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LORD RANDAL (A). |
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From Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Bmgs, i. 162. |
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" The story of this ballad very much resembles that of Little Musgrave and Lord Barnard. The common title is, The Bonny Birdy. The first stanza is sung thus:—
' There was a knight, on a summer's night,
Was riding o'er the lee, diddle; And there he saw a bonny birdy
Was singing on a tree, diddle: 0 wow for day, diddle !
And dear gin it were day! Gin it were day, and I were away,
For I ha'ena lang time to stay.'
In the text, the burden of diddle has been omitted; and the name of Lord Randal introduced, for the sake of distinction, and to prevent the ambiguity arising from ' the knight,' which is equally applicable to both."
The lines supplied by Jamieson have been omitted.
Allan Cunningham's "improved" version of the Bonny Birdy may be seen in his Songs of Scotland, ii. 130. |
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