element. Usually. Possibly you've mixed it up with the "House Carpenter?" I've done that. I just try to allways call it "The Deamon Lover." That helps. :-) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 04 Oct 01 - 08:32 PM I've put a list of links into the thread Abby started, and linked to earlier in this thread; some of them show quite clearly the development of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter into Polly's Love/ Pretty Polly. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 04 Oct 01 - 06:51 PM I've never thought of the Ship's Carpenter as a variant of Pretty Polly, or vice versa. A woman gets betrayed and destroyed by her sometime lover, but that's about all the songs have got in common.
I suppose you could develop a song like Pretty Polly out of one aspect of the Ship's Carpenter story, but I've never seen any bridging versions to suggest that that is where it came from. It'd be interesting to know if there are any. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 04 Oct 01 - 05:55 PM We had this verse, which sometimes began the song, and other times ended it (as though it's her ghost seen):
O where's Pretty Polly? O yonder she stands
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: John P Date: 03 Oct 01 - 09:34 PM Thanks for all the ideas and pointers, everyone. I guess the verse that Anna is looking for is going to be one of those long term mysteries. Maybe she'll just have to write something that does the job. JP |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Abby Sale Date: 02 Oct 01 - 03:42 PM John P: I'm not finding your version but don't forget to look at versions of it called "The (Cruel) Ship's Carpenter." I've reposted my favorite version at Pretty Polly Mystical endings do exist. |
Subject: Lyr Add: PRETTY POLLY From: GUEST,Pete Date: 02 Oct 01 - 01:50 PM Don't know anything about him being haunted, but here's a version from "The Folksinger's Wordbook" (Oak Publications), which I bought via the net.
Note the additional last verse, which is also on the Bert Jansch version (on Jack Orion).
I courted Pretty Polly the live long night
Polly, pretty Polly, come go along with me
She jumped up behind him and away they did go.
They went a little further and what did they spy
Oh Willie, oh Willie, I'm afraid of your ways
Polly, pretty Polly, you've guessed about right
He throwed her on the ground and she broke into tears
There's no time to talk now, there's no time to stand
He stabbed her in the heart and the blood it did flow
He threw a little dirt over her and started for home
Now a debt to the Devil, Willie must pay |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Mrrzy Date: 02 Oct 01 - 08:53 AM I always heard that as "but the wild woods to moan" so I will have to re-listen. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Polly / lost verse From: Joe Offer Date: 02 Oct 01 - 12:17 AM Hi, John - what you posted is very similar to Version 2 (click) in the Digital Tradition. I checked a number of versions, and couldn't find the verses you were seeking. It has Digital Tradition designator #311. If you put #311 in the Digitrad and Forum Search or the blue search box, you'll find several versions, including some I didn't check. Good luck. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: Lyr Add: PRETTY POLLY From: John P Date: 02 Oct 01 - 12:07 AM My wife is looking for a verse(s) to Pretty Polly that she heard on the radio some time ago. The rest of the song was mostly as she sings it, as given below. The version she heard on the radio had an extra verse or two, about how Willie was haunted by the sound of the wild birds for the rest of his life. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Thanks, John Peekstok Pretty Polly Polly, pretty Polly, come go along with me Before we get married, some pleasure to see. She got up behind him and away they did go. Over the hills and the valleys below. Polly looked around at the wild countryside And saw a new-dug grave and a spade lying by. Willie, dear Willie, I'm scared of your ways I'm afraid you will lead my poor body astray. Polly, pretty Polly, you guessed it just about right I dug on your grave the longest part of last night. She threw her arms around him and trembled with fear Oh how can you kill me when I love you so dear? He stabbed her to the heart and her blood it did flow And into the grave pretty Polly did go. He threw a little dirt over her and turned to go home Leaving no one behind but the wild birds to mourn. |
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