The Unquiet Grave: Murder Ballads and Laments [Wattys Longlist 2018]

Author's Note: Lovesick

"Lovesick" is based on a song called "Lord Randal" or "Lord Randall," which is Child Ballad #12*. In the ballad, handsome Lord Randall returns home to his mother. She asks him a series of questions which he answers briefly, repeatedly imploring his mother to "make his bed soon" for he is weary and "fain would lie doon." The reason for his weariness varies: he has been away hunting; he has been courting; he is sick to the heart.

His mother asks him what he ate for supper, as mothers will, and he responds that he had eels. Through the course of the song, Lord Randall's mother begins to fear that her son has been poisoned,** and it is revealed that the murderess is his own true love. Tragically, the song ends with Lord Randall's poor mother asking him about his will: when he dies, what will he leave his mother, his father, and his true love? The bequests vary. In my favorite version of the song, by Josh White (featured above), the unfortunate mother is left with "a dead son to bury" and nothing more, but the devious sweetheart's lot is usually "a rope to hang her" or hellfire. 

In my interpretation of "Lord Randall," I pondered what might cause Lord Randall's sweetheart to murder him. Assuming she is his true love and that he is faithful to her, I struggled to put a motive to her actions. Although there are as many creative answers to this question as there are writers in the world, my mind took me down another path. Perhaps it was not Lord Randall's sweetheart, after all...

Playlist

Lord Randall, My Son || Josh White (featured)

Lord Randall || Buffy Sainte-Marie

Lord Randall || Jean Ritchie

Lord Randall || Harry Belafonte

Lord Ronald || Alasdair Roberts

*In the late 19th century, Francis James Child published a collection of 305 ballads in a work titled The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. These songs are often referred to as "Child Ballads" and numbered according to where they appear in the collection. Many of the stories in this collection are based on folk songs that were studied and published by Child. For more on Child's anthology, you can type his name or "Child Ballads" into Google. I am using a record of the anthology available digitally at the following URL as a reference for this project: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/index.htm

**Eel blood is poisonous to humans. Eel is edible if cooked—such as in sushi, yum!—but perhaps some uncooked eel was slipped into the unfortunate Lord Randall's dinner.