Actually, it's my impression that a LOT of folk songs end up not making much sense, probably because they shift and change in some parts and not others.
"Pretty Polly", for example -- at least one version has Little Willy killing Pretty Polly because he doesn't want to marry her, even after she begs him to "please let me be a single girl if I can’t be your wife". And then, for no reason that I can discern except that murder ballads are morality tales, the song ends with Little Willy going to the Sheriff and announcing, "I killed Pretty Polly, and now I must pay" (other versions have it end with "a debt to the devil Willy must pay, for killing Pretty Polly and trying to get away").
For more delightful commentary, including Doleful Ghosts, see Folksongs Are Your Friends at Making Light.
Absolutely. One of my favorite folk groups is the original Carter Family, and if you look at the lyrics written down, many lines make no sense. The fun of transcribing lines that even the singers aren't sure of.
From "Wildwood Flower" we get "The pale and the leader" that many people think was originally "the pale amaryllis".
Or any kid's version of catechism, for that matter.
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syntheid
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Date: 2007-02-19 05:02 pm (UTC)"Pretty Polly", for example -- at least one version has Little Willy killing Pretty Polly because he doesn't want to marry her, even after she begs him to "please let me be a single girl if I can’t be your wife". And then, for no reason that I can discern except that murder ballads are morality tales, the song ends with Little Willy going to the Sheriff and announcing, "I killed Pretty Polly, and now I must pay" (other versions have it end with "a debt to the devil Willy must pay, for killing Pretty Polly and trying to get away").
For more delightful commentary, including Doleful Ghosts, see Folksongs Are Your Friends at Making Light.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 05:10 pm (UTC)From "Wildwood Flower" we get "The pale and the leader" that many people think was originally "the pale amaryllis".
Or any kid's version of catechism, for that matter.