Jimmy Randall- Charles Archer (NJ) 1936 Halpert A
[From: Some Ballads and Folk Songs from New Jersey by Herbert Halpert; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 52, No. 203 (Jan. - Mar., 1939), pp. 52-69. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2016]
SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR
I have secured several variants of this interesting ballad. The two texts I include in full are obviously closely parallel. They show the amount of minor variation possible to the same song in a limited area. The melody and its variant come from members of the same family and exhibit a similar tendency in a more restricted sphere. For other versions and references see Sharp-Karpeles I, No. 50; add Hudson, Folksongs of Mississippi, No. 32; Scarborough, A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains, p. 117; BFSSNE No. 10, p. 12 (see also for an interesting discussion of the swan-fawn motifs.).
A. JIMMY RANDALL- Sung by Charles "Dixie" Archer, age 76, Cookstown, New Jersey, July, 1936. Tune not obtained. Learned around Cassville.
I. Jimmy Randall was a-fowling one evening of late,
When he shot Molly Bannon, and her beauty were great.
2. She was under a green tree, a shower for to shun,
With her apron pinned around her and he shot her for a fawn.
3. But it's when he came to her, and found she were dead,
A fountain of tears in her apron he shed.
4. Then Jimmy Randall ran home with his gun in his hand,
Saying, "Father, dear father, I've shot Molly Bann.
5. "She were under a green tree, a shower for to shun,
With her apron pinned around her, and I shot her for a fawn."
6. Then up stepped his uncle with his hair all so grey,
"Stay at home, Jimmy Randall, and do not run away.
7. "Stay at home, Jimmy Randall, till your trial is at hand,
And you shall be cleared by the laws of this land."
(Another verse, not remembered, "tells how he was cleared").