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Gypsum Davey
The Gypsy Laddie / Seven Yellow Gipsies / Raggle Taggle Gipsies / Gypsy Davey / Black Jack Davy / Gypsy Rover
[
Roud 1
; Child 200
; G/D 2:278
; Henry H124
; Ballad Index C200
; VWML CJS2/9/2103
, CJS2/9/2540
, GG/1/16/1001
; GlosTrad
Roud 1
; The Gypsy Laddie at Fire Draw Near
; GypsyDavy at Old Songs
; Folkinfo 195
, 361
, 602
; DT GYPDAVY
, WRAGYPSY
; Mudcat 1654
, 158710
; trad.]
Sabine Baring-Gould: Songs of the West Norman Buchan: 101 Scottish Songs Katherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar: Traditional Scottish Songs & Music Nick Dow: Southern Songster Michael Downey: The Ploughboy’s Glory Edith Fowke: The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs Kathy Henderson with Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr: My Song Is My Own Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People James Johnson: Scots Musical Museum Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs The Crystal Spring Alexander Keith: Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads Ewan MacColl: Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland John Morrish: The Folk Handbook John Jacob Niles: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles John Ord: Bothy Songs and Ballads Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads Songs of the Midlands Vance Randolph: Ozark Folksongs James Reeves: The Everlasting Circle Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs: The English Folksinger Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs Cecil J. Sharp, Charles L. Marson: Folk Songs From Somerset Elizabeth Stewart, Alison McMorland: Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen
Texas Gladden sang Gypsy Davy in a 1941 recording by Alan Lomax that was released in 2001 on her Rounder anthology in the Alan Lomax Collection, Ballad Legacy. John Cohen noted:
This ballad about the wife abandoning her rich lord and newborn baby and running off with a Gypsy has been sung by Woody Guthrie, the Clancy Brothers, The Carter Family, and various Irish, English, old-time, and bluegrass groups. It remains alive in tradition as performed by a spectrum of contemporary voices, hitting a responsive chord since it deals with issues of romantic love, choice, and commitment—and tells a good story. Gladden returns it to its bare bones, its archaic roots.
Gladden said, “It’s always fascinated me. I’ve built up the most beautiful thoughts of Gypsies from that song. In the song it was a romantic thing. The Gypsy Davy was like a knight of old; in my mind he was sort of an exalted kind. I never was so disappointed in my whole life, when last summer I met up with a bunch of them.”
Paddy Doran sang Seven Yellow Gypsies to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle at a Travellers’ camp outside Belfast on 24 July 1952. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of ballads sung by British and Irish traditional singers, Good People, Take Warning (The Voice of the People Volume 23). Steve Roud noted:
Probably the third most widespread of the Child ballads (after Barbara Allen and Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor), numerous versions of The Gypsy Laddie have been collected across Britain and Ireland, and over 300 in North America. Child prints 11 early versions, while Bronson offers 128. Paddy Doran’s text preserves what might be termed the emotional core of the song, but does not make a great deal of narrative sense. For those unfamiliar with the story, the bare bones are as follows: Three (or seven, etc.) Gypsies come to the door (gate) of a rich man’s house (castle). They either cast a glamour (i.e., a spell) over the lady of the house, or she simply falls for their leader, and she agrees to run off with them. When the lord comes home, he pursues and catches them, but the lady refuses to return to him, declaring her preference for the Gypsy in no uncertain terms. In some earlier versions, the lord promptly hangs the Gypsies, but the fate of his lady is undisclosed.
As with many of the older ballads, there have been many attempts to prove that the story is based on fact. The most persistent attribution, which in itself qualifies as a legend, concerns Lady Jean Hamilton, who became wife of John, sixth Earl of Cassilis. According to the legend, she had a previous lover, who turned up at her gate, disguised as a Gypsy, to carry her away, while her husband was away in London. Cassilis returned unexpectedly and, as in the song, captured and summarily executed the lover and his men (all except one, of course, who lived to tell the tale), but then imprisoned his wife in a high tower for the rest of her days. Naturally enough, historical facts deny this. Lady Jean died in 1642, and letters written by the Earl after her death betray no estrangement but show real and continued marital affection. Child puts forward the idea that the Cassilis tradition grew from a mis-reading or mis-hearing of the common line “three Gypsies came to the castle gate”, which is exactly how these historical legends usually start. Nevertheless, although we have no evidence that the Cassilis connection was made before the late 18th century, Bronson was the first to notice that an early version of one of the main tunes associated with this song was entitled Lady Cassiles Lilt in the Skene Manuscript in the National Library of Scotland, which dates from before 1630.
Christy Purcell sang The Dark-Eyed Gypsy to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle at a Travellers’ camp outside Belfast on 24 July or 1 August 1952. This recording was included in 2014 on the Topic anthology of traditional songs, airs and dance music in Ulster, The Flax in Bloom (The Voice of the People Volume 27).
Jean Ritchie sang Gypsum Davy in 1952 on her Elektra album Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Traditional Kentucky Mountain Family. Edward Tatnall Canby wrote in the sleeve notes:
Many will recognise this as an American version of the Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies, the word “gypsum” a typical word-of-mouth corruption. Collected about 1900 at the Pine Mountain Settlement school, where mountain children brought in songs from their families to entertain each other and thereby spreading the wealth of folk music. Sharp lists ten American versions of this song—he did much to spread such music himself by “trading” his recent acquisitions for new ones, thus carrying them from locality to locality.
