A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

Folklore, Dec, 2004 by Stephen D. Winick

Significantly, "eyes as red as wine" occurs in Campbell's lines, but not in Hughes's; while "eyes did brightly shine" occurs in Hughes's, but not in Campbell's. Neither occurs in any broadside text. This is damaging to DeNatale's hypothesis, because the revival texts all contain versions of both lines. To maintain DeNatale's hypothesis one would have to imagine that verses based on "Reynardine" written by two different and relatively obscure Irish authors would have entered the oral tradition and interacted with the existing broadside text, to produce a new song with elements of all three versions. One would further need to accept that this song was collected only once, in Eastbridge, by Lloyd.

This seems far-fetched indeed. A more plausible explanation is that an experienced researcher came across all three printed versions and combined them. Lloyd is a likely candidate; his sleeve notes to the song allude to the 1908 exchange about "Reynardine" in Notes and Queries. Lloyd, therefore, knew Hughes's version, and would have been able to find Campbell's by association.

The second piece of textual evidence is that Lloyd sang and recorded at least two very different versions of the song during his career. The earlier version appeared in the late 1950s, on the album The Foggy Dew and other Traditional English Love Songs. The text is as follows:

   One evening as I rambled
   Among the leaves so fine,
   I overheard a young woman
   Conversing with Reynardine

   Her hair was black, her eyes were blue,
   Her mouth as red as wine,
   And he smiled to look upon her,
   Did this sly bold Reynardine

   He said if by chance you look for me,
   Perhaps you'll not me find,
   But I'll be in my castle,
   Enquire for Reynardine

   Sun and dark she followed him,
   His eyes did brightly shine,
   And he led her over the mountain,
   Did this sly bold Reynardine (Lloyd 1956?; transcription mine).

AS we can see, stanzas three and four are derived from Hughes, and the first half of stanza two from Campbell. The first half of the first stanza seems to be derived from the broadside ballad, whose first line is often "One evening as I rambled." This leaves the second half of the first and second stanzas, or the lines

   I overheard a young woman
   converse with Reynardine

and

   And he smiled to look upon her
   Did this sly bold Reynardine

as the only parts without analogue in printed versions of the song that were available to Lloyd.

Most versions of the ballad make Reynardine the narrator until a "come-all-ye" verse at the end, which is seemingly from the woman's point of view. This holds true in every orally collected version of the song that has been published (Merrick 1904, 271-2; Combs 1925, 165-6; Thomas 1931, 108-9; Chappell 1939, 84-5; Eddy 1939, 192-3; Belden 1940, 268-88; Brewster 1941, 171-2; Randolph 1946, 379-80; Creighton 1961, 112-3; Mackenzie 1963, 102-3; Gardener and Chickering 1967, 96-7), in addition to all the broadsides I have seen, the one manuscript text I am aware of (Huntington 1964, 222-3), and the songster texts as well. [7] Hughes's and Campbell's versions, by contrast, are told from the girl's point of view: "he courted me," "I followed him," and so on.