Polly Vaughn - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Synopsis

A man, sometimes called Johnny Randle, goes out hunting for birds. Usually this is described as being in the evening or by moonlight in the rain. He sees something white in the bushes. Thinking this is a swan, he shoots. To his horror he discovers he has killed his true love, Polly Vaughn, sheltering from the rain. Returning home, he reports his mistake to his uncle and is advised not to run away. He should stay and tell the court that it was an honest mistake. The night before Polly's funeral, her ghost appears to confirm his version of the events.

The narrator imagines all the women of the county standing in a line, with Polly shining out among them as a "fountain of snow". Since the fairest girl in the county has died the girls are said to be glad of her death. In some versions there is no scene of guilty confession and no ghost.

Commentary

We are not told of the outcome of the trial. Is he found guilty of murder or not? Would he be guilty of poaching? Is seems rather mean-spirited of the girls of the county to be glad of her death, simply because she was fairer than them all. The emphasis on Polly's fair skin, and the reaction of all the girls of the county has led most commentators to suggest that there is a supernatural element.

Polly wears a white apron, and has a name which usually sounds like "Mailí Bhán". In Irish Gaelic, this translates as "Fair Mary".

Baring-Gould commented that there is some similarity to Celtic legends about "The Swan Maidens". (see Swan Maiden). Anne Gilchrist in the Journal of the Folksong Society (number 26) points to many tales about women turning into swans. There is a fairy tale called "An Cailin" (The Fair Girl). A version of this story was recorded as "Cailín na Gruaige Báine" on the album Aoife
Aoife (album)
Aoife is the second album released by Irish singer Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. It consists of a wide selection of Traditional Irish songs, and its lyrics are entirely sung in Irish...

by Moya Brennan

Moya Brennan

Moya Brennan, born Máire Ní Bhraonáin , also known as Máire Brennan , is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist who began performing professionally in 1970, when her family formed the band Clannad, and is now widely considered as the "First Lady of Celtic Music"...

. Roy Palmer recalls the story of the death of Procris

Procris

In Greek mythology, Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She married Cephalus, the son of Deioneus. Procris had at least two sisters, Creusa and Orithyia...

in classical antiquity. In Ovid's collection of stories "Metamorphoses" Nephele throws a javelin at his sweetheart, and kills her while hunting. This interpretation might be called the "Romantic Celtic" version, and has been embraced by Shirley Collins and others.

A more mundane interpretation is that the invention of the rifle inevitably led to an increase in accidents while hunting. If this song had really been an echo of ancient mythology we would expect to find versions in Scotland and indeed throughout Europe. With the exception of one version in Scotland, the song has been found only in England, Ireland, USA, Australia and Canada. Moreover, there are no versions known before 1806. We would have expected earlier versions or fragments. This down-to-earth interpretation of the song is rare.

Hugh Shields suggested that the story might be based on a real event in Kilwarlin, co. Down.
The song is discussed in "EDS" (English Dance and song) Autumn 2006 edition.

Historical background

At the end of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth century there was an increase in the use of rifles among hunters, as it became cheaper to manufacture.

The absence of any trial in the song suggests that the sympathies of the hearers were with the hunter. Swan is not a particularly tasty bird, and most hunters would have preferred to shoot deer. There are versions of this song called "This Shooting of his Dear", where Polly is killed in mistake for a deer. There is obviously a play on words with the word "Deer/Dear".

Cultural relationships

The idea that someone who accidentally killed someone should not run away, shows a certain confidence in the judicial system. The song is a domestic tragedy, and has no elements of class conflict.

There is a slight tendency for the name "Molly" to be used more frequently in the Irish versions of the song, and for "Polly" to be used in the English versions.

Standard references

Most traditional songs involving tragic death are included among the Child ballads. The absence of this song from that list has puzzled several commentators, since Francis Child must surely have known about the song.

It was published in Robert Jamieson’s ‘Popular Ballads and Songs from tradition, manuscripts and scarce editions’, 1806. Jamieson writes about this song, “This is indeed a silly ditty, one of the very lowest description of vulgar English ballads which are sung about the streets in country towns and sold four or five for a halfpenny”. Jamieson's opinion might have coloured Child's decision to exclude it.

Jamieson says that it also goes by the name "Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour"
, but nobody else has used this name for the song. This sounds like a misinterpretation, since there is a Child Ballad (number 73) called "Lord Thomas and Fair Elleanor" which involves a man killing a fair woman, but without any of the motivation of hunting for a swan.

Roud 166
Laws O36
The website "irishtune" categorises this as tune number 590 "Molly Bán" Irishtune
In Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill's "O'Neill's Music of Ireland" it is tune number 1474
In Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill's "The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems" it is number 703.

