So, today’s song isn’t near as sexy as last weeks, but it’s a really important one for a couple of reasons. First off, Pretty Polly, which is the eventual variation of this song is the song that got me so damn obsessed with this topic.
I first heard Pretty Polly off a Judy Collins album. Yeah, I know… no judgement. Now, why an 8-year-old was playing a murder ballad on repeat? I don’t know, but I was a weird kid and had just read Pollyanna, so I suppose the word Polly grabbed my attention.
I really didn’t understand it then of course, I just liked the melody. I understood it at 16 though, when my own aunt suffered a fate very similar fate to Polly’s.
It’s also a perfect introduction to two other motifs we’ll see a lot. Murder and Vengeance. In fact, songs such as this are often considered to be the original form of true-crime. It didn’t start as “Pretty Polly” though. Instead, it began with a ballad called “The Gosport Tragedy” so let’s start there.
IN Gosport of late there a damsel did dwell,
For wit and for beauty did many excel;
A young man did court her to be his dear,
And he by his trade was a ship-carpenter.
He said, Oh! dear Molly, if you will agree,
And will consent to marry me;
My love you will ease me of sorrow and care,
If you will but wed a ship-carpenter.
With blushes more charming than roses in June.
She answerd sweet William, Towed Im too young.
Young men are so fickle I see very plain,
If a maid is not coy they will her disdain.
They flatter and swear their charms they adore,
When gaind their consent, they care for no more;
The handsomest creature that ever was born,
When man has enjoyd, he will hold in scorn.
My charming Molly what makes you say so?
Thy beautys the haven to which I would go.
So into that country I chance for to steer
There will cast anchor, and stay with my dear
I neer shall be cloyd with the charme of me love,
My love is as true as the turtle-dove;
And all I crave is to wed with my dear,
And when thou art mine no danger I fear.
The life of a virgin, sweet William, I prize,
For marriage brings sorrows and troubles likewise;
I am loath to venture, and therefore forbear
For I will not wed a ship-carpenter.
For in the time of war to the sea you must go,
And leave wife and children in sorrow and woe?
The seas they are perilous, therefore forbear,
For I will not wed with a ship-carpenter.
But yet all in vain, she his suit did deny,
Though he still did Press her to make her comply;
At length with his cunning he did her betray,
And to lewd desire he led her away.
But when with child this young woman were,
The tydings she instantly sent to her dear;
And by the good Heaven he swore to be true.
Saying, I will wed no other but you.
They passed on till at length we hear,
The king wants sailors, to see he repairs,
Which grieved the damsel unto the heart.
To think she so soon with a lover must part.
She said, my dear William ere thou gost to sea,
Remember the vows that thou madest to me;
But if you forsake me I never shall rest,
Oh! why dost thou leave me with sorrow opprest?
Then with kind embraces to her he did say,
Ill wed thee, dear Molly, ere I go away;
And if to-morrow to me thou dost come,
A license Ill buy, and it shall be done.
So with kind embraces he parted that night,
She went to meet him in the morning light;
He said dear charmer thou must go with me,
Before we are wedded, a friend to see.
He led her through valleys and groves so deep,
At length this maiden began for to weep;
Saying, William, I fancy thou leadst me astray,
On purpose my innocent life to betray.
He said that is true, and none you can save,
For I all this night have been digging a grave;
Poor innocent soul, when she heard him say so,
Her eyes like a fountain began for to flow.
O perjurd creature, the worst of all men,
Heavens reward thee when Im dead and gone:
O pity the infant, and spare my life,
Let me go distressd if Im not thy wife.
Her hands white as lillies in sorrow she wrung,
Beseeching for mercy, saying, what have I done
To you my dear William, what makes you severe?
For to murder one that loves you so dear.
And said heres no time disputing to stand,
And instantly taking the knife in his hand;
He pierced her body till the blood it did flow,
Then into the grave her body did throw.
He coverd her body, then home he did run,
Leaving none but birds her death to mourn;
On board the Bedford he enterd straitway,
Which lay at Portsmouth out bound for the sea.
For carpenters mate he was enterd we hear,
Fitted for his voyage away he did steer;
But as in his cabbin one night he did lie,
The voice of his sweetheart he heard to cry.
O perjurd villain, awake now and hear,
The voice of your love, that lovd you so dear;
This ship out of Portsmouth never shall go,
Till I am revenged for this overthrow.
She afterward vanished with shrieks and cries,
Flashes of lightning did dart from her eyes;
Which put the ships crew into great fear,
None saw the ghost, but the voice they did hear.
Charles Stuart, a man of courage so bold,
One night was going into the Hold:
A beautiful creature to him did appear,
And she in her armes had a daughter most fair.
The charms of this so glorious a face,
Being merry in drink, he goes to embrace:
But to his surprize it vanishd away,
So he went to the captain without more delay.
