> Folk Music > Songs > The Wild, Wild Berry

The Wild, Wild Berry

Ray Driscoll of Dulwich, London, sang The Wild, Wild Berry to Mike Yates on 5 April 1989. This recording was included in 1998 on the EFDSS anthology A Century of Song. Another recording made by Gwilym Davies on 27 October 1993 is the title track of Driscoll’s 2008 CD Wild, Wild Berry. It was also included in 2020 on the Musical Tradition anthology of Gwilym Davies recordings, Catch It, Bottle It, Paint It Green. Gwilym Davies noted on Driscoll’s CD:

The gem of Ray’s repertoire and unique to him. Ray learnt this song, as The Death of Queen Jane, from the itinerant farm labourer Harry Civil in Shropshire. The story is clearly the same as Lord Randal but reworked. It is not clear whether the song is a old revival or is the product of 19^th Century re-working. Whatever the truth, the song has struck a chord with many revival folk singers on both sides of the Atlantic who are now performing it.

Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman sang Wild, Wild Berries on their 2006 album Unity. They noted:

We learned this from the singing of Ray Driscoll, who in turn learned it from an itinerant farm worker called Harry Civil. This is a very succinct version of Lord Randal.

John Kirkpatrick sang The Wild, Wild Berry in 2007 on his Fledg’ling CD Make No Bones. He noted:

A wonderful compact ballad sung to the collector Mike Yates by Ray Driscoll in 1989, and included on the EFDSS CD A Century of Song. in 1998.

Ray Driscoll was born in 1922 in Ireland, but spent most of his life in England, including a spell as a farmhand in Shropshire where he learned this song from Harry Civil, one of the singers at the Cock Inn, Hanwood, just south of Shrewsbury. All the experts agree that there is no other song quite like it.

Stephanie Hladowski learned The Wild Wild Berry from Mike Yates’ recording of Ray Driscoll and chose it for the title track of her and Chris Joynes’ 2012 album The Wild Wild Berry.

Former Witch of Elswick Bryony Griffith sang The Wild, Wild Berry in 2014 on her CD Nightshade. She noted:

This unique version of Lord Randal was poached from the lovely Lancashire singer Heather Dunn, who got it from John Kirkpatrick’s album Make No Bones. John got it from the singing of the late Shropshire singer Ray Driscoll, whose repertoire of rare songs was recorded by Gwilym Davies. In this version, Lord Randal dies after being fed the poisonous berries of the Woody Nightshade.

Cooper and Toller sang The Wild Wild Berry on their 2023 album A Number of Work. They noted:

Roud 24845. A rare example of a song in the English folk canon with just a single source: Ray Driscoll. Ray sang the song to Mike Yates in London in 1989. Ray was born in Ireland in 1922 but moved to England when he was young and was brought up in London. He learned The Wild Wild Berry from an itinerant labourer called Harry Civil while both were living and working in Shropshire. The song is a much pared-down variant of Lord Randal (Roud 10, Child 12) and manages to convey all of the essential facts and feelings of the much longer ballad in three short verses.

The Furrow Collective sang The Wild, Wild Berry in 2023 on their Hudson album We Know by the Moon. Emily Portman noted:

I learnt this song from a recording of Ray Driscoll (1922-2005) made in 1989 by Mike Yates. Ray was born in Ireland, grew up in London and picked up songs wherever he went, be it from his Irish family or in the streets of South London where he lived until his family home was bombed in the Blitz, causing a move to Hanwood, Shropshire. Ray learnt Wild Wild Berry from itinerant farm labourer and singer Harry Civil whilst working as a farmhand in Shropshire. This song has been linked to the 17th-century ballad of Lord Randal (Child 10). in which the protagonist is also poisoned by his lover, commonly by eels, fish or hemlock. However in Wild Wild Berry, uniquely, Randal is poisoned by woody nightshade.

Lyrics

Ray Driscoll sings The Wild, Wild Berry

Young man came from hunting faint and weary.
“What does ail my lord, my dearie?”
“Oh mother dear, let my bed be made
For I feel the gripe of the woody nightshade.”

Chorus (after each verse):
Lie low, sweet Randal.
So come all you young men that do eat full well
And they that sup right merry:
’Tis far better, I entreat to have toads for your meat
Than to eat of the wild, wild berry.

This young man he died eft soon
By the light of the hunter’s moon.
’Twas not by bolt nor yet by blade
But the deathly gripe of the woody nightshade.

This lord’s false love they hanged her high
For her deeds were the cause of her lord to die.
And in her hair they entwined a braid
Of the leaves and berries of the woody nightshade.

Bryony Griffith sings The Wild, Wild Berry

Young man came from hunting faint and weary,
“What does ail my love, my dearie?”
“O Mother dear, let my bed be made,
For I feel the gripe of the woody nightshade.”

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Lie low, sweet Randall.
Come all you young men that do eat full well
And them that sups right merry:
’Tis far better, I entreat, to eat toads for your meat
Than to eat of the wild, wild berry.

This young man, well, he died fair soon
By the light of the hunter’s moon.
’Twas not by bolt, nor yet by blade
But the leaves and the berries of the woody nightshade.

This lord’s false love, well, they hanged her high,
For ’twas by her deeds that her lord should die.
Within her locks they entwined a braid
Of the leaves and the berries of the woody nightshade.