Broadsides

Broadside printings of this song are known from:

Pitts (London) (between 1802 and 1819)
Disley (London)
Kendrew (York)
Kenedy (New York) 1884
Pearson (Manchester)
Haly (Cork)
J. F. Nugent & Co (Dublin) (between 1850 and 1899)

Textual variants

The song exists under the titles:

"Polly Vaughan"
"Polly Vaughn"
"Molly Bawn"
"Molly Ban"
"Molly Bond"
"Molly Vaughan"
"Molly Van"
"Polly Von"
"The Shooting of His Dear"
"As Jimmie Went A-Hunting"
"The Fowler"
"An Cailin Bán" (instrumental version)
"Fair Haired Molly" (instrumental version)

Non-English variants

The Irish tune "An Cailín Bán" appears to have evolved separately from the English tune, and appears to be earlier.

Songs that refer to Polly Vaughn

"Polly Von" by Peter, Paul, and Mary
"One Starry Night" by Black 47

Motifs

According to "The Fiddlers companion" website, the title "Molly Bawn" is an Anglicised corruption of the Gaelic "Mailí Bhán," or Fair Mary (Fairhaired Mary, White Haired Mary). The symbol of a bird to represent a departing spirit from a dead body is common in art, particularly in scenes of the death of Christ.

The idea of a the spirit of a dead person returning to speak to the living is quite common in ballads. Examples include "The Unquiet Grave" and "Murder at the Red Barn".

The idea that a woman might transform herself into a swan is widely known from Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake

Swan Lake

Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...

". Again, death at the hands of a hunter is part of the story.

Literature

The name Bawn appears to be quite common in Irish literature. The Colleen Bawn

The Colleen Bawn

The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Miss Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860 with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicault playing Myles na Coppaleen. It was most recently...

is a melodramatic play by Dion Boucicault

Dion Boucicault

Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...

. "Molly Bawn,: A comedy drama in four acts" (1920) is by Marie Doran.
There is also a song by Samuel Lover

Samuel Lover

Samuel Lover was an Anglo-Irish songwriter, novelist, as well as a painter of portraits, chiefly miniatures. He was the grandfather of Victor Herbert....

in the one-act opera "Il Paddy Whack in Italia" (1841) called "Molly Bawm". Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, née Hamilton, , was an Irish novelist whose light romantic fiction was popular throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th century.-Biography:...

wrote a novel called Molly Bawn (1878). None of these stories concern women being shot in mistake for a swan.

Samuel Lover wrote tunes as well as novels and dramas. Ciaran Tourish recorded "Molly Bawn's Reel" but it is not connected with the song. This website:
Reel suggests that Samuel Lover composed the tune.

In Canada there is company doing Whale and Puffin tours, called "Molly Bawn". There is a poem called "Polly Vaughn" in Les Barker's book "Alexander Greyhound Bell" It is presumably as parody of the song, as that is the sort of thing Les Barker does.

Television and movie references

There is a film made in 1916, called "Molly Bawn". It is set in Ireland in 1850. However it is not related to the song.

Music

The earliest known version of the tune for the Irish version of the song, is earlier than the earliest printing of the words. Edward Bunting's "General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland" appeared in 1796. He printed the Irish tune three times in his manuscripts, each time noting it was traditionally the first to by learned by beginning harpers. If this in turn really is derived from O’Carolan’s composition “Fairhaired Mary” then it must date back to 1738 or before.

Under the Irish title "An Cailín Bán" it is first mentioned in 1839 (The fair girl) as a tune rather than a song. The tune appears in "The Concertina and How to Play It" (1905) by Paul de Ville (as "Molly Bawn"), again implying it suitable for beginners to the instrument. This would suggest that the words were not married up with the Irish tune until sometime between 1840 and 1905.

The English tune is known from the time of Baring-Gould (c 1890).

Recordings

As there are three distinct ways of performing the song/tune this section has been divided up.