Jeannie Robertson sang The Gipsy Laddies, in a recording made in 1955 where she is accompanied by Josh MacRae on guitar, on her 1956 Riverside album Songs of a Scots Tinker Lady. Another recording made by Bill Leader in 1959 was released in the same year on her eponymous Topic album Jeannie Robertson. This track was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology It Fell on a Day, a Bonny Summer Day (The Voice of the People Volume 17). Hamish Henderson noted:
This classic ballad—no. 200 in the great Child collection—is widely known throughout the British Isles and America. In Scotland, the ballad is often associated with the Ayrshire house of Cassilis, and is declared to be a “true” ballad, although history does not bear this out. However, the ballad tale, in which handsome gipsies beguile a noble lady by the sweetness of their singing, has naturally made it very popular with the Scots travelling folk.
The 1961 Caedmon / 1968 Topic anthology The Child Ballads 2 (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 5) has a track The Gypsie Laddie that was spliced together from versions sung by Harry Cox, Jeannie Robertson and Paddy Doran.
Jeannie Robertson also sang The Gypsy Laddies in a recording made by Fred Kent and Hamish Henderson (School of Scottish Studies SA 1959/79). It was included in 1975 on the Tangent anthology of classic Scots ballads, The Muckle Sangs (Scottish Tradition 5). Hamish Henderson and Ailie Munro noted:
When the gypsies arrived in Northern Europe at the close of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, after their fabulous thousand-year long migration from North-West India, they were at first greeted by the populace and the authorities with awe and even with reverence; then, usually within a year or so, the authorities rumbled them, and they started getting hanged. Nowhere is this pattern better illustrated than in Scotland. In a document of 1540 James V recognized John Faw (Faa) as ‘Lord and Earl of Little Egypt’; the following year, by an act of the Lords of Council, ‘Egyptians’ (i.e. gypsies) are ordered to quit the realm within thirty days on pain of death. In the 17th century, as McRitchie points out in his Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts, it was a capital crime in Scotland to be a gypsy; the famous outlaw and fiddler James Macpherson (hero of MacPherson’s Rant) was executed under this statute.
The Gypsy Laddies is one of the most widely known and sung classic ballads, in America as well as in the British Isles—Bronson prints no less than 128 items under this heading—but there are good grounds for believing that it does in fact reflect the turbulent history of the gypsies in Scotland. Evenif, respecting Child’s judgment, one disregards the extremely strong and deeply rooted Ayrshire tradition connecting the ballad with the noble house of Cassilis, the circumstantial evidence suggesting that the ballad originated in Scotland is overwhelming.
Jeannie Robertson, the singer, has since her ‘discovery’ in Aberdeen in 1953, been widely regarded as one of the finest of our ballad-singers. Shortly after he first heard her, Alan Lomax referred to her as “a monumental figure of the world’s folksong”.
Jeannie sings this ballad with a tightly-reined expressiveness and with a hint of underlying menace which surfaces in the last verse. She was at the height of her powers during the period of this recording and it must be one of the best ever made ofher magnificent singing.
A unique feature of Jeannie’s tune, (Bronson, iv, Addenda), as compared with numerous other similar tunes (Bronson, iii), lies in the second line: in the repetition, after the upward octave leap on a weak beat, of this same upper note on the next weak beat.
Two features of Jeannie’s style are note-worthy here. The first is one thumb-print of the style of many travellers: this is the insertion of an extra vowel into a word. Here for example we have ‘hearit’ instead of ‘heart’ v.1, ‘serivants’ for ‘servants’ v.3, ‘Lorid’ for ‘Lord’ vs.3, 10 and 11, and ‘brotheris’ for ‘brothers’ v.12.
The second was pointed out by Jeannie herself to Andy Hunter, the fine ‘revival’ singer from Clydebank who studied with her for many years and who became almost one of the family: that is her quite deliberate taking of a breath in the middle of a line in order to highlight either the word that precedes the breath or the word that follows. A detailed study of the verbal and musical content of some of Jeannie’s repertoire may be found in articles by Herschel Gower and James Porter in Scottish Studies, p.22.
A.L. Lloyd sang The Seven Gypsies in 1956 on his Tradition album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs, an he sang Gypsies-O on his and Ewan MacColl’s Roverside album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume III. This and his other tracks from this series were reissued in 2011 on his Fellside double CD Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun. Lloyd noted on the first album:
As the story goes, 300 years ago, Lady Jean Hamilton, married to the grim puritanical Earl of Cassilis, fell in love with John Faa, a leader of a Scottish gypsy band. The couple eloped, the band was pursued, and John Faa was captured and hanged. History is silent about this incident, but the ballad (Child 200) has survived in many forms all over England, Scotland and America. Perhaps it was the piquancy of the situation in which the rich man’s wife finds a poor man more desirable, that has commended it so long to the singer’s fancy.
