Hi,

Does any one know about the Harry Cox version recorded in 1947 for the BBC?

The Fowler

o come all you young sportsman, that carry a gun
I will have you go home by the light of the sun,
For young Jimmy was a-fowling, was a-fowling alone.
When he shot his own true love in the room[1] of a swan.

So the first he went to her and found it was she,
He was shaking and trembling, his eyes scarce could see,
"So now you are dead, love, and your sorrows are o'er;
Fare thee well my dear Polly, I shall see you no more."

Then home went young Jimmy with his dog and his gun,
Saying: "Uncle, dear uncle, have you heard what I've done
Cursed be this old gunsmith that made me this gun
For I've shot my own true-love in the room[1] of a swan."

Then out come bold uncle with his locks hanging grey,
Saying "Jimmy, dear Jimmy, don't you run away.
Don't you leave your own counterie till the trial comes on,
For you ne'er shall be hanged for the crime you has done."

Now the trial came on and pretty Polly appear,
Saying: "Uncle, dear uncle let Jimmy go clear,
For my apron was wrapped round me when he took me for a swan,
And his poor heart lay bleeding for Polly his own."

[There are girls in this country who no-wise are sad,
To see pretty Polly all laid in her grave;
You may take them by the hundred; put them all in a row,
My dear Polly outshone them like a fountain of snow.] [2]

1. ruse of a swan
2. from Jim Carroll

Where did Jim Carroll get the extra stanza? It's posted online after a version he collected. The version I have doesn't have that stanza.

So is this from Walter Gales? from Bob Cox?

Richie