Where Were You All Day- Cochlain (Cork) 1914
Appendix: The Little Wee Croodin' Doo; or, Lord Ronald; [Lord Randal], page 117
by A. F. M. and Lucy E. Broadwood
Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 19 (Jun., 1915), pp. 244-246
APPENDIX.
THE LITTLE WEE CROODIN' DOO; or, LORD RONALD;
[LORD RANDAL], page 117.
The following interesting Irish and Italian versions of the above ballad-story were kindly contributed by their collector, Mr. A. Martin Freeman, after the main part of this Journal had gone to press. The Irish air is a fairly close variant of the Somerset " Lord Rendal " tune, of which there are several versions in Journal, Vol. ii, No. 6, pp. 29-32, though the Irish text differs considerably from the texts there given. The Italian ballad here given, like the German one, " Die Schlangenkochin,"
quoted on page I20 of this Journal, is unusual in representing a girl as the
poisoned victim. In Italy, where according to Countess Martinengo-Cesaresco the
ballad has always been very popular, the poisonous food is generally " roasted eels."
The salad-leaf conjures up a new terror! Child gives a good many Italian references,
inconveniently scattered throughout the five volumes of his large edition of English
and Scottish Ballads. In Vol. i, under the head of " Lord Randal," he quotes a
pot-pourri from a Veronese broadside of the date i629. This shows that the ballad
was popular in Italy more than 250 years ago; for the last but one of the fragments
which make up the medley happens to be the first three lines of " L'Avvelenato,")
very nearly as they are sung at the present day, and these are introduced
by a summary of the story:
"Io vo' finire con questa d'un amante
Tradito dall' amata.
Oh che 1'6 si garbata
A cantarla in ischiera:
'Dov' andastu iersera,
Figliuol mio ricco, savio e gentile?
Dov' andastu iersera?"
Child states that the Italian ballad was first recovered in 1865 by Dr. Bolza, from the singing of very young girls at Loveno. Since then good copies have been found in Venice, Pisa, etc.-L. E. B.-[ED.]
WHERE WERE YOU ALL DAY, MY OWN PURTEE BOY.
SUNG BY CONCHUBHAR 0 COCHLAIN (LABOURER),
Noted by A. Martin Freeman. AT BALLYVOURNEY, CO. CORK, IRELAND, OCT. 5TH, 1914.
Slow.
[music]
"Where were you all day, my own pur- tee boy?
Where were you all day, my true lo - ving...... joy?"
"I was fish - ing and fowl ing, mo-ther.
dress my bed soon I am sick in my heart, and I'd want to lie down.'
(I) Variants of last line;
I am sick in my heart, and I'd, &c.
I am sick in my heart and I'd want to lie down."
2 " What did you get from your wife, my own purtee boy?
What did you get from your wife, my true loving joy?
"I got bread and cold poison, mother, dress my bed soon:
I am sick in my heart, and I'd want to lie down."
3 "What'll you lave your wife?" [as before]
"The gates of Hell opened."
4 "What'll you lave your father?"
"My coach and four horses."
5 " What'll you lave your brother ? "
" The keys of my stores."
6 " What'll you lave your sister ?"
" My cows and farm."
7" What'll you lave your mother ? "
" The world is wide."
8 " Where will you be buried ?"
" In the church of Kilkenny, and make my hole deep,
A stone to my head and a flag to my feet,
And lave me down easy, and I'll take a long sleep."
From the same singer I took down two verses-all he could remember-in
Irish. They translate the English fairly closely, but in the Irish version the boy
says: " I got eels with salt on them, and poison pounded up among them." The
singer did not know the name " Randal " or " Rendal," nor had he any title for the
song, as he follows the ancient Irish fashion of designating every song by its first
line. The tune to both versions was the same, except that I never heard him sing
variant (2) to the Irish words, and that in singing the Irish words he often put a
grace note on F and pushed up to the minim A in the last line. In the final verse,
with its extra line, he would sing something quite formless, so that sometimes the
last line could not be fitted on to what he had sung and he had to improvise that
also. He never sang this verse twice alike, nor did he ever sing anything that suggested
its possible form.-A. F. M.
Cf. the above text from County Cork with one of eleven verses, learnt from a young Kerry girl, about the year 1868 ("Lord Randal," Text H, in Child's Ballads). There are many points of likeness between the two, one being the irregular final verse,
which in the Kerry text runs:
"Where shall I make it, my own pretty boy ?
Where shall I make it, my comfort and joy?"
"Above in the churchyard, and dig it down deep,
Put a-stone to my head and a flag to my feet,
And leave me down easy until I'll take a long sleep."
-L. E. B.