View source for Lamkin

{{short description|Traditional song}}
{{for|disambiguation page|Lamkin (disambiguation)}}

"'''Lamkin'''"''', "Lambkin"''', '''"Long Lankin"''', or '''"Bolakins"''' ({{English folk song|roud=6|child=93}}) is an English-language [[ballad]]. It gives an account of the [[murder ballad|murder]] of a woman and her infant son by a man, in some versions, a disgruntled [[Masonry|mason]], in others, a [[devil]], [[bogeyman]] or a motiveless [[villain]]. Versions of the ballad are found in [[Scotland]], [[England]] and the [[United States|US]].

According to [[Steve Roud|Roud]] and Bishop (2012): 
<blockquote>"Lambkin" is not one of the major league Child ballads in terms of popularity, but it was widely known in England and Scotland, and even more so in North America. ... The central character's name varies considerably, including, in just the English versions 'Lambkin', 'Lamkin', 'Lincoln', and 'Limkin', and he is various referred to as 'Long', 'Bold', 'Cruel' and 'False'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roud |first1=Steve |last2=Julia |first2=Bishop |author-link1=Steve Roud |year=2012 |title=The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs |publisher=Penguin |pages=484–5|isbn=978-0-141-19461-5}}</ref>
</blockquote>

They cite the analysis of [[Anne Gilchrist (collector)|Anne Gilchrist]], who identified two threads: one [[Scottish folk music|Scottish]], which retained the mason narrative; one [[Music of Northumbria|Northumbrian]], which lost the mason in early versions, thus encouraging singers to supply a different back-story. Versions collected in England stem from the Northumbrian thread.<ref>{{cite journal |title=[[English Folk Dance and Song Society|Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society]] |issue=1 |year=1932 |pages=1–7}}</ref>

==A bogeyman==
Other versions follow the same basic story, but the antagonist has many different names, among them "Long Lonkin",<ref name="Child">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7P5AkPqC1IC&pg=PA330 |title=The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol.2 |author=Francis James Child|date=January 2003 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=9780486431468 }}</ref> "Balankin", "Lambert Linkin", "Rankin", "Long Lankyn", and "Lammikin".<ref name="Yates">{{cite web |url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/lamkin.htm |title=More Blood on the Stairs: A 'New' Version of Lamkin |author=Mike Yates |date=11 November 2004}}</ref> Later versions lose the opening of the story, which explains that Lamkin is a mason who has not been paid; in these, Lamkin becomes a sort of a [[bogeyman]] who dwells in the wild places; the lord, before leaving, warns against him:

:Says milord to milady as he mounted his horse,
:"Beware of Long Lankin that lives in the [[Raised bog|moss]]."
:Says milord to milady as he went on his way,
:"Beware of Long Lankin that lives in the [[hay]]."<ref name="Carthy">{{cite web |url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/longlankin.html |title=Lamkin / Long Lankin / Cruel Lincoln |publisher=/mainlynorfolk.info |access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref>

These versions add peculiar incidents that add to the grisliness of the crime. Lamkin and the nursemaid collect the baby's blood in a basin which, along with the idea that the name Lamkin or Lammikin indicates the murderer was pale skinned<ref name="Yates" /> and, therefore, perhaps a [[leprosy|leper]] who sought to cure himself by bathing in the blood of an innocent collected in a silver bowl, a [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|medieval cure]].<ref name="Niles">{{cite journal |jstor=539020 |title=Lamkin: The Motivation of Horror |author=John DeWitt Niles |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |year=1977 |volume=90 |issue=355 |page=56|doi=10.2307/539020 }}</ref>

