Polly Vaughn

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 they became cheaper to manufacture.[1]

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", in which the protagonist similarly mistakes Polly for a swan, but "never shall be hung for the shooting of his dear."[2]

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.[1]

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.

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)

The song exists under the titles:

• "Polly Vaughan"
• "Polly Vaughn"
• "Molly Bawn"
• "Molly Ban"
• "Molly Bender"
• "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)

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

• "Polly Von" by Peter, Paul, and Mary
• "One Starry Night" by Black 47
• A cover version of "Polly Von" by Peter, Paul and Mary is included on Chris de Burgh's 2008 Album "Footsteps", a collection of cover versions of some of his favourite songs.[3]

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

The word "bán" in Irish means "white", "pale", or "fair" [4]; "bawn" is an Anglicized version, a not uncommon practice in the past.

The name Bawn appears to be quite common in Irish literature. The Colleen Bawn is a melodramatic play by Dion Boucicault. "Molly Bawn,: A comedy drama in four acts" (1920) is by Marie Doran. There is also a song by Samuel Lover in the one-act opera "Il Paddy Whack in Italia" (1841) called "Molly Bawm". Margaret Wolfe Hungerford wrote a novel called Molly Bawn (1878). None of these stories concern women being shot in mistake for a swan.

The story is adapted and illustrated by Barry Moser in 1992 as the children's book, Polly Vaughn: A Traditional British Ballad, which is set in the Southern United States[5], and again as part of the 1998 children's book, Great Ghost Stories, complete with an afterword by Peter Glassman.[6]

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.

None.

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.

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

Section 1 – Performed as a folk song

Section 2 – Performed as a classical music arrangement

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

Section 3 – Performed as an instrumental

Edward Madden wrote 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.

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)