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Come all young lads and lassies, come listen to my song,
I hope you'll pay attention, I won't detain you long;
It's all about a young couple, I'm going to tell you now,
Who lately began a'courting at the foot of the mountain brow.
"Oh, Polly, lovely Polly, won't you come along with me,
Oh, come and we'll get married just as quick as we can be;
Oh, Polly, lovely Polly, come along with me now,
I will live a-late and early at the foot of the mountain brow."
Being young and silly, she didn't know what to say,
Her eyes did shine like diamonds, and merrily she did say,
"Oh, no thank you, kind sir, I can't come along with you now,
I will tarry another season at the foot of the mountain brow."
"Oh, Polly, lovely Polly, how can you serve me so?
Look down in yonder valleys where my crops do gently grow;
Look down in yonder valley you'll see horses, men and plough,
They are labouring late and early for the maid of the mountain brow."
"If they labour late and early, kind sir, it is not for me,
The character that I hear of you is none the best I see;
There is an inn where you call in, so I've heard people say,
Where you lap and call 'pay for all', and go home at the break of day."
"If I lap and call and pay for all, my money it is my own,
I'll spend none of your fortune, for they tell me you have none;
You thought you had my poor heart won, but I'm going to tell you now,
I will leave you as I found you at the foot of the mountain brow."
"Oh, Jimmy, dearest Jimmy, how can you serve me so?
This girl you loved so dearly her love you overthrow;
The girl who loved you dearly you are going to leave her now,
You are leaving her broken hearted at the foot of the mountain brow."
Sung by Ned Martin (b.1873) of Cape Broyle, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada p.128, © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
