This is a fascinating thread; may there be more such "Study" threads as time goes on! My question concerns how common it is for Molly Ban/Polly Van to be collected or sung with a chorus or refrain after each verse. Most of the versions printed in this thread do not appear to have a chorus. I first heard "Young Molly Ban" on a Riverside LP of "Irish Street Songs" sung by Patrick Galvin (RLP 12-613, n.d., notes by Kenneth S. Goldstein). The notes give no indication of the source of Galvin's version. But he sang it with a chorus, approximately as follows: "She'd her apron wrapped around her, and her took her for a swan But it's oh, and alas, it was she, Molly Ban." Linscott (1939) published "Polly Van," a version from Lucy Allen from the Allen Family songbook (1899), which has a chorus after each verse: "For she'd her apron about her and he took her for a swan; But oh, and alas! it was she, Polly Van." How common is it for Molly Ban/Polly Van to have a chorus? What other versions have been collected/published with a chorus?
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