- Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green
"Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green" is the title of a famous English song, composed by the London
music hall and broadside songwriter Harry Clifton (1832–1872), and first published in 1864. It was almost universally known in England until around the mid 1980s, and was commonly taught to school children. The title refers to the district ofPaddington inLondon . The song gained a place in the canonical "Oxford Book of Comic Verse", and the original manuscript of "Polly" is now held in theBodleian Library .It was adapted for the USA by Clifton during the
American Civil War , re-titled "Polly Perkins of Abington Green". Presumably the new title referred toAbington Green, Georgia , in theUSA .Most of Clifton's songs adapted their tunes from old folk songs, and it is possible that a folk tune is also the origin of the tune for Polly. A folk song in the English county of
Northumberland , called "Cushie Butterfield ", is sung to the same tune as "Polly" - although the "Cushie" tune was always claimed by oneGeordie Ridley (1834–1864), aTyneside comedian andminer . Ridley and Clifton's death dates mean that both the song and its tune are now firmly in thepublic domain .The tune, with new lyrics, found its way into the
Australia n bush culture, among outback farmers and sheep shearers, in the song "One of the Has-beens".In the British
Royal Navy , sailors with a surname of Perkins are traditionally given the nickname of 'Polly'.The chorus of the song is sung by the feverish Sergeant Maxfield in the 1964 film "
Zulu (film) ".The name Polly Perkins is that of the heroine in the movie "
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ".In
John Mortimer 's "A Voyage Round My Father ", it is the favourite song of the narrator's father, who sings snatches of it on the most inappropriate occasions.External links
* [http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiPOLLYPRK;ttPOLLYPRK.html Lyrics and Music to Pretty Polly Perkins]
* [http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/p/prettylittlepollyperkins.shtml Full version of lyrics]
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