And told him the story, which when he did hear,
The captain said, some of my men I do fear
Have done some murder, and if it be so,
Our ship in great danger to the sea must go.
One at a time then his merry men all,
Into his cabbin he did strait call;
And said, my lads the news I do hear
Doth much surprize me with sorrow and fear
This ghost which appeard in the dead of the night
Which all my seaman so sadly did fright;
I fear has been wrongd by some of my crew,
And therefore the person I fain would know.
Then William affrighted did tremble with fear
And began by the powers above to swear;
He nothing at all of the matter did know,
But as from the captain he went to go.
Unto his surprize his true love did see,
With that he immediately fell on his knee:
And said, heres my true love, where shall I run?
O save me, or else I am surely undone.
Now he the murder confessed out of hand,
And said, before me my Molly doth stand,
Sweet injurd ghost thy pardon I crave.
And soon I will seek thee in the silent grave.
No one but this wretch did see this sad sight,
Then raving distracted he dyd in the night:
As soon as her parents these tydings did hear
They sought for the body of their daughter dear,
Near a place calld Southampton in a valley deep
The body was found, while many did weep
At the fall of the damsel and her daughter dear,
In Gosport church they buryd her there.
I hope that this may be a warning to all,
Young men how innocent maids they enthral:
Young men be constant and true to your love,
Then a blessing indeed will attend you above.
One of the things I want to start with is early modern pronunciation. You had to have noticed how I said carpentair and not carpenter or sea say. This something that many people working in Early Modern poetry find themselves looking at, but none have done a better job at that than David and Ben Crystal. It’s this change in pronunciation that makes many of Shakespeare’s lines no longer rhyme. If you think the original productions of Shakespeare’s plays for poshy schnoshy doos with the fancy high-brow language, please go check out the links in the transcript for more about the Crystal’s work.
So, why am I talking about Shakespeare. A couple reasons. First, it’s important to remember that one of the most important places to sell these broadsides was outside of the playhouses, and for that reason, there are many that take cues from the works of Shakespeare and vice-versa. Sometimes a song on a broadside will be one that references a play that we’ve basically all but forgotten. It’s almost impossible to fully separate the early ballad tradition with the playhouses.
The second reason is that Shakespeare is known for playing around with words and structure, and we credit him for introducing plenty of words to the language, and that is the evolution of language, which tends to want to simplify itself as we move forward. If we can say something in three syllables instead of eight… we gonna do it.
This is also one of those great songs where we get specific place names that make my research fingers twitch and itch because I want to know if it is actually true crime, and what information I can find that might possibly match the story. We are given three names: Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Gosport but Plymouth is more of a side detail to give information to where the body was found. We know the publication date of approximately 1728, and that timeframe lines up for the time that Gosport had been experiencing a boom due to an increase in Naval presence in Portsmouth that started in the later end of the 17th century, when Charles II ordered strengthening of the fortifications there. It would be wonderful if a historian in the area could go dig around in some dusty archive and find any murder trials from the late 17th or early 18th centuries that could be possible matches.
Now, obviously, there’d be no ghostly visitor in the real story, but imagine if true crime writers today did add that kind of spiritual vengeance. I’m sure the genre would become even more popular. Anyways… that brings us to the next version, “The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter, which was published as early as 1767, and gets a few revisions we’ll discuss after.
The moon, it was shining on fair Plymouth town,
There lived a lovely damsel, her name was Miss Brown.
She courted handsome Willie, her darling for to be
His trade long and steady, a ship's carpenter was he.
It was early one morning before the break of day,
A voice came to the window and this to her did say,
Saying, "Rise up lovely Mary, and come away with me
Before we get married, some friends (pleasures) to see.
And he led her through the fields and the valleys oh so deep,
'Til at length lovely Mary began for to weep;
Saying,"Willie, handsome Willie, you've led me astray
Through the fields and the valleys, my life to betray."
"It's true what you say to me, it's just the truth you say
For late, late last night I was a-digging your grave,
Your grave that is open, and spade standing by
And down in the grave your fair body must lie."
And he stabbed her, he stabbed her, 'til the red blood did flow
And into the grave her fair body he did throw,
And he's buried her so neatly and he's covered her so sound
Not thinking this murder would ever be found.
It was early one morning before the break of day,
Over comes the Captain, and this to all did say,
"There's murder on shipboard has lately been done
Our good ship lies in mourning and cannot sail on.
Then up and spoke one sailor, "Indeed 'tis not I,"
Up and spoke another, "The same I do deny."
Then up spoke young Willie to damn, curse and swear
"Indeed, sir, not I, sir I'll vow and declare."
But as he was a-going and turning around,
He spied lovely Mary, she was dressed all in brown,
And she's snatched at him, and she's cut him, and she's tore him in three,
Saying,"That's for the murder of my baby and me!"
