"a peice of tedious drivel like Lord Randall"
As I said, the Cap'n is letting his "personal likes cloud his analysis".
Not an easy ballad to sing and make work, I'll grant you - obviously above his head. There are certainly some magnificent tunes for the ballad.
He'd be probably be well advised to stick to something as simple to follow as Marrowbones.
Malcolm:
"a rather poor re-working"
I hadn't realised that this was one of his criteria in assembling his collection. In my opinion he included pieces that were much poorer.
Whether Child saw 'The Bramble Briar' and rejected it is a much-debated point - we simply don't know.
Jim Carroll