Ewan MacColl sang the Scottish version The Gypsy Laddie and Peggy Seeger sang the American The Black Jack Davy in 1957 on their Riverside album Matching Songs of the British Isles and America. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:
There appears to be no actual historical basis for the tale told in this ballad (Child #200), but various occurrences of a dramatic nature appear to have affected the ballad and to have created ballad characters out of specific personages who could not historically have been the inspiring forces. There were many gypsies named Johnny Faa (mentioned in early versions of the ballad), and one well known gypsy chieftain by that name was hanged in 1624. It is quite conceivable that his execution made such a strong impression that the ballad story was attributed to him. Towards the end of the 17th century, a traditional story was circulated concerning the wife of the Earl of Cassilis who ran off with Sir John Faa, who came to the castle disguised as a gypsy. Though no such incident is known to have happened to any member of the Cassilis family, their names appear in many British versions of this ballad. The ballad appears to have been first printed in Allan Ramsey’s Tea-Table Miscellany in 1740. American versions usually omit reference to the casting of a spell over the heroine, and none of the gypsies are hanged or punished as in most British texts. MacColl’s version is from the singing of his father, collated with texts in Gavin Greig’s Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs (1925). Miss Seeger has known the version she sings nearly all of her life. The melody was learned from a recording by the Gant family of Austin, Texas.
Robin Hall sang The Three Gipsy Laddies in 1960 on his Collector 10" album of ballads from the Gavin Greig Collection, Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads. The album’s booklet noted:
This is the very well known tale of the rich Laird’s wife who is charmed away by the gipsies while the Laird is absent. On his return, he sets out to find them, catches them and pleads with his young wife to come home. She refuses because the gipsies have cast a spell upon her. The ballad has many variants throughout Britain and America. The version here has been collated from several of Greig’s texts, and the tune comes from the famous Aberdeen ballad singer Jeannie Robertson.
Robin Gray The Gypsie Laddies in 1961 on his and Dolina MacLennan’s Topic EP of songs of the Islands and Lowlands of Scotland, By Mormond Braes. This track was also included in 1965 on the Topic compilation of three former EPs, Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn. He noted:
This is a telescoped Scots version of a song found in many lands—Raggle Taggle Gypsies in England, Gypsie Davy in the United States for instance. The story common to them all is of the noble lady leaving all to go with the penniless, romantic and presumably very virile Gypsies.
O.J. Abbott from Hull, Quebec, sang The Gypsy Daisy in a field recording made by Edith Fowke that was included in 1961 on his Folkways album Irish and British Songs From the Ottawa Valley. Edith Fowke noted:
The tale of the lady who deserts her husband and baby to run away with a gypsy is one of the most popular of the Child ballads. The first British versions were noted in the second half of the eighteenth century, although the ballad is probably older. It has been collected in many parts of North America under a wide variety of titles, the most common being The Gypsy Laddie, The Gypsy Daisy, and The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies. The Gypsy Daisy version is fairly rare, although it has been found in Nova Scotia (JAF 18:191). Mr. Abbott learned it from Mr. O’Malley.
Isla Cameron sang Seven Gypsies in 1962 on her Prestige album The Best of Isla Cameron. Ewan MacColl noted:
A 17th century legend has it that Lady Cassilis, sometimes named as the heroine of this ballad, eloped with Johnie Faa, a gypsy chieftain who was later pursued by the Earl of Cassilis and hanged along with a number of his men. There is nothing in the records of the Cassilis family to lend credence to this story. This version of Child No. 200 was learned from A.L. Lloyd.
Frank Proffitt sang Gyps of David in 1962 on his Folk-Legacy album Frank Proffitt of Reese, NC. Sandy Paton noted:
This is another ballad of which Frank knows two versions, the one recorded here and the more common (in America) Black Jack Davy. The present version was learned from his Aunt Nancy Prather in about 1940, the other was learned from the kids in school with Frank when he was about fourteen years old. Frank describes learning the ballad from his aunt and how he questioned her at some length about the name Gyps of David. “You mean Black Jack Davy, don’t you?” “No,” she answered, “It’s Gyps of David.” “Do you mean Gypsy David?” “No,” she insisted, “it’s Gyps of David!”—and that is the way Frank has always sung it. Brown [North Carolina Folklore, 1952] prints seven North Carolina texts, one of which, though not as complete as Frank’s, also names the swashbuckling hero Gyps of David, as does one text in Davis [More Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1960]. The ballad is one of the most popular in Anglo-American tradition and may be found in almost every American collection. Frank’s final verse is, so far as I have been able to determine, unique. I have not located it in any of the standard collections, nor is it in any of the Child texts.
Jean Redpath sang Gipsy Laddie in 1962 on her Elektra album Scottish Ballad Book. She noted:
There seems to be no particular historical basis for this fine ballad, although several events may separately have set the scene and provided the dramatis personae for the tale as it is told here. Tradition has it that one Lady Jean Hamilton wed John, 6th Earl of Cassilis, but was in love with Sir John Faa of Dunbar. While Lord Cassilis was in Westminster, Sir John, disguised as a gypsy, came to the lady, but was captured by the surprise return of her husband and hanged. Records show how common among the gypsies was the name Johnny Faa, which appears in many of the older British versions. From such a combination of sources the main elements of this ballad may have emerged. The many American versions vary considerably in details, and in this as in many other ballads tend to differ from their Scottish counterparts in two specific ways: tragic conclusions are usually resolved into happy endings, and all references to spells (camprols) are omitted. I learned the melody from the singing of Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen, and the text corresponds to that recorded by Gavin Greig in the second volume of his Folk-Song of the North-East.
Davy Graham sang Seven Gypsies in 1964 on his Decca album Folk, Blues & Beyond. Ray Horricks noted:
Seven Gypsies is one of the many variants of the tune Raggle-Taggle Gypsies-O. Graham’s version is often credited as one of the inspirations behind the folk baroque style.
Almeda Riddle sang Black Jack Davey in 1964 on her Vanguard album Songs and Ballads of the Ozarks.
