1/5/2012

E. C. Ball -- "Pretty Polly"

Could there ever be a creepier song?  Perhaps so.  The traditional "I Wish My Baby Was Born" might qualify.  Regardless, "Pretty Polly" seems to me to be the most archetypal of murder ballads.  Different incarnations of the song offer slight variations on the story the song tells, but none of them offer much in the way of motives for the awful deed that the song portrays.  Our murderer is identified here, as he so often is in murder ballads, by the name of Willie.  If the murder ballads teach us anything, it's that pretty young women should not be hanging out alone with anyone named Willie.  My suspicion is that Willie has impregnated the dear girl, and he doesn't want to deal with the ramifications of being a baby-daddy.  Or perhaps he suspects Polly of cheating on him.  The absence of a clear motive is part of what makes the song so creepy.  What makes this particular performance of the song so hair-raising, though, is the deadpan, nearly emotionless delivery of the master old-time artist Estil C. Ball.  Ball, who comes across elsewhere as earnest, devout, and, in short, a rather harmless type of fellow, sounds here as though he might actually be exactly the kind of guy who could stab Polly in the heart, toss her into a shallow grave, then simply ride away.