Eels, dear mother.

Subject: Eels, dear mother.
From: Dead Horse
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 03:56 AM

I see on the tele that Henry 1st died on this day in 1135 from "a surfeit of lampreys". Was this the origin of the song *Henry,my son*? It is a favourite of Gundulfs Morris, owing to it's repitition of "Green & Yella"(our colours) and it's 'orrible nature. There are other versions with differing names, and reputed to be about a minor duke being poisoned, but it does seem to be a coincidence that Henry The Oneth died from eating eels. Can any knowledgeable historian enlighten this hignorant peasant?

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 06:47 AM

Look up Lord Randall of which this is a variant.
Failte...Jock

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 06:55 AM

Here goes for my first try at a blue clicky, wish me luck "cats"
click here
If it doesn't work it's www.moonwise.com/randal.html
Pinkies crossed.
Failte....Jock

---

Link Repair Team has been here. For websites outside the Mudcat, ya gotta stick an "http://" in after the "a href=" --JoeClone

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 06:56 AM

Oh well!!!

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 07:10 AM

Click here
After this I give up.

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 07:14 AM

Well the clicky worked, but it don't go to the page. Go to Google and type in Lord Randall, and ignore me, everybody else does!!
Failte....Jock

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Greyeyes
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 07:41 AM

Click here for giok's link, and click here for a previous thread on "Lord Randall".

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Greyeyes
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 07:45 AM

Bloody hell, Giok's link is jinxed, try this.

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Greyeyes
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 07:48 AM

Joe-clone required.

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Susan of DT
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 08:01 AM

Or you could look in the Digital Tradition, right here. Lord Randall is Child #12 and a search for #12 yields 7 versions, of which Eels is a recent(?) parody, so I highly doubt it was about King Henry I.

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Gareth
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 08:03 AM

Lampreys aint Eels.

Gareth

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 08:47 AM

http://www.moonwise.com/randal.html

Jon

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: GUEST,Paul
Date: 01 Dec 01 - 09:43 AM

According to Roy Palmer (Everyman's Book of English Country Songs):

"Randolf, Earl of Chester died in 1232. The wife of his nephew and successor, John, is supposed to have tried to poison her husband. Such is the possible origin of the story of a huge corpus of ballads, usually entitled 'Lord Randal' and often, especially in England, 'Henry My Son'."

Paul

Subject: RE: Eels, dear mother.
From: pavane
Date: 02 Dec 01 - 05:10 AM

I believe that 'Green & Yella' is not that recent. I think I saw a Victorian reference, but I can't be sure, nor can I remember where!.