==Performances==
*A version titled "Bolakins" was recorded as sung by Mrs. Lena Bare Turbyfill in 1939, Library of Congress<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Mrs-Lena-Bare-Turbyfill-I-G-Greer-With-Mrs-I-G-Greer-Bolakins-Lamkin-The-Three-Babes/release/10187600|title = MRS. Lena Bare Turbyfill / I. G. Greer with MRS. I. G. Greer – Bolakins (Lamkin) / The Three Babes (Vinyl)|website = [[Discogs]]}}</ref>
* The song has been recorded as "Long Lankin" on ''But Two Came By'' (1968) by [[Martin Carthy]].
*The song "Bo Lamkin" was recorded by Appalachian folk musician [[Frank Proffitt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://folkways.si.edu/frank-proffitt/sings-folk-songs/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian |title=Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs |website=Smithsonian Folk Ways Recordings |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>
* In 1973 Northumbrian folk group [[The High Level Ranters]] recorded it as "Long Lonkin" on their album ''A Mile To Ride''.
* [[Steeleye Span]] recorded it as "Long Lankin" on ''[[Commoners Crown]]'' (1975).
* [[Dave Burland]] recorded "Lamkin" on his album ''You Can't Fool The Fat Man'' (1979) with [[Nic Jones]].
* The Neofolk band [[Fire + Ice]] recorded "Long Lankin" on their album ''Gilded By The Sun'' (1992).<ref>{{youTube|rOTHSuG7v1U|Fire + Ice - Long Lankin}}</ref>
*[[Tinkerscuss]] perform and recorded a version as Long Lankin on their album ''Stonedancing''
* [[Jim Moray]] recorded a version as "Long Lankin" on his album ''In Modern History'' (2010).<ref>{{youTube|7cLFs-ngEMk|Jim Moray - Long Lankin}}</ref>
* A version was recorded by English traditional singer Ben Butcher as "Cruel Lincoln" in 1955 and issued on ''[[The Voice of the People]]'' Vol, 3 in 1988. 
* The song "Lambkin" is included on the studio album ''Smoke of Home'', the second album by the band [[Megson (band)|Megson]], released in 2007.
* [[The Wainwright Sisters]] also included a recording of Long Lankin on their 2015 album ''[[Songs in the Dark (album)|Songs in the Dark]]''.
* [[Blackbeard's Tea Party]]'s 2013 album ''Whip Jamboree'' features a version of the ballad.
* For her 2016 album ''[[Lodestar (Shirley Collins album)|Lodestar]]'', English folk singer [[Shirley Collins]] recorded a version of "Cruel Lincoln," which draws from the Ben Butcher version.
*Classical composer and librettist Fleur de Bray set the story of Long Lankin as an opera, which was premiered in August 2013 at the acclaimed London Tête à Tête Opera Festival.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fleurdebray.co.uk/compositions.html |title=Compositions |website=Fleur de Bray Soprano |access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref>
* The 2018 [[Adult Swim]] series ''[[The Shivering Truth]]'' features variations of the ballad (titled "Long Lankin" in this case) sung by different artists over the end credits of every episode.
* Martin Simpson released a version of this ballad entitled "Beaulampkin" on compilation of Fernie Court Management Ltd.
* Seventeen field-recordings of the ballad, spanning 1934–2021, were curated by [[Derek Piotr]] and released by Death is Not the End, in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deathisnot.bandcamp.com/album/lamkin-versions-variants-across-the-northern-hemisphere|title=Lamkin: Versions & Variants Across the Northern Hemisphere, by Various Artists}}</ref>

==In literature==

{{wikisource|Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835/Long Lonkin|Long Lonkin, recorded by L. E. L.}}
The ballad, as ''Long Lonkin'', was taken from a friend by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] and published in her ''Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835.''<ref> {{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Bzk_AAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA10-IA4|section=traditional|pages=11–12|year=1834|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>

The song was referenced in the title of the [[short story]] collection, ''Long Lankin'',  by [[John Banville]]. The American poet [[Robert Lowell]] also referenced the song in the title of his [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning collection of poetry ''[[Lord Weary's Castle]]'' (1946). The song inspired the young-adult novel ''Long Lankin'' (2011) by Lindsey Barraclough.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/long-lankin/ |title=Long Lankin |website=Historical Novel Society |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>

A sadistic character named Lankin appears as a member of the Fairy Queen's court in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Lords and Ladies (novel)|Lords and Ladies]]''.

Long Lankin appears in Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder's book ''Except The Queen''.

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://www.8notes.com/scores/3631.asp "Long Lankin" score and lyrics]
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch093.htm "Lamkin"], Child Ballad #93A, with variant texts
*[https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/lamkin.html "Long Lankin"] by Reinhard Zierke, with remarks about the song from Martin Carthy and [[Dave Tomlinson]].
*[http://www.contemplator.com/child/lamkin.html "False Lamkin"] with history
*{{youTube|XpP03dvPfsE|Long lankin - Songs From The Shed Session}} by [[Alasdair Roberts (musician)|Alasdair Roberts]]

{{Francis James Child}}

[[Category:Child Ballads]]
[[Category:Murder ballads]]