Ewan MacColl sang The Gypsy Laddie in 1964 on his Folkways album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol. 2. The album’s booklet noted:
Tradition has it that towards the end of the 17th century, the wife of the Earl of Cassilis eloped with Sir John Faa who had disguised himself as a gypsy. Apart from the fact that Cassilis is the name given to the wronged husband in many of the Scots and English versions of the ballad, there is little evidence to suggest that the ballad has any historical basis. The song is widespread throughout Great Britain, Ireland and the United States. Learned in a fragmentary form from the singer’s father, additional stanzas from Greig and Keith.
Peggy Seeger sang The Heartless Lady in 1964 on her and Tom Paley’s Topic album Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?. She noted:
The old ballad of the gypsies, coming to charm the lady away from her Lord, has come a long way to make this charming piece, complete with nonsense chorus so characteristic of the American versions. As it is one of the most widespread of Child ballads, and so well documented in most folksong collections, little need be said here of it. The text is a collation, from Randolph’s Ozark Folksongs, and the tune is mine.
Harry Cox sang Black-Hearted Gypsies O (or Black-Guarded?) to Leslie Shephard on 9 October 1965. This recording was included in 2000 on Cox’s Topic anthology The Bonny Labouring Boy.
Paddie Bell sang The Gypsy Laddie in 1965 on her EMI/Waverley album Paddie – Herself.
Shirley Collins sang a variant called Seven Yellow Gipsies on her 1967 album The Power of the True Love Knot. This track was included in 2006 on her producer Joe Boyd’s compilation CD White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. She noted:
With two handsome gipsies (Robin Williamson and Mike Heron) clapping her on, the lady’s off again, with her lord in full pursuit. This account of a well-known bit of scandal has a rare, crackling pace about it, and a reference to an arranged cash-marriage in the last verse. It comes from an Irish singer, Paddy Doran. I think the girl must be daft to leave her comfortable castle to go rolling in the fields with seven yellow gipsies.
Harry Green from Tilty, Essex, sang The Blackguard Gypsies to Fred Hamer in 1967. This recording was released at the end of the 1980s on the Veteran Tapes cassette Harry Green (VT135) and in 2010 on Veteran’s Harry Green et al anthology The Fox and the Hare. John Howson noted:
A fragment of a song dating back to the eighteenth century, which was very widely distributed particularly in England, Scotland, Ireland and North America. Under a variety of titles including Black Jack Davy, Gypsy Davy, Gypsie Laddie Oh, Draggletail Gypsies, Dark Eyed Gypsy and Raggle Taggle Gypsies, the song tells the story of a band of Gypsies casting a spell on a lady to make her run away with them. Her husband returns home and discovers she’s gone and sets off in pursuit. When he catches up with them the lady refuses to leave the Gypsies. In earlier versions the lord takes his revenge by hanging the Gypsies. This is a rare song in most of East Anglia although in Norfolk George Butterworth collected three versions in the early 1900s and fuller versions can be heard from Walter Pardon (A Country Life) and Harry Cox (The Bonny Labouring Boy).
Hedy West sang Gypsy Davy in 1967 on her Fontana LP Serves ’Em Fine. She commented in her sleeve notes:
Gypsy Davy, an Anglo-American ballad, was once well known in Britain and became widespread in America. It is the 200th ballad that the American professor Francis James Child entered in his famous collection of British ballads (compiled in the last half of the 19th century) that is still used as a reference and guide by folk-ballad scholars.
The version I sing here was collected by Maud Karpeles in 1950 in Western North Carolina, where I went to high school and college. The story is of a noblewoman who deserts her comfortable life to go with the gypsy she loves. She comments on the hardship of her new life, but doesn’t say she is discontent.
Caroline Hughes sang The Draggle-Tailed Gypsies to Peter Kennedy in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset on 19 April 1968. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of songs by Southern English Gypsy traditional singers, I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Volume 22). The album’s booklet quoted:
I’m a woman who is a-speaking now in the name of Carolyne Hughes. I’ve been the mother of ten children; I’ve been a Romany all my life-time. All my son-in-laws have fought in the British war. My husband and his brother spent the 1914 war. They had nothing for it—only just what the Lord had. He had a cross and we had a caravan for doing our duty. It isn’t fair on us. Then if you want to stay, you’ve got to pay through your nose. You’re out on he road—you got to be summonsed. You gotta be hiked on. Why? If you don’t,we’ll pull you out and summons make you pay! Well, we’ve got to take the worst sometimes and go. We only leaves that work to God. It’s all right down here, but it’s in the next world. What will they do when they meet that Christus? The Lord knows who he’s going to pick out, the best from the worst. We put our trust in God; we’re Romanies. The Lord Jesus left the mountains, he left the world, left the greens, cabbage, potatoes, wood, lathes, mountains for everybody in the world, which it was took away from us. Why, shouldn’t take it away from us. Because they bought bye-laws and took it away—robbed us. As I tell it right or wrong to the world, I knows I’m telling right!
John Ban Byrne of Malin Beg, Co Donegal sang The Dark-Eyed Gipsy to Hugh Shields on 5 September 1968. And Mrs. Tilly Quigley sang The Dark-Eyed Gipsy to Hugh Shields in her house at Bellarena on 18 July 1969. Both recordings were released in 1975 on the Leader album of Folk Ballads From Donegal and Derry collected by Hugh Shields. He noted:
(Side 1 track 1) Sung to me by John Ban (Byrne) in his home at Malin Beg, late on the evening of 5 September 1968; “That’s all I know of that song!”
