Lord Randall

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"Lord Randall" (Roud 10, Child 12) is a traditional ballad consisting of dialogue. It is generally viewed as a British ballad, though versions and derivations of it exist across the continent of Europe. The different versions follow the same general lines, the primary character (in this case Randall, but varying by location) is poisoned, usually by his sweetheart; this is revealed through a conversation where he reports on the events and the poisoner.

Variants of this ballads are found in German, Swedish, Magyar, Danish, and Wendish.

Lord Randall has more recently inspired several other similarly themed songs, notably "Henry, My Son". Bob Dylan borrowed its structure for "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall".

Cultural uses

Dorothy Sayers used a phrase from some variants for the title Strong Poison, a murder mystery about a man apparently murdered by his lover.

References

External links

• http://www.contemplator.com/child/rendal.html
• 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"

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Last updated on Friday February 15, 2008 at 17:49:43 PST (GMT -0800)
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