The first big change noticed is the location changes from Portsmouth to Plymouth, and the girl gets a last name of Brown, but the biggest difference is the entire bit of the girl trying to refuse his initial advances, so let’s go ahead and talk about that shall we.
It has me wondering where this cultural idea of if she says no at first, you should keep hassling her until she gives in. That no doesn’t really mean no. This still happens all the damn time and I seriously don’t understand how anyone could think this predatory animal-like behavior is what a woman wants from a complete stranger.
Now, I know that some think it will be perceived as some kind of grand romantic gesture, but it’s not and anyone who did find it appealing would be a walking red flag. Obsession isn’t sexy or romantic. It’s frightening as fuck.
Now, I will say that if a lady you have an established relationship with likes you to go all animalistic and crazy in the bedroom once you’re together, that’s all your business, but again… . consent and not stalking.
So, back to the story and the more macabre aspects of this version, that honestly kind of makes it my favorite, and is for sure the detail that made me want to go digging deeper into the ballads out there. It was like the moment I discovered that the original Grimm stories were brutal and bloody. There’s no King’s justice here, just the vengeful wrath of a fury. There’s one thing that’s stuck out to me on this read that I hadn’t noticed before, and that’s the use of the word brown to describe how she was dressed. It’s such a weird descriptor for a spectral, ghost, whatever word you’d use to describe a ghost that can literally rip someone into three different pieces, but it’s a clear hint to the creative process. I can imagine the author sitting there thinking…. “What the shit rhyme’s with around?” Remember what I said about pronunciation earlier? This is where it becomes important. If you are someone who pronounces the d at the end of around, then that rhyme doesn’t make sense. However, if you don’t pronounce that hard d, then it makes perfect sense.
I also have to wonder what the rejects were if the writer finally settled on brown of all things. Like… they could’ve just changed the line and had something that ended with down. Like… drug him down.
So the story gets stripped down further into what we have today with Pretty Polly. Now, it’s important to note that these songs did sometimes go by some other titles such as “Love and Murder”, “Polly’s Love”, “Nancy’s Ghost”, “Molly the B’etrayed” and “The Fog-bound Vessel”. That said, let’s look at the lyrics of
Oh Polly, Pretty Polly, would you take me unkind
Polly, Pretty Polly, would you take me unkind
Let me set beside you and tell you my mind
Well my mind is to marry and never to part
My mind is to marry and never to part
The first time I saw you it wounded my heart
Oh Polly Pretty Polly come go along with me
Polly Pretty Polly come go along with me
Before we get married some pleasures to see
Oh he led her over mountains and valleys so deep
He led her over hills and valleys so deep
Pretty Polly mistrusted and then began to weep
Oh Willie, Little Willie, I'm afraid to of your ways
Willie, Little Willie, I'm afraid of your ways
The way you've been rambling you'll lead me astray
Oh Polly, Pretty Polly, your guess is about right
Polly, Pretty Polly, your guess is about right
I dug on your grave the biggest part of last night
Oh she knelt down before him a pleading for her life
She knelt down before him a pleading for her life
Let me be a single girl if I can't be your wife
Oh Polly, Pretty Polly that never can be
Polly, Pretty Polly that never can be
Your past recitation's been trouble to me
Oh went down to the jailhouse and what did he say
He went down to the jailhouse and what did he say
I've killed Pretty Polly and trying to get away
And this brings us to today where “Pretty Polly” has become a consistent favorite in various genres. One of my favorite variations is by a group called The Congo Cowboys, an amazing group out of South Africa that I have linked in the show notes. It’s such a wonderful example of how culture spreads. A 17th-century English ballad travels to America where it gets introduced to the West African modified Akonting (and please forgive if I mispronounced that). The Akonting becomes the Americanized Banjo, which makes it back to Africa with Pretty Polly, perfect example of the fluidity and constant transformation of culture. It’s when I think about that, the way music and stories transcend both time and place that I start getting goosebumps and realize studying these songs and sharing them out with all of you is something I must do, even if this podcast never gains following, I’ll still keep putting it out. I just find it too important.
As you can see this final version is really shortened to the most basic of elements, and an increase in things like alliteration, and I think the most notable for me is that the justice is now taken by the hands of law, and not the divine or supernatural. I wonder how much of this has to do with the enlightenment and industrial revolution working so hard to push out all superstition in favor of things that can be measured empirically, which means in the physical sense.
Aside from this, there’s also a sense of Polly not getting full justice. That’s why I’ll openly admit that from a story telling perspective, “The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter” is where it’s at. What do guys think?
As always, I’d love to see and hear any kind of thoughts or ways this song has inspired you in the past, and until next time, ya’ll stay safe and stay creating.
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