In the numerous Irish versions of this ballad it is usually by singing that the gipsies cast their spell over the lady. Overtaken by her husband, she refuses to return to him, giving signs of perfect devotion to the ‘dark-eyed’ gipsy. Here Irish versions end; they have generally little to recall the historical features that link the ballad with events in sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Scotland.
The pentatonic air compares with Bronson’s nos. 73-5, but has apparently been influenced by The Parting Glass (a form of Lazarus/Come All You Worthy Christian Men).
(Side 2 track 6) Sung to me by Mrs. Tilly Quigley in her house at Bellarena, 18 July 1969.
The major air agrees with a number of those published for this ballad, especially American: see Bronson’s nos. 52, 95, 97, 99, 101, 102.
Lorna Campbell sang Johnny Faa in 1968 on her and her brother Ian Campbell’s Transatlantic album of ballads from Scotland, The Cock Doth Craw. She noted:
Ayrshire tradition has it that this song deals with an attempt to abduct the wife of the sixth Earl of Cassilis by Sir John Faa of Dunbar while disguised as one of a band of gipsies. The attempt is said to have been made while the earl was attending The Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1643. Inevitably, historical record completely fails to substantiate this legend in any respect.
Lady Cassilis, a good and religious woman, died in 1642, and a variety of gipsy ‘kings’ called Johnny Faa feature in Scottish judicial records throughout the previous century. This is the way with most attempts to validate and localise traditional ballads. The tune given here is from Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum and is sometimes associated with The Bonnie Hoose o’Airlie.
Archie Fisher sang The Three Gypsies in 1968 on his eponymous Transatlantic album, Archie Fisher.
Martin Carthy sang Seven Yellow Gypsies on his 1969 album with Dave Swarbrick, Prince Heathen; this track was also included in 1999 on Martin Carthy: A Collection. He also explained his playing in his 1993 Guitar Workshop vidoo British Fingerstyle Guitar; this was also included in the 1995 video The Art of Fingerstyle Guitar. Carthy also sang it live in studio in July 2006 for the DVD Guitar Maestros. He noted on the first album:
There is a whole school of thought which seeks to show that ballads are records of historical occurrences. Possibly they are but I can’t see that it matters two hoots. The idea of a wife being taken by the gypsies is as old as the gypsies themselves. I have taken the liberty of filling the story out by plundering different versions.
John Reilly of Boyle, Co Roscommon sang The Raggle Taggle Gypsy to Tom Munnelly in 1969. This recording was released in 1977 on his Topic album The Bonny Green Tree. Tom Munnelly noted:
This ballad is well known but infrequently noted in Ireland, and the task of fixing its Irish provenance is made difficult by the ubiquity of a recent re-write by Leo Maguire known as The Whistling Gypsy. This latter has been so popular on radio over the years that those informants who used to sing the older forms of the ballad, now tend to confuse it with the modern remake.
John, as well as singing The Raggle Taggle Gypsy also sang another version: The Dark Eyed Gypsy which he thought of as a separate song. Just as Frank Proffitt’s aunt made a distinction between Gypsy David and The Gyps of David.
Text and tune are transcribed in Tom Munnelly: John Reilly, The Man and His Music, Ceol: A Joumal of Irish Music Vol. IV no. 1, Dublin 1972.
Fotheringay recorded Gypsy Davey at Sound Techniques in autumn 1970 for the aborted Fotheringay 2 album. It was included in 1986 on the Sandy Denny anthology box Who Knows Where the Time Goes?. When Fotheringay was reissued as a CD by Hannibal, this song finally found its way onto the disk. It was dropped from the album’s Fledg’ling CD reissue in favour of several other live recordings, but then again was included on the 5CD Fledg’ling Sandy Denny anthology A Boxful of Treasures. Finally in 2008, after 48 years of waiting, Fledg’ling Records published the Fotheringay 2 CD.
A Fotheringay live performance of Gypsy Davey at Grugahalle, Essen, Germany, on 23 October 1970 was included in 2011 on the concert recording Essen 1970. A TV studio performance filmed for the “Beat Club” TV programme of Radio Bremen, Germany, in October 1970 wasn’t actually broadcast. Extracts from this performance were published in 2006 on the DVD Sandy Denny: Under Review, and it was included in 2015 on the DVD of Fotheringay’s Universal anthology Nothing More. Another performance on BBC Radio “Sound of the Seventies”, hosted by Bob Harris, recorded on 15 November 1970 and broadcast on 21 December, was included on Nothing More. too.
Lizzie Higgins sang Three Gypsies ro Peter Cooke and Ailie Munro in Aberdeen in 1970 (SA1970.78.A2). This recording was included in 2006 on her Musical Traditions anthology In Memory of Lizzie Higgins. Rod Stradling noted:
A hugely popular ballad all over the Anglophone world, with 535 Roud entries—all but 165 of which come from North America. England and Scotland have around 65 each and, of the latter, almost all are from Aberdeenshire. Of the 129 sound recordings, few appear to have made the move to CD format.
