> Folk Music > Songs > Molly Put the Kettle On

Molly/Polly/Jenny Put the Kettle On

[ Roud 7899 ; Mudcat 1085 , 54793 ; trad.]

The Leake County Revelers recorded Molly Put the Kettle On on 13 December 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This recording was included in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of British songs in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Steve Roud noted:

One of those songs which have appeared in so many guises over the years that its origin and development is impossible to chart properly. It is variously recorded as a song, nursery rhyme, dance, children’s game, fiddle-piece, and more, and in Victorian times the title was also a well-known catchphrase (as in Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rudge of 1841). It probably originated on the stage or as a pantomime ditty in the second half of the 18^th century.

Virginia fiddler Emmett W. Luncy played Molly Put the Kettle On to Alan and Elizabeth Lomax at Galax, Virginia in August 1941 on behalf of the Archive of Folk Song in the Library of Congress, Washington. This was released in 1977 on his Topic/String album Fiddle Tunes From Grayson County, Virginia.

Jean Ritchie sang Jenny Put the Kettle On on her 1971 album Clear Waters Remembered.

The Union Folk played Polly Put the Kettle On in 1971 on their Traditional Sound album Waiting for a Train.

Bernard O’Sullivan and Tommy McMahon played the reel Molly Put the Kettle On in 1974 in the recording sessions for their 1976 Topic/Free Reed album Irish Traditional Music of County Clare However, this and 12 other recordings were left out of the original LP and were only included in 2007 on Free Reed’s CD re-issue of the album.

Calvin Cole played the tune Molly Put the Kettle On on the banjo at his home near Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia to Mike Yates on 4 August 1979. It was included in 2002 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs, tunes and stories from Mike Yates’ Appalachian collections, Far in the Mountains Volume 1. William Marshall on fiddle and Howard Hall on banjo also played Polly Put the Kettle On at Marshall’s home near Hillsville on the same day, which was included in 2013 on Far in the Mountains Volume 3. Mike Yated noted in both album’s booklets:

This locally well-known piece is named after the nursery rhyme Molly/Polly Put the Kettle On and Appalachian players often sing this verse to the tune:

Molly put the kettle on,
Jenny blow the dinner horn.
Molly put the kettle on,
We’ll all take tea.

although on the album Close to Home (Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40097) Wade Ward of Independence, Virginia, sings/says the following words at the end of his performance:

Head like a coffee pot,
Nose like a spout.
Handle on the other side,
To pour the coffee out.

The Skillet-Lickers recorded a boisterous version in 1931 (reissued on both County CD-3509 and Document DOCD-8060) that deserves to be heard.

The Old Swan Band played Gloucester Hornpipe and Polly Put the Kettle On in 1981 on their Dingle’s album Gamesters, Pickpockets and Harlots. This track was also included in 2011 on Rod Stradling’s anthology Treacle & Bread.

Shirley Collins sang Polly Put the Kettle On in 1982 on the Longman video 70 Golden Nursery Rhymes.

John Kirkpatrick played the Border Morris set Dennis Crowther’s No. 3 / Polly Put The Kettle On / The Evesham Stick Dance in 2003 on his album of 48 English traditional tunes, Garrick’s Delight, and he played the set John Locke’s Polka / Such a Getting Upstairs I Never Did See / Polly Put the Kettle On / Speed the Plough on his 2004 Fledg’ling CD sThe Duck Race.

Jess Arrrowsmith sang Polly Put the Kettle On on her and Rich Arrowsmith’s 2014 album of nursery songs, rhymes and lullabies, Off We Go Again!.

Maz O’Connor sings Jenny Put the Kettle On on her forthcoming album Love It Is a Killing Thing. She noted:

The first verse of this song proliferates in Bluegrass circles and is antecedent for the nursery rhyme Polly Put the Kettle O.

The rest of the story came to me after I wrote a new melody for the first verse, inspired by a few of the songs in the Sharp collection. It was inspired by the archetype—abundant in traditional folk songs—of the young woman who is not allowed to marry the man with whom she is in love.

Lyrics

Jess Arrrowsmith sang Polly Put the Kettle On

Polly put the kettle on
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
We’ll all have tea.

Sukey take it off again…
… they’ve all gone away.