Pretty Polly

This week's Sunday song comes from Matthew Bragg, over to him!

'So, “Pretty Polly”: it’s a Murder Ballad also known as "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" (documented as “Round #15”http://bit.ly/zdiF5x ), telling of a man who murders his girlfriend when he discovers she’s preggers. The song itself travelled from Britain to Appalachia, and the murderer’s profession changed from being a ship’s carpenter to a gambler or rambler. The British version usually ends with the murderer returning to sea and being confronted by the dead girl’s ghost, whereby he either goes mad or is torn limb-from-limb in a storm. The American version, which it seems my rendition more closely resembles, is vague about the reason for the murder and features no supernatural retribution, the murderer simply gallops off, leaving only the birds to mourn. American versions also tend to begin in the “first person”, before switching to the “third person” in the lead-up to the murder.

I got my version from Bert Jansch’s rendition on 1966’s “Jack Orion” album http://bit.ly/xqTOH3 (Jansch previously performed a different arrangement of the song before he moved to London, as heard on the “Young Man Blues: Live in Glasgow 1962-1964” CD (1998))http://bit.ly/yAHQeI . I also incorporated a couple of verses from the American “Old-Time” banjo player Dock Boggs’ 1928 recording.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMdfPavA-Gc
The guitar riff was just something that I came up with yonks ago that fitted with a bit of tweaking; I kept the melody more-or-less as Jansch performed it.

The song is a fine, archetypal Murder Ballad, trusting victim and all, and has been much covered, not least by Woody Guthrie, The Stanley Brothers, The Byrds and Bob Dylan (who almost certainly based “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” on it.)'

Pretty Polly

Once there was a gambler who courted around
Once there was a gambler who courted around
He courted Pretty Polly, her body’s never been found

“Polly, Pretty Polly, won’t you go along with me
“Polly, Pretty Polly, won’t you go along with me
“Before we get married, some pleasures to see”

She jumped up behind him and away they did ride
Jumped up behind him and away they did ride
Over the hills and the valleys so wide

They rode on a little further and what did they spy
Rode on a little further and what did they spy
But a new-dug grave, with a spade lying by

“Willy, oh Willy, I’m scared of your ways
“Willy, oh Willy, I’m scared of your ways
“Scared you might leave my poor body astray”

“Polly, Pretty Polly, you guessed about right
“Polly, Pretty Polly, you guessed about right
“I’ve been digging that grave the best part of last night”

“Now, there’s no time to talk and there’s no time to stand
“No time to talk and there’s no time to stand”
And he pulled from his cloak a dagger in his hand

He stabbed her through the heart and the hot blood did flow
Stabbed her through the heart and the hot blood did flow
And into her grave, Pretty Polly he did throw

He threw a little dirt over her, started for home
Threw a little dirt over her, started for home
Leaving nothing behind, but the wild birds to moan (mourn 1)

A debt to the Devil, and Willy must pay
Debt to the Devil, and Willy must pay
For killing Pretty Polly and running away

1 I've always sung moan but mourn would make more sense!