This great ballad has two main versions. In one, the lady is bewitched by the singing and magic of the Gypsies and her husband forgiving and understanding; in the other, she leaves of her own accord. The latter appears to be a deliberate slander of the wife of the Earl of Cassilis, who had been accused by his neighbours of not enforcing the 1609 Act of the Scottish Parliament banning Gypsies from the country under pain of execution. He appears as a result to have imprisioned and hanged at least seven who were living locally, although this seems not to have prevented his wife being slandered in song as having run off with Johnny Faa, the Gypsy king. Lizzie, perhaps unsurprisingly, sings of the famous ‘charming’ power of the Gypsies, despite the fate to which it inevitably dooms them. This was very much one of Jeannie [Robertson]’s great songs, which her daughter initially did not perform.
Barry Skinner sang The Treble Tail Gypsies in 1971 on his Argo album Bed, Battle & Booze. He noted:
This is a mixed tune/words version of Raggle Taggle Gypsies and the Treble Tail Gypsies, the age-old story of the Gypsies using influence (magical?) to lure away the Lady of the manor. As in all versions, the Lord goes in search of his Lady, who decides to stay with the Gypsies—the first social dropouts?
Christy Moore sang The Raggle Taggle Gipsies in 1972 on his Trailer album Prosperous. Hes sang it in the following year on Planxty’s eponymous Polydor album Planxty. A 1973 live recording from the 1973 Kertalg Folk Festival in France was released on the festival album Kertalg 73. Another 1973 live recording from the National Stadium in Dublin was included in 2016 on the DVD of Planxty’s album Between the Jigs and the Reels. A further live recording from 24 April 1979 in Bremen, Germany was released on their 2018 CD One Night in Bremen.
Putnam String County Band learned Black Jack Davey from Almeda Riddle and sang it in 1973 on their Rounder album Home Grown.
Joe Holmes sang Dark-Eyed Gypsy in a 1975 recording by Neil Wayne and Lyn Murfin that was released in 1976 on his and Len Graham’s Free Reed album Chaste Muses, Bards and Sages. Joe Holmes also sang The Dark-Eyed Gipsy in a recording made by Hugh Shields in Eddie Butcher’s house, Magilligan, Co Derry, on 18 March 1975. This recording was included in 1985 on the Folk Music Society of Ireland anthology Early Ballads in Ireland 1968-1985, reissued on CD in 2015 by An Goílín. The Dark Eyed Gypsy, probably the Hugh Shields recording, is also on the 2021 River Lee anthology of Irish traditional song and music Fire Draw Near that was compiled by Ian Lynch.
Steeleye Span recorded this “old song of the power of lust” (Maddy Prior) as Black Jack Davy in 1975 for their album All Around My Hat and a second time for the CD Present to accompany the December 2002 Steeleye Span reunion tour.
A live recording from the Royal Opera Theatre in Adelaide, Australia in 1982 was released on the Australian-only LP On Tour and in 2001 on the CD Gone to Australia. Another live recording from the Beck Theatre on 16 September 1989 was released on the video A 20th Anniversary Celebration. And Steeleye Span performed this live in Salisbury on 16 December 2002; this recording can be found on The Official Bootleg.
The Tannahill Weavers sang The Gypsy Laddie in 1976 on their Plant Life album Are Ye Sleeping Maggie and again in 1979 on their eponymous Plant Life album Tannahill Weavers. They sang it live at the Nyon Folk Festival 1979 tn Switzerland. They noted:
Rumour has it that the gypsy in this song was, in fact, a prince. Thankfully, for once, he hasn’t started life as a little green amphibian only to arrive at the final humiliation—marriage, to a woman who kisses frogs.
Dick Gaughan sang The Gipsy Laddies in 1977 on his Highway/Trailer album Kist o’ Gold. He noted on his now defunct website:
Perhaps the most common and widely distributed theme in balladry. This version is a collation from several other versions—I think I started out with Jeannie Robertson’s basic reading of it then over the years, as I heard verses in others which attracted me, I included them in one form or another. The guitar was tuned DAAEAE.
John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris sang The Gipsy Laddie in 1977 on their Topic album, Shreds and Patches. They noted:
More than a hundred versions are known of this favourite ballad of the lady who forsook her lordly husband, her babes and her fine feather bed to go off with the wild gipsies. Some say it all happened in 1643, and the roaming lady was Jean, wife of he sixth earl of Cassilis. Indeed, Robbie Burns was so convinced that he got the name of Cassilis inserted into a printed copy of the ballad, and so it has stuck in many versions, including the one sung by Harry Cox in vol. 5 of The Folk Songs of Britain. Alas; there’s no basis for the legend; attractive idea, though. The tune here is based on a version collected from gipsies in Shropshire by Charlotte Burns about a century ago.
Mike Waterson sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in 1977 on his eponymous album Mike Waterson. This recording was included as a bonus track on the 1993 CD reissue of the Watersons’ album For Pence and Spicy Ale. A.L. Lloyd noted:
It used to be thought that the ballad told a true story of the elopement, in the seventeenth century, of the young bride of the Earl of Cassilis (pronounced ‘Cassels’). It’s rubbish, as is so often the case when historical traditions get attached to ballads. But the ballad is a great favourite and considerably more than a hundred versions of it have been recorded in Britain, Ireland and America, to a variety of tunes. The melody Mike uses here is a very individual variant of the favourite setting of Cecil Sharp’s Somerset version, known through school books as The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies. The words, as Mike sings them, are dredged from the memories of his sister Lal, Hull-based Scottish singer Ian Manuel, and of Mike himself, recalling schooldays.
Bob Fox & Stu Luckley sang Gypsy Davey on their 1978 Rubber Records LP Nowt So Good’ll Pass.
