Polly Brannigan (Molly Brannigan)

DESCRIPTION: The singer confesses that Polly Brannigan "stole me heart and I'll never be a man again." Now she has left him; he wishes that "when she got another heart she might send mine back home again." (Considering suicice, he hopes she will grieve when he dies)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Songs of Ireland and Other Lands)
KEYWORDS: love rejection suicide
FOUND IN: US(MW) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Munnelly/Deasy-TheMountCallanGarland-Tom-Lenihan 34, "Purty Molly Brannigan" (2 texts, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 41, "Molly Brallaghan" (1 text)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 153, (fifth of several "Fragments of Irish Songs")
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 181, "Molly Brannigan" (1 text)
DT, MOLLBRAN
ADDITIONAL: (No author listed_, _Songs of Ireland and Other Lands, Being a Collection of the Most Popular Irish, Sentimental, and Comic Songs_, D. & J. Sadler & Co., New York, 1847 (available on Google Books and on HathiTrust.org), pp. 82-84, "Purty Molly Brallaghan" (1 text)
Roud #13375
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Purty Molly Brannigan" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES [107 words]: There is a sense that the singer is naive and that we are supposed, at least, to smile behind his back. For example, in Munnelly/Deasy-TheMountCallanGarland-Tom-Lenihan he asks advice of Father Mc Donald and Counsellor O'Connell who "told me promise-breaches had been ever since the world began: Now I've only one pair, ma'am, and they are corduroy! ... Must my corduroys to Molly go? ... I can't afford to lose both my heart and ould britches too." - BS
The "Songs of Ireland and Other Lands" text is attributed to "Miss M'Ghie," but I don't know if this is the alleged author or the singer. It is listed as sung to "Groves of Blarney." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: E153E

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