French traditional ballad of the "Criminal's Last Good Night" variety?
To my amis français & Francophone friends: My short story "'A Wild and a Wicked Youth'" is being translated by the inestimable Patrick Marcel for wonderful André-François Ruaud's periodical book/magazine, *Fiction.* The title is a quote from a traditional English ballad (as sung by Waterson:Carthy) - a "Criminal's Last Good Night" genre piece.
Is there any French equivalent that we can use for the title in French?
For those interested in reading below the fold, here's my original intro:
'This story came to me in a flash in the darkness of a Waterson/Carthy concert last year, when the English folk artists let fly with their awesome rendition of the traditional outlaw ballad, "Newry Town" (also known as "The Newry Highwayman"): A young man, clearly a nice boy, "turns out to be a roving blade" and comes to a bad end while his mother cries, and everyone agrees, "There goes a wild and a wicked youth."
'While the song's plotline does not really match my story's, it got me on the right path. I'd been wanting for a long time to write about the early life of Richard St. Vier, the gifted swordsman in my first novel, Swordspoint: a Melodrama of Manners. I've always known who Richard's mother was, and how he learned to fight; but it occurred to me that nobody else did, and it was time to get it down on paper.'
The lyrics & background to the song are here.
My original posts about the short story are here.
I've also posted this query on my Facebook page.