I see why you prefer the 3-strain Reavely version as more
consistent,
but the Crawhall strain 4 is worth having - perhaps better if
tweaked to fit the others from Reavely.
I should have another look in that case, thanks.
I have been thinking about this, and Lord Randal, since the
discussion started.
The tune is obviously a good fit to the metre, but if this is right,
then the tune is to be played andante, not as a jig.
Yes, I think that thee 6/8 variation sets (in Peacock et al) are not
(dance) jigs, though often based on them - e.g. Felton Lonnen, which
exists in both forms.
The idea of Billy Boy as a parody of Lord Randal had never occurred
to me,
but the worried mum and the emphasis on the girlfriend's culinary
abilities are common to both.
I think it was Bronson's (Trad Tunes of the Child Ballads) book which
alerted me to this. I had it on loan so I can't check it now, but IIRC
he said that the two songs (or versions of them) were of comparable
age, and I got more the feeling of 'counterpart' than 'parody' from
what he was saying.
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