Walter Pardon sang The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies in a recording made at home in Knapton, Norfolk in between June 1978 and early 1980 by Mike Yates. This recording was released in 1982 on Pardon’s Topic album A Country Life and was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology Tonight I’ll Make You My Bride (The Voice of the People Series Volume 6). Mike Yates noted:
It is almost certain that the ballad of The Gypsy Laddie is of Scots origin, with some commentators suggesting that it may contain remnants of the Celtic belief of fairy abduction. English 19th century broadsides usually include the line that the gypsies “Cast their glamer over her” with the added note that glamer means “a charm or spell”. The ballad is still highly popular in Britain and North America and several fine recordings are available. See especially the versions by Harry Cox of Norfolk, Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen and Paddy Doran of Belfast, Frank Proffit of North Carolina, O.J. Abbott of Canada and Robert Campbell, also of Canada.
Mick Ryan and Jon Burge sang An English Lord in 1978 on their Transatlantic The Leader Tradition album Fair Was the City.
Gordon Tyrrall sang The Seven Gipsies in 1978 on his Hill & Dale album Farewell to Foggy Hills. He noted:
Although based on Harry Cox’s version, this song has been changing ever since I first heard it. Some of the verses are from other variants.
The guitar is tuned DADGAD.
Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise sang The Gypsy Laddies in 1979 on their Topic album Cilla & Artie. They noted:
Peter Hall collected this from Jessie McDonald of McDuff as The German Laddies. By mistake Jessie sang the first half of the song to the tune of a song she had sung earlier. Peter preferred the mistaken tune to the original and decided to use it when he came to perform it himself.
Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander of Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, Virginia sang Black Jack Davy in a recording made by Mike Yates on 11 August 1979 Yates that was included in 1998 on the EFDSS CD A Century of Song.
Peter Hall sang The Gypsy Laddies in a live performance of The Gaugers at Aberdeen Folk Club in the early 1980s that was included in 2000 on their Sleepytown anthology No More Forever. They noted:
Although the technical quality of this recording, from a live performance at Aberdeen Folk Club in the early 1980s, is not of studio standard, Tom and Arthur both felt that it should be included as a fine example of Peter’s ability to unearth interesting versions of well-known songs, possibly from his own collecting forays.
The ballad story of a lady forsaking her lord to follow a gypsy has proved to have remarkable staying power, particularly in America. Many Scottish versions are rooted in Ayrshire, claiming the Earl of Cassilis as the deserted husband, but there are equally powerful versions—as this one—with north-east linkages to the area of Strathbogie around Huntly.
Colin Thompson sang The Gypsy Laddie in 1980 on his Fellside album Three Knights. He noted:
Many songs exist around the theme of the lady leaving her Lord and possessions to go with a gypsy. The words of this song are taken from some of the versions found in Child’s English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
Nic Jones sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in a BBC “Folk on 2” session recorded on 1 March 1981. This recording was included in his anthologies In Search of Nic Jones and Game Set Match. Nic Jones noted on the first anthology:
There are many variants of this song and I can’t remember for certain where I got this one from, but I think it is based on a version by Paddy Doran. I have an old notebook listing all the songs I’d listened to in the Cecil Sharpe House Sound Library and this is listed as one of them—if I’m wrong, my apologies for misinformation.
Suzie Adams and Helen Watson (now Helen Hockenhull) sang Gypsy Davy in 1983 on their Dingle’s Records album Songbird.
Bryony sang Three Gypsies in 1984 on their Traditional Sound cassette Part Time Job.
Pete Coe sang Seven Gypsies on his 1989 album A Right Song and Dance. Thsi track was also included on his 2007 compilation of earlier LPs, Previous on which he noted:
Originally learned from Ken Langsbury, man about Cheltenham, supposedly based on the version sung by Harry Cox, I now find that this version is the ork of creative genius or possibly the result of making things up that I couldn’t remember.
Ray Fisher sang The Gipsy Laddies in 1991 on her Saydisc CD Traditional Songs of Scotland. She noted:
Another song from the extensive repertoire of Jeannie Robertson from Aberdeen. The ballad of the Wraggle, Taggle Gipsies (also known as Seven Yellow Gipsies) has long been a favourite within the folklore of Scotland and England due to the widely held belief that the gipsies could cast spells on people and persuade even ladies of high degree to abandon their fine lifestyles and throw in their lot with the gipsies. It was thought inconceivable that such ladies went of their own free will: thus the perpetuation of the myth that the gipsies cast their ‘glamourie ower’ innocent folk.
The tune of this ballad is sometimes referred to as Lady Cassilis’ Lilt: it is interesting to note that the aggrieved Lord is named in several versions as Earl Cassilis!
Maggie Holland sang Seven Gypsies in 1995 on her Rhiannon album By Heart. She noted:
[…] It’s that same snap decision that confronts the drifter in Tom Waits’ Invitation to the Blues. His experience tells him he should know better, but he still says yes—as does the beautiful young lady in The Seven Gypsies. This song appears in so many versions that it must a) be very old, and b) have some universal and timeless appeal. Rich, high-born young men down the ages have been perplexed by their wives running off with penniless travellers… “But I would have given her anything her heart desired” we hear him say. Except, perhaps, her heart’s desire.
Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle sang The Gypsy Countess in 1995 on their Park album Passe Avant.
June Tabor sang Gypsum Davey live at the Schlachthof, Bremen on 9 February 1995. This recording was included in 2005 on her Topic anthology Always.
