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Putting that CD on and hearing "Lord Randall" without any tracklisting really took me unawares - whatever stringed Scottish folk instrument he was using in the opening bars sounded so much like a sitar that i actually thought he was singing in Hindi or something, and then about half a verse in i realised "hang on, this is actually English with a Scottish accent"... bit of a headfuck, but very cool, joining dots between traditions i'd have never thought were comparable before...
There's loads of connections going on between European and Indian folk music, and this version of "Lord Randall" does bring them out. I'm not sure Martin Carthy is singing in a particularly Scottish accent (he's from Hatfield) but as both he and the song are British institutions, it's not saying much - he seems to be doing a sort of folky accent on this, if that makes any sense.
"Lord Randall" is known in many variations including Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, and it's pretty grim in most of them. |
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