"Pretty Saro" (Roud 417) is an English folk ballad originating in the early 1700s.
[2] Cecil Sharp and later folklorists and proponents of the folk revival helped keep songs such as "Pretty Saro" alive well into modern times.
The famous Appalachian musician Jean Ritchie was recorded with her sisters in 1946 by Mary Elizabeth Barnacle singing her family's traditional version on the song,[3] before recording it on the album Jean Ritchie And Doc Watson At Folk City (1963).
[15] Notable artists who have recorded Pretty Saro include: During his Self Portrait sessions in March 1970 at Columbia Records' New York studio, Bob Dylan ran through "Pretty Saro" six consecutive times.
While none of those versions made the final cut for the album, the song remained in Columbia's vault, until it was released on Another Self Portrait, a 35-track box set of songs cut for Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning.