Lord Randall
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"Lord Randall", or "Lord Randal", (Template:English folk song) is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad<ref>Border Ballads By William Beattie, Compiled by William Beattie, Published by Penguin Books, 1952, p. 17</ref> consisting of dialogue between a young Lord and his mother.<ref>Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Lord Randal"</ref> Similar ballads can be found across Europe in many languages, including Danish, German, Magyar, Irish, Swedish, and Wendish.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 1, pp. 153–55, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref> Italian variants are usually titled "Template:Ill" ("The Poisoned Man") or "Il testamento dell'avvelenato" ("The Poisoned Man's Will"), the earliest known version being a 1629 setting by Camillo il Bianchino, in Verona.<ref>Alessandro D'Ancona, La poesia popolare italiana Livorno, 1878, cf. Template:Ill</ref> Under the title "Croodlin Doo" Robert Chambers published a version in his "Scottish Ballads" (1829) page 324.<ref name="The Croodlin doo">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Bluegrass Lyrics">Template:Cite web</ref>
Summary
Lord Randall returns home to his mother after visiting his lover. Randall explains that his lover gave him a dinner of eels boiled in broo and that his hunting dogs died after eating the scraps of the meal, leading his mother to realize that he has been poisoned.<ref>Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 1, p. 153, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> In some variants, Randall dictates his last will and testament in readiness for his impending death, dividing his possessions among family members and wishing damnation on his lover. Her motive for poisoning him is never discussed.<ref name=":0" />
Traditional recordings
Many traditional versions of the ballad survived long enough to be recorded by folklorists and ethnomusicologists.
Most traditional English versions are called "Henry, My Son". Dorset traveller Caroline Hughes sang a version to Peter Kennedy in 1968<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and another to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the early 1960s which can be heard online on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fred Jordan of Ludlow, Shropshire also sang "Henry, My Son" to Mike Yates in 1964<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Gwilym Davies in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Louisa Hooper of Somerset, England (sister of the traditional singer Lucy White) was recorded singing a version entitled "Lord Rendal" by the BBC and Douglas Cleverdon in 1942.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
James Madison Carpenter recorded many Scottish versions between 1929 and 1935, which can also be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing recorded "Lord Rendal", the Somerset version arranged by Cecil Sharp, on Vocalion A-0167 in the early 1920s. Scottish singer Betsy Miller sang her traditional version with her famous son Ewan MacColl to Alan Lomax in 1953<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and on the 1960 album A Garland Of Scots Folksong.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Scottish traveller Jeannie Robertson had her version entitled "Lord Donald" recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1953<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and again by the BBC in 1963,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and her nephew Stanley Robertson was later recorded singing the same version,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the audio of which is available on the Tobar an Dualchais website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Irish traditional singer Elizabeth Cronin was recorded several times singing a version called Lord Rendal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Irish sean nós singer Joe Heaney sang an Irish language version titled Amhrán na hEascainne (Song of the Eel).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Several Appalachian musicians recorded the ballad; Jean Ritchie sang the Ritchie family version on the album Jean Ritchie: Ballads from her Appalachian Family Tradition,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> whilst Frank Proffitt was recorded singing another traditional version in 1961.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ballad was also collected extensively throughout the rest of America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Modern traditional artists continue to tell the Lord Randall story. Examples include Martin Carthy, Steeleye Span and June Tabor,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Faun included a traditional version on their 2022 album Pagan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cultural uses
Dorothy L. Sayers' 1930 novel Strong Poison uses part of the ballad for a title, and has it as epigraph.
In 1962, Bob Dylan modeled his song "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" on "Lord Randall", introducing each verse with variants of the introductory lines to each verse of "Lord Randall". Dylan's ballad is often interpreted as a reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dylan himself disclaimed this as an oversimplification, and in reality, Dylan first publicly performed the song a month before the crisis.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The song features prominently in The Proof of My Innocence, a novel by Jonathan Coe published in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
References
External links
- Template:Commonscatinline
- Digitised copy of Lord Randal in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, printed between 1787 and 1803, from National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.
- Traditional English Lute Songs - Lord Randall
- A painting of the poisoning of Jimmy Randall appears on Kentucky artist and ballad singer Daniel Dutton's web site: "Ballads of the Barefoot Mind"
- Italian version "L'avvelenato"
- Appalachian mountains version by John Jacob Niles (1892-1980)