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Title
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Lord Randal my son
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Singer
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Beasant, Private
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Notes
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Note 1
J H P Pafford - 'It was sung on the march by men of a battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment stationed at and near Devizes in 1941. Enquiry revealed that the ballad had previously been known by only two men who had introduced it in their platoon where it became a popular marching song. One of these men, Private Sellars, lived near Bristol, and the other, Private Beasant, near Wootton Basset; both said that they had learnt it 'from other men' in their home districts, which indicates that the song was current in their communities in the West Country. Sellars' version was taken in 1941, Beasants' in 1951. ... The tune is written in 1951 from memory of the singing ten years earlier. ... With regard to the tune, although this is recorded from memory after a ten year interval, it is believed to be a close approximation to the tune actually sung. It could hardly have been more than this if it had been recorded at the time, for the singing was rough and ready and almost certainly varied among the men. The tune shows little affinity to recorded versions which have been noted: the closest perhaps being with that given by Sharp in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, Vol. 2, p 2, 3. ... Another version which has close parallels in tune and words with the Wiltshire version is that recorded by Mr F C Collinson.
Note 2
Reproduced from the journal 'Folklore' by kind permission of the Folklore Society.
Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge, 2008.
