Thursday, February 07, 2008

PRETTY POLLY - OR - POLLY VAUGHN?



So, I had been thinking about getting a dog. Not a big one, not a car chaser or a neighbor threatener, just a nice little dog. A Foo Foo Dog. A Lap Dog. You know the kind. All I had to do was tell Willie and he got right on it. He lives way out Col Glenn Rd and too many times when people with unwanted pets get turned away from the Humane Society, they just keep on driving till they figure they must be "out in the country", and then they just throw the poor critters out figuring somebody will take care of them. What kind of society did I say they were? Anyway, somebody dumped this little cutie and Willie snatched her up for me before anybody had to "take care of her". I’m guessing she is a Chow/Sheltie mix and around 8 months old. She is very affectionate, hasn’t pooed in the house yet, still chews a bit too much, is clueless about cats and I think I’ll keep her. I need some help with her name..............
Willie called her Sally. But Sally just didn’t feel right. I tried Mustang Sally, but that didn’t work. Say "Here Mustang Sally!" three times real fast. Since she was so pretty, I decided she could be Pretty Polly. BUT, if you know your bluegrass, you know that Pretty Polly was murdered by her boyfriend and that seems a little sad for a puppy. Then I remembered Polly Vaughn. But if you REALLY know your bluegrass, you know that she too was murdered by her boyfriend, under totally different circumstances though....
Pretty Polly..........
Willie (the murdering SOB in the song, not MY Willie) tells Polly he wants to marry. He then takes her on a sort of field trip "over mountains and valleys so deep...... for some pleasure to seek". After listening to his ramblin’ for a while, Polly gets a bit nervous and confesses "Willie, I’m afraid of your ways". When they finally stop, Polly notices the freshly dug grave (which Willie had worked on "the best part of last night") and begs for her life. "Let me be a single girl if I can’t be your wife", she says. But he tells her he can’t marry her because her "past reputation’s been trouble to me". Jerk. He then stabs her to death, throws her in the grave, covers her up, heads back to town, confesses what he’s done and goes to jail.
Polly Vaughn.........
In this song Polly is the victim of a tragic hunting accident. Her boyfriend Jimmy might not have been what one would call the pick of the litter. He was out hunting a little too late one evening and shot what he thought was a swan. I guess, since it was around dusk, we could understand the confusion, but I’m wondering why anyone would shoot a Swan? Maybe he thought it was a big duck? Swan does rhyme well with Vaughn, and you probably don’t wanna try rhyming anything with "big duck". Anyway, he thinks he sees a swan and shoots it. "Damn the bad luck" he probably said , but the song goes, "She had her apron wrapped about her and he took her for a swan. Oh and alas it was she, Polly Vaughn". Polly attempts to help her man from the beyond by appearing before him in his prison cell one night urging him to just tell the truth, "I had my apron wrapped about me and you took me for a swan". She even tries to defend her Jimmy in court by appearing in front of the lawyers and judges but alas, "She had her apron wrapped about her and they took her for a swan". Off to jail he went.
Whatever name I end up giving her, you can be sure that I will get her spayed, to prevent her from ever getting involved with any fellers.

2 comments:

Jay King said...

There's another Polly associated with a song. I fear for your dog since some goober will start calling her "Polly Wolly Doodle" and it'll stick. Worse, it'll be sung to her. In Leon Redbone shtick. I shiver to think.

Personally, I favor one syllable dog names. They're more likely to respond to those, especially if the name doesn't sound like any other word. How about Florp? Or Qualm? There's little chance of her getting her hopes up for walkies since those words won't come up in conversation too often.

And I agree you shouldn't try rhyming anything with 'big duck,' so of course I had to try. Best I could do 'truck rig,' but that's backwards, isn't it?

Flap Jones said...

I really wish you hadn't mentioned Polly Wolly Doodle......been humming it all evening........all day?