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Lord Randall

 

 
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Lord Randall
 
 
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"Lord Randall" (Roud
Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world....
 , Child 12) is a traditional ballad
Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative story and set to music. Ballads were characteristic of particularly British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the nineteenth century and used extensively across Europe and later north America, Australia and north Africa....
 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.






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"Lord Randall" (Roud
Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world....
 , Child 12) is a traditional ballad
Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative story and set to music. Ballads were characteristic of particularly British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the nineteenth century and used extensively across Europe and later north America, Australia and north Africa....
 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. who wrote it though it is un known Variants of this ballads are found in German, Swedish, Magyar, Danish, Wendish.

There are also different Italian versions. They are usually titled "" ('The Poisoned Man') or "Il testamento dell'avvelenato" ('The Poisoned Man's Will'). One of them was published for the first time in 1629 by Camillo il Bianchino, in Verona.

Cultural uses

The American fiction writer Dorothy Sayers used a phrase from some variants for the title Strong Poison
Strong Poison

Strong Poison is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her fifth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey....
, a murder mystery about a man apparently murdered by his lover. In the early 1960's Bob Dylan borrowed its structure for "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. It was first recorded in Columbia Records' Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan....
". The first verse:

O where hae you been, Lrd Randall, my son?

O where hae you been, my handsome young man?

I hae been at the greenwoods, mother, make my bed soon.

For I'm wearied wi' hunting, and fain would lie down.

The nursery rhyme Billy Boy
Billy Boy

Billy Boy is a traditional folk song and nursery rhyme found in the United States.LyricsOne variant of the lyrics goes:...
 borrows the verse structure and the narrative format about a suitor visiting his lover, with a happier ending.

External links

A painting of the poisoning of Jimmy Randall appears on Kentucky artist and ballad singer Daniel Dutton's web site, Italian version