“Oh, Polly, pretty Polly, would you take me unkind
Polly, pretty Polly, would you take me unkind
You to sit beside me, and tell me your mind”

“Well my mind is to marry and never to part
My mind is to marry and never to part
First time I saw you, you wounded my heart”

“Well Polly, pretty Polly, come and go along with me / Polly, pretty Polly...
Before we get married, some pleasure we'll see”

Well he led her over mountains and valleys so deep / He led…
Polly mistrusted and then began to weep

“Say Willie, little Willie, I'm afraid of your ways /Willie…
The way you've been rambling and leading me astray”

“Now Polly, pretty Polly, your guess is about right / Polly…
I dug on your grave, the better part of last night”

Well he led her a little farther and what did she spy? / He…
A new dug grave with a spade lying by

Then she knelt down before him, a pleading for her life…
“Let me be a single girl, if I can't be your wife”

“Now Polly, pretty Polly, that never can be
Your past reputation's been troubling to me”

Well he opened up her bosom, as white as any snow
He stabbed through the heart and the blood did overflow

(Then he went down to the jailhouse and what did he say?
Killed pretty Polly and trying to get away)

Now he buried her so neatly, she was nestled all quite sound
He’s not thinking her body would ever be found
Then he went onboard for a sailor to go
Not thinking this matter ever would out-throw (overthrow?)

But as he was going along to his berth
He spied lovely Polly she was covered in earth
she ripped him and she stripped him and she torn him in three
“That’s for the murder of me baby and me”