DESCRIPTION:
Traditional English song performed by Pete Castle. It's a widely known song. This is the version I recorded with the Anglo-Romanian band Popeluc. It fitted our idea of melding the two traditions.
Reynardine first appeared in the 18th century as 'The Mountains High'. By the following century it could be found on both sides of the Atlantic. In those early versions there was no suggestion of the supernatural, it was simply a song about a robber or highwayman. The magical element seems to have been added, or brought out, by the singer and folklorist A.L.Lloyd in the 1960s. Lloyd was well known for rewriting traditional material. He took the hero's name, originally some variant of Rinordine or Ranordine, and by changing it to look like the French word for fox – renard – and accentuating the line – 'his teeth so bright did shine' – he transformed the robber into a werewolf (or werefox, perhaps). A moment of inspiration!