Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly) [Laws N14]

DESCRIPTION: Polly loves a sea captain; her parents do not. She dresses as a man and follows her love. Still in disguise, she meets him at an inn. The captain wishes to sleep with her; she refuses, but appears the next day in her own clothes. The two are wed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(240b))
KEYWORDS: courting disguise marriage cross-dressing
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North,South)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (29 citations):
Laws N14, "Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly)"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "POLLY OLIVER"
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 671, "Polly Oliver" (1 text)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 116-117, "Polly Oliver's Ramble" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 105, "Polly Oliver's Rambles" (1 text)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #72, "Polly Oliver's Rambles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 183-185, "Polly Oliver" (2 texts)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 145, "Polly Oliver's Rambles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H166, pp. 328-329, "Lovely Annie (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 122, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 273-274, "Polly Oliver" (1 short text, 1 tune, ending with the meeting in the inn)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 185-186, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 97, "Polly Oliver" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 97, "Polly Oliver" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 128, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 60, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 133-134, "Polly Oliver" (1 short text, 1 tune, probably this although it's too short to be certain)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 14, p. 22, "Polly Oliver" (1 fragment, probably this although it's too short to be sure)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 195-198, "Pretty Polly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 23, "Polly Oliver" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 344-345, "Polly Oliver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 28, "Polly Oliver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 55, "Polly Oliver" (1 text)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 54, "Polly Oliver" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, p. 676, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (1 text, not related to this by attributed to Lord Cantalupe, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, p. 181, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (1 tune, probably of this piece though the text is lacking)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN2180, "One night as Polly Oliver lay musing on her bed"
DT 446, POLLOLVR*
ADDITIONAL: MacEdward Leach and Henry Glassie, _A Guide for Collectiors of Oral Traditions and Folk Cultural Material in Pennsylvania_, Pennsylvania historical and Museum Commission, 1973, pp. 29-30, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Roud #367
RECORDINGS:
Ollie Gilbert, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (on LomaxCD1707)
Peter Molloy, "Pretty Polly" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(240b), "Polly Oliver's Ramble," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 17(241b), Harding B 16(205d), Harding B 11(3147), Harding B 25(1518)[some lines illegible], "Polly Oliver's Ramble"; Harding B 28(238), "Polly Oliver"; Harding B 17(241a), Harding B 16(206b), Harding B 15(241a), Harding B 15(241b), Firth c.26(50), 2806 c.17(337)[words missing], 2806 b.11(260), 2806 c.16(61), Firth c.14(169), Harding B 16(206a), 2806 c.14(10)[many illegible words], Harding B 15(240b), "Polly Oliver's Rambles"
SAME TUNE:
Parody on Polly Oliver ("O Pretty Polly Oliver one hot summer's day, To Milverton market was making her way") (Reginald Nettel, _Seven Centuries of Popular Song_, Phoenix House, 1956, p. 141)
File: LN14

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