We begin the week with a futher dip into the Francis Child bag of ballads. “Lord Randall“, (Child 12, Roud 10) is an Anglo-Scottish Border ballad consisting of dialogue between a young Lord and his mother. Similar ballads can be found across Europe in many languages. The Italian variants are usually titled “L’avvelenato” (“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.
Lord Randall returns home to his mother after visiting his lover. Randall explains that his lover gave him a dinner of eels and that his hunting dogs died after eating the scraps of the meal, leading his mother to realize that he has been poisoned. 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.
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 Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the early 1960s. Fred Jordan of Ludlow also sang “Henry, My Son” to Mike Yates in 1964 and to Gwilym Davies in 1994. Louisa Hooper from Somerset (sister of the traditional singer Lucy White) was recorded singing a version entitled “Lord Rendal” by the BBC in 1942.
James Madison Carpenter recorded many Scottish versions between 1929 and 1935. Scottish singer Betsy Miller sang her traditional version with her famous son Ewan MacColl in 1953 and on the 1960 album A Garland Of Scots Folksong Scottish traveller Jeannie Robertson had her version entitled “Lord Donald” recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1953 and again by the BBC in 1963, and her nephew Stanley Robertson was later recorded singing the same version.
The Irish traditional singer Elizabeth Cronin was recorded several times singing a version called Lord Rendal. Several Appalachian musicians recorded the ballad; Jean Ritchie sang the Ritchie family version on the album Jean Ritchie: Ballads from her Appalachian Family Tradition, whilst Frank Proffitt was recorded singing another traditional version in 1961. The ballad was also collected extensively throughout the rest of America.
In 1962, Bob Dylan modelled his song “A Hard Rain 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 Missle Crisis. Dylan himself disclaimed this as an oversimplification, and in reality, Dylan first publicly performed the song a month before the crisis began.
