Lyr Req: Polly and the Sailor (Carolyne Hughes)

Subject: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: Roberto
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 01:27 PM

From a Folktrax cd dedicated to Carolyne Hughes:
Pretty Poly and the Sailor

The songs has two stanzas. Too many words I can't get. Please, help. Thanks. R

First line: Oh I says my Pretty Polly I am going for to leave you just across the briny sea
Third line: You can see the sailors singing, you can see the tides a-tossing

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: Peace
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 05:31 PM

Is her source for this "The Outlandish Knight"?

Subject: Tune Add: UNTO THE EAST INDIES WE WERE BOUND
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 09:43 PM

No, it isn't. Kennedy himself lists this as an example of Roud 2384, though Caroline Hughes' fragment doesn't appear in the Roud Index at present. The only example that does is from P W Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, 1909, 58-9. I don't have a copy of that book, but an abc apparently made from it (no source is credited) is at http://www.sligo-man.com/. I copy it here, with source information added and some errors in the abc corrected.


X:1
T:Unto the East Indies We Were Bound
N:Roud 2384
B:P W Joyce, 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs', 1909, 58-9
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D
A|\ d2 d B2 G|A2 A F2 D|EFE D2 D|D3-D2|
E2 D E2 F| G2 F G2 A|BAB E2 E|E3-E2
F|A2 F D2 F|A2 F G2 A| Bcd e2 c|d3-d2
c/d/|e2 c dcB|A2 F D2 D|EFG HA2 F|D3-D2||
W:Unto the East Indies we were bound our gallant ship to steer,
W:And all the time that we sailed on, I thought on my Polly dear:
W:'Tis pressed I was from my truelove the girl whom I adore.
W:And sent unto the raging seas where stormy billows roar.
W:
W:Our captain being a valiant man upon the deck did stand,
W:With a full reward of fifty pounds to the first that should spy land:
W:Then up aloft two boatmen go unto the maintop so high--
W:An hour is past, and then at last--"'Tis land, 'tis land!" they cry.
W:


Kennedy also refers to Ashton's Real Sailor Songs, but without a page reference. It isn't obvious which song he means (again, I don't have a copy at presesnt) but in any case his identifications were not always reliable. I wouldn't care to speculate on the strength of two fragments whether or not they are in any way related (though it doesn't seem particularly likely). The Hughes fragment has a vague similarity to the opening of 'The Bold Privateer' (Roud 1000, Laws O32), but that may just be chance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 07:16 PM

Roberto: Google gives no hits at all on "Pretty Polly and the Sailor" (in quotes). Are you sure you have the right song title?

Also, I can't identify the album you're describing. Do you have a title for it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:01 PM

Kennedy lists the title as 'Polly and the Sailor', but you probably won't get any results from google for that, either. So far as I know, all the information that is available on the web is in my post above, and that isn't very helpful.

For information on the recording (though not on the song) see http://www.folktrax.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menus/cassprogs/143.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: Roberto
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 03:07 AM

I was wrong in writing "pretty" Polly, it is Polly and the Sailor.

This is the situation at the moment:

Oh I says my Pretty Polly I am going for to leave you just across the briny sea
Now I thinks my (sounds like "appertation / appartage")now will stay (...) when I'm far away on sea
You can see the sailors singing, you can see the tides a-tossing
You can hear the sailors singing just where my time it used (?) to roam (?)

Now 'tis seven long years makes a great alteration since my love returned on shore
We will set the bells a-ringin', oftimes hearin' sailors singin'
Oftimes hearin' sailors singing don't you think you (?) enjoy yoursel'

After the singing, Carolyne Hughes explains the song.

If someone is willing to help me with this song, I could send a mail with the file. Roberto

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carolyne Hughes's Pretty Polly & Sailor
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 05:14 AM

Kennedy's reference to Ashton's "Real Sailor's Songs" will probably be to "Polly Dear, Now I MUst Leave You" pp65-66 (John Foreman's 1973 reprint) which goes:

Polly dear, now I must leave you,
For to cross the ragiung main.
I am afraid my absence will grieve you
For losing of your darling swain;
Hark, hark, how the seas do call me,
I'll no more grieve at my Polly
Still I'm in hopes to please my Polly
When from the seas I do return.

Billy dear, when you are landed
In some other foreign part,
Some other girl you may be seeking,
You'll never think on your seetheart.
O, my dear you may believe me,
And so kindly may receive me,
Polly dear, you need not doubt me,
You are the girl I do adore.

Seven long years and something better,
Before young William came on shore,
He was drest like some shipwrecked fellow,
He seem'd to be very poor.
Then he came to see his Polly,
Drest like some shipwrecked fellow,
It was only to try his Polly,
Whether she loved him or no.

As soon as she beheld his features,
Then she fainted quite away,
But, when she came to herself again,
These very words to him did say.
O, Billy dear, you may believe me,
Broken hearted you have made me,
Broken hearted you have made me,
You are the lad I do adore.

(A bit confused I venture!)