Section 1 - Performed as a folk song

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
"The Acoustic Recordings (1910-1911)"	John McCormack	1911	"Molly Bawn"	classic tenor
"Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: Ireland"	Seamus Ennis	(1955)(recorded 1949/1951)	"Molly Bawn"	.
"The Shooting of His Dear" (single on HMV)	A.L. Lloyd	1951	"The Shooting of His Dear"	.
"Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 7"	Harry Cox	(1962) (rec 1953)	"Polly"	.
"Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England"	A.L. Lloyd	1955	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"The Maid From Ballingarry & Other songs From the Muscrai Tradition"	John O'Connell	(1999) (recorded c 1960)	"Molly Ban"	.
"Marine Folk songs"	Louis Boutilier	1962	"As Jimmie Went A-Hunting"	Not really a marine song
"Back Porch Bluegrass Back Porch Bluegrass Back Porch Bluegrass is the debut album by bluegrass quartet The Dillards. Dooley and Deulin' Banjo were both released as singles.- Track listing :# "Old Joseph" – 1:25... "	The Dillards The Dillards The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...	1963	"Polly Vaughn"	1st USA version
"In The Wind"	Peter Paul and Mary	1963	"Polly Von"	Unusual spelling
"Hazards of Love"	Anne Briggs Anne Briggs Anne Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she traveled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music...	1964	"Polly Vaughan"	Same as A.L. Lloyd version
"Sings at the Toronto Horseshoe Club"	Mac Wiseman Mac Wiseman Malcolm B. Wiseman , better known as Mac Wiseman, is an American bluegrass singer, nicknamed The Voice with a Heart. The bearded singer is one of the cult figures of bluegrass....	1965/2001	"Molly Bawn"	.
"Byker Hill"	Martin Carthy Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...	1967	"Fowler Jack"	Unusual title
"Ballads and Songs of the Upper Hudson Valley"	Sarah Cleveland Sarah Cleveland Sarah H. Cleveland is the Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights at Columbia Law School. She is a noted advocate of the use of international law in U.S. courts, and a noted international human rights expert. She is a graduate of Brown University, University of Oxford as a Rhodes...	(1968) (rec 1966)	"Molly Bawn"	USa version
"Power of the True Love Knot"	Shirley Collins Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...	1968	"Polly Vaughan"	Tune composed by Collins
"Mainly Norfolk"	Peter Bellamy Peter Bellamy Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls...	1968	"The Shooting of His Dear"	from Walter Pardon
"At It Again"	The Dubliners The Dubliners The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...	1968	"Molly Bawn"	.
"The Voice of the People The Voice of the People The Voice of the People is an anthology of folk songs sung by Traditional singers and musicians of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.There are 511 recordings on 20 CDs, compiled by Dr Reg Hall, a historian at Sussex University... vol 3"	Phoebe Smith	1998 (recorded 1969)	"Molly Vaughan"	.
"Folk Songs from Hampshire"	Cheryl Jordan	1974	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"Songs Of a Donegal Man"	Packie Byrne	1975	"Molly Bawn"	.
"On Banks of Green willow"	Tony Rose	1976	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"Dark Ships in the Forest"	John Roberts and Tony Barrand	1977	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"You Can't Fool The Fat Man"	Dave Burland	1979	"The Shooting of His Dear"	.
"Step Outside"	Oysterband Oysterband Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...	1986	"Molly Bond"	.
"Good as I Been to You"	Bob Dylan Bob Dylan Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...	1992	"Polly Vaughan"	This is an out-take. Circulating amongst collectors "Dylan and David Bromberg Sessions"
"Them Stars"	Margaret MacArthur	1996	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"Voices - English Traditional Songs"	Patti Reid	1997	"Fowler"	.
"Racing Hearts"	Al Petteway and Amy White	1999	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"Black Mountains Revisited"	Julie Murphy	1999	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"Put a Bit of Powder on it, Father"	Walter Pardon	2000	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"Far in the Mountains"	Dan Tate	2000	"Molly Van"	Unusual spelling
"Down The Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions"	The Chieftains with Alison Krauss	2002	"Molly Ban"	.
"Over the Edge"	Moher	2003	"Molly Ban"	.
"Red colour Sun"	Pauline Scanlon	2004	"Molly Ban"	.
"The Hardy Sons of Dan"	Maggie Murphy	2004	"Molly Bawn"	.
"Song Links 2"	Dave Fletcher and Bill Whaley	2005	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"A Promise of Light"	Jamie Anderson	2005	"Polly Vaughn"	.
"No Earthly Man"	Alasdair Roberts	2005	"Molly Bawn"	.
"Day is Dawning"	Sussie Nielsen	2005	"Molly Bawn"	.
"Of Milkmaids and Architects"	Martha Tilston Martha Tilston - Biography :Martha Tilston is the daughter of singer-songwriter Steve Tilston and stepdaughter of Irish folk performer Maggie Boyle. Trained as an artist and dramatist, she began her musical career in 2000 as an active presence in Britain's alternative festival scene, particularly as part of the...	2006	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"Stranded"	Craig; Morgan; Robson	2006	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"The Weeping Well"	The Great Park	2007	"Polly Vaughan"	.
"A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection"	Alison Krauss Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...	2007	"Molly Ban"	.
"Night Visiting"	Bella Hardy Bella Hardy Arwen Arabella Hardy, known professionally as Bella Hardy, is a contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale in Derbyshire...	2007	"Molly Vaughan"	.
"Bring Me Home"	Peggy Seeger Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...	2008	"Molly Bond"	.
"Footsteps Footsteps (Chris de Burgh album) Footsteps is singer/songwriter Chris de Burgh's seventeenth original album, released in 2008. This album includes two songs penned by de Burgh and cover versions of thirteen other songs... "	Chris de Burgh Chris de Burgh Chris de Burgh is a British/Irish singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red".-Early life:...	2008	"Polly Von"	.

