Florence Bateman - Henry My Son (Lord Randall)

 This song is sung a cappella.This song is about a young man who s sweetheart poisons him and he returns home to his mother who finds out. At the end of each stanza the young man repeats to his mother to make the bed because he is sick and needs to lay down. At the end of the song the young man lists off what possessions he ll leave to different family members. To his sweetheart  he leaves enough rope to hang herself with. This song appears elsewhere in the Manny collection as (122-02). Mrs. Florence Bateman begins singing Henry My Son  which Ken Homer notes is also known as  Lord Randall  and  Edward, Edward . Bateman, Florence (Mrs.) 1963

 Young Henry My Son, aka Lord Randall, aka many other titles: an extremely old Anglo-Scottish song, some printed versions sourced to at least the late 18th century[http://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/pageturner.cfm?id=87742141. Here's a link to a scan of an 18th century published version.] Some say that similar songs (arguably variants of this song) are found all over Europe, and that the earliest Italian variants date from the 17th century around Verona

Tonnes of info about recorded versions and a bit of history, references to Roud/Child numbers here

034-03