Jonny Rilla- Wood (VA) 1919; Davis F
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929. His notes follow. This is written in half-stanzas- so there are really 8 stanzas.
This is what happens when you can't tell an eel from a rattlesnake!!
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
LORD RANDAL (Child No. 12)
The famous old story-bearing dialogue between a mother and her son who is poisoned masquerades in Virginia as "John Willow, My Son," "Johnnie Randolph, My Son," "Johnny Rillus" (or "Rilla" or "Rolus" or, "Riller" or "Reynolds"), "Ransel, My Son," "McDonald," "John Elzie," "Billy Randall or A Rope and a Gallows," and "Where Have You Been to, My dear Son?," seldom as "Lord Randal."
In "Johnnie Randolph, My Son," the fame of a distinguished Virginian, John Randolph of Roanoke, has penetrated into ballad tradition. Cox finds the same title in West Virginia. One is glad to find in Bruce's Life evidence that Randolph was himself a ballad fancier and that therefore he may be considered worthy of the ballad's tribute to him, Writing to a niece, February 20, 1820, Randolph says: "Do you know a ballad that used to be sung to me when I was a child by a mulatto servant girl of my cousin Patsy Banister, called Patience, about a rich suitor offering 'his lands so broad' and his golden store to a girl of spirit whose reply was somehow thus?
What care I for your golden treasures?
What care I for your house and land?
What care I for your costly pleasures?
So as I get but a handsome man.
I pray thee get me that ballad. I can give you the tune."
The fame of still another John may be linked with this ballad. Scott's preface to this ballad in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border quotes a manuscript chronicle of England which recounts the death of King John of England in a manner not unlike the ballad account of Lord Randal's death.
Most of the Virginia variants belong with Child A or B, but some show relations with other versions, notably D. Most of the texts here given prefer the "hell and fire" ending of A to the "rope and gallows" idea of B (one substitutes "a keg of powder to blow her sky-high"), but all except two follow B in eliminating the death of the dogs, which elsewhere serves as an indication that the master, too, is poisoned. A general verbal similarity with Child D is to be noted.
Two very interesting survivals among the archives have been excluded as not strictly Virginian. One, "as sung by boys from the East Side of New York City," has the son o' Henry" (cf.Child C) answer that he has been down at grandma's, (cf. Child I, K, R), and finally leave the rope, etc., not to his sweetheart, but to his brother. The other, which comes from Oklahoma and is known as "Durango," indicates the grandmother as the poisoner (cf. Child I). They appear as Appendices A and B.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 10; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin has 2-5, 7-11; Campbell and Sharp, No. 6 (North Carolina, Georgia); Child, 1, 163 (Massachusetts), 499; Cox, No. 4; Hudson, No. 4 (Mississippi); Journal, XIII, 115 (Newell, Ohio, New York, New Brunswick, Scotch variant obtained in America); XVI 258 (Barry, Rhode Island, Masschusetts, five texts and four melodies); XVIII 195 (Barry, Rhode Island, Maine, text and melody, Massachusetts, nine texts and seven melodies, Connecticut, text and melody, Vermont), 303 (Barry, Vermont, text and melody: XXII, 77 (Barry, Pennsylvania, melody only), 375-(Barry, Maine, text and tune; XXIV,345 (Barry, Maine); 157 (Tolman, fragment); XXX 289, Kittredge Indiana, fragment, New York, fragments, Missouri, fragment and melody), XXXV, 338 (Tolman and Eddy, Illinois, fragment and melody), XXXIX (Whiting, Maine); McGill, p: 19; Pound, Syllabus, p.9 (fragment) Pound, Ballads, No. 1; Shearin, p. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 7; Shoemaker p. 139; C. A. Smith, p. 79 (New York fragment, Oklahoma, and Great Britain, melodies only), Reed Smith, No. 2; Reed Smith, Ballads, No. 2; Focus, December, 1913; February and March 1914 and The Crimson Rambler Tonkawa, Oklahoma), vol. 8, No. 4. For additional references see Journal XXIX, 157; XXX, 289.
F. "Jonny Rilla." collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mrs. Ella Wood, of Doylesville, Va. Albemarle County. November 10, 1919. with music.
1. "Where have you been, Jonny Rilla, my son,
Where have you been, my dear little one."
2. "Courting my sweetheart, mother make my bed soon;
I have a pain in my heart and I want to lie down."
3 "Have you been to your supper, Jonny Rilla, my son,
Have you been to your supper, my dear little one?"
4 "I have been to my supper. Mother, make my bed soon;
I have a pain at my heart and I want to lie down."
5 "What did you have for your supper, Jonny Rilla, my son,
What did you have for your supper, my dear little one?"
6 "Fresh eel and butter. Mother, make my bed soon;
I have a pain at my heart and I want to lie down."
7 "What color were the eels, Jonny Rilla, my son,
What color were the eels, my dear little one?"
8 "Black and yellow spotted. Mother, make my bed soon;
I have a pain at my heart and I want to lie down."
9 "They were rattlesnakes, Jonny Rilla, my son,
They were rattlesnakes, my dear little one?" [1]
10. You are going to die, Jonny Rilla, my son,
You are going to die, my dear little onl.
11. "What will you will to your sister, Jonny Rilla, my son,
What will you will to you sister, my dear little one?"
12. "Fine horse and saddle. Mother, make my bed soon;
I have a pain at my heart and I want to lie down."
13. "What will you will to your mother, Jonny Rilla, my son?
What will you will to your mother, my dear little one?"
14 "A sweet home in Heaven. Mother, make my bed soon;
I have a pain at my heart and I want to lie down'"
15. "What will you will to your sweetheart, Jonny Rilla, my son,
What will you will to your sweetheart, my dear little one?"
16. "Brimstone and hell-fire to scorch her right brown,
She caused this pain at my heart and I want to lie down."
1. Here the dialogue ceases while the mother speaks three consecutive stanzas.