Section 2 - Performed as a classical music arrangement

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

wrote many arrangements of folksongs. "Folksong Arrangements - volume 6" contains "The Shooting of His Dear". Ernest John Moeran

Ernest John Moeran

Ernest John Moeran was an English composer who had strong associations with Ireland .-Early life:...

composed "Six Folk Songs from Norfolk" in 1923. The 5th song is "The Shooting of his Dear". According to Barry Marsh, the song became
as basis for Moeran's Symphony in G minor

Symphony in G minor (Moeran)

The Symphony in G minor was the only completed symphony written by Ernest John Moeran. He wrote it in 1934-37. It is in four movements.In 1926, the conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, Sir Hamilton Harty, commissioned a symphony from Moeran. He had already been working on a symphony since 1924, and...

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
"Music For voice and guitar"	Peter Pears and Julian Bream	(1993,recorded 1964)	"The Shooting of His Dear"	The Britten version
"Britten: The Complete Folksong arrangements"	Jamie MacDougall and Craig Lewis	1994	"The Shooting of His Dear"	.
"Down By The Salley Gardens"	Benjamin Luxon and David Willison	2001	"The Shooting of His Dear"	.
"Scarborough Fair"	James Griffett	2002	"The shooting of his dear"	arr Britten
"The Fowler"(single)	Christine Smallman + choir	unknown	The Fowler"	(arranged by Moeran)

Section 3 - Performed as an instrumental

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
"Traditional Music of Ireland"	Joe Burke with Charlie Lennon	c 1973	"Molly Bán"	.
"Old Hag You Have Killed Me"	The Bothy Band	1976	"Molly Ban"	In the set called "Michael Gorman's"
"Traditional Music of Ireland"	James Kelly, Paddy O'Brien & Daithi Sproule	1981	"Molly Bawn (White-Haired Molly)"	.
"Carousel"	Seamus McGuire, Manus McGuire and Daithi Sproule	1984	"An Cailin Bán"	.
"A Whistle on the Wind"	Joanie Madden Joanie Madden Joanie Madden is an Irish-American flute and whistle player of Irish Traditional Music. She is best known as leader of the all-female group Cherish the Ladies, but has also recorded and performed with numerous other musicians, and as a solo artist. She also teaches master classes and...	1994	"Molly Ban"	.
"Under the Moon"	Martin Hayes	1994	"Fair Haired Molly"	Unusual title
"Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler"	Paddy Canny	1997	"Molly Bawn"	.
"The Wide World Over"	The Chiftains	2002	"Little Molly"	Unusual title
"Ragairne"	Seamus Begley & Jim Murray	2002	"Cailin Ban"	.
"Down the Line"	Ciaran Tourish	2005	"Molly Bán"	.
"Bakerswell"	Bakerswell	2005	"Molly Ban"	.
"Duck Soup"	Duck Soup	2005	"Molly Bawn"	.
"In Session"	Eoin O'Neill	2006	"Molly Ban"	.
"The House I Was Reared In"	Christy McNamara	2007	"Molly Bán"	.

Musical variants

Edward Madden wote the words, and M. J. Fred Helf wrote the music to a song called "Colleen Bawn" in 1906. The second verse is as follows:

Colleen Bawn when I am gone I wonder will you miss me,

DOn't be afraid some other maid Will fall in love and kiss me,

For if they do I'll think of you A waiting here and sighing,

I'll drop my gun and start to run, And home a flying.

The business about dropping his gun almost suggests the earlier ballad, but is otherwise unrelated. The song is about a soldier who longs to return to his Irish sweetheart.

In Canada a song called "Molly Bawn" has been captured by song-collector MacEdward Leach.
MacEdward Leach. It has the line:

Oh, Molly Bawn, why leave me pining, All lonely, waiting here for you?

but makes no mention of any shooting. It is probably unrelated.

Other songs with the same tune

The air "Molly ban so Fair" (1905, Stanford/Petrie collection), is probably unrelated.

According to "The Fiddlers companion" website, there is a variant similar to O’Carolan’s composition “Fairhaired Mary.” (See Fiddlers companion)

External links

Broadsheet sources are given here:

The ballad is discussed here:

The Irish tune is discussed here:

The lyrics are given here:

There is an mp3 version sung by Eula Maxfield Garrott, recorded in 1952 here:

listen

Bob Dylan's version:

Dylan

Paul de Ville's "The Concertina and How to Play It" containing Molly Bawn:

Molly Bawn

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