Barry Dransfield sang Gypsy Davey in 1996 on his Rhiannon CD Wings of the Sphinx.
The Fling sang Raggle Taggle Gypsy Live at Fairbridge Festival in April 1996 at Fairbridge Village, Pinjarra, West Australia.
Norman Kennedy sang The Earl o Cassilis Lady (The Gyspie Laddies) at a concert in Aberdeen in 1996 that was recorded by Tom Spiers and was released in 2002 on his Tradition Bearers album Live in Scotland. Another live recording from a Folk Song Society of Greater Boston concert held at the First Parish of Watertown Unitarian Universalist Church on 23 October 1999 was released in 2004 on his Autumn Harvest album I Little Thocht My Love Wid Leave Me. He noted on the second album:
One of Jeannie [Robertson]’s ‘muckle sangs’, and one of the most popular of the ballads with versions spreading worldwide from its origins in Scotland and well known in North America in a number of forms. The Laird (actually Earl) of Cassilis is the chief of the Kennedy Clan.
… and on the first:
This ballad concerns the Earl of Cassillis, the hereditary clan chief of the Kennedy Clan in Scotland. His castles and estates lie in the south-west of Scotland, where this story originated.
Sandra and Nancy Kerr sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in 1996 on their Fellside CD Neat and Complete. They noted:
A great favourite with travellers, this version was collected in Dublin from a man called John Riley. Sandra once sang this in a session in Milltown Malbay during the Willie Clancy School. There was an audible gasp at the (then) shocking last verse about being in bed “with seven yellow gypsies to annoy me”.
Nancy Kerr and James Fagan also sang Seven Yellow Gipsies on their 1997 Fellside CD Starry Gazy Pie. This track was also included in 2005 on Fellside’s 30th anniversary anthology Landmarks. They noted:
Nancy learned this from Sandra’s singing of the version collected in Dublin from John Reilly, previously recorded by Sandra and Nancy, and repeated here because of its great popularity (with us). A recent write-up said of Sandra: “Her sinning (sic) was an important feature of the folk revival” which seems appropriate when you consider the risque nature of songs like this.
Gordon Tyrrall sang Seven Gypsies on the 1997 Fellside anthology Ballads. Paul Adams noted:
Gordon’s version of this extremely popular ballad (The Gypsy Laddie, Black Jack Davy, The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, etc.) is loosely based on the one collected from the magnificent Norfolk singer Harry Cox. Harry’s version mentions the Earl O’Cassil. A basis for the story is reported to be Lady Jean Hamilton who loved Sir Francis Faa of Dunbar (Faa was a common gypsy name and some versions of the song are called Johnny Faa). She married instead the 6th Earl of Cassilis (also called John). According to the story Sir John Faa came to Cassilis castle disguised as a gypsy accompanied by some genuine gypsies. The Earl came home and hanged them all. Another supposition is that it developed from a Celtic tale of a fairy abduction (a theme in Tam Lin).Whatever, it makes a good and lasting story. There is an example of the oral tradition at work where the line “cast their gaze all over her” has become the meaningless, but rather poetic, “cast their gabriel over her.”
Roger Wilson sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in 1998 on The House Band’s Green Linnet album October Song. This track was also included in the same year on the charity compilation Huntingdon Folk 2 They noted:
From the repertoire of Mike Waterson, one of the truly great English interpreters of folk song. This version came to Mike from the Irish singer Paddy Doran.
Chris Foster sang Raggle Taggle Gipsies on his 1999 album Traces. He noted:
A version from Dorset via Tim Laycock. I have always been intrigued by the subtle complexities of this song. Like many of the songs on this album it hints at far more than it states.
Chris Foster also sang The Gypsy Countess in 2004 on his Tradition Bearers album Jewels on which he noted:
The Gypsy Countess is an unusual version of the Raggle Taggle Gypsies from the collection made by Sabine Baring-Gould in the South West of England at the end of the nineteenth century. Baring-Gould credited the song as having been collected from a hedger called James Parsons at Lewdown in West Devon [VWML SBG/2/3/7] . Parsons was one of the most prolific singers who gave songs to Baring-Gould. He learnt many of his songs from his father who was known locally as the singing machine.
There is some debate about the extent to which Baring-Gould may have had a hand in the writing of the text of the song. Whatever its provenance, I think it is a great song and all songs have to be written by someone. I got the song from Paul Wilson and Marilyn Tucker of Wren Trust, the Devon based Community Folk Arts company when they asked me to play guitar on it for Dead Maid’s Land, their CD of songs from the Baring-Gould collection.
Waterson:Carthy with Eliza Carthy in lead sang Raggle Taggle Gipsies in 1999 on their third album Broken Ground; this track was also included on the BBC Radio 2 The Folk Awards 2001 anthology. Martin Carthy noted on the original album:
The Raggle Taggle Gipsies is about as old an idea as gipsies in these islands are themselves. The story is supposed to be about the Countess of Cassilis who ran away with some gipsies who were hanged for their trouble. Hanging was, of course, par for the course for gipsies at the time—sometimes just for being gipsies—indeed I sometimes think that some people nowadays yearn for such a time, gipsies being the most reviled (and legislated against) portion of our population. Within Norma’s and my lifetime there have been two occasions when her descendant, the Countess, has been confidently reported in the paper as having run away with someone or other. Thirty year ago or more one of the Sunday papers splashed that she had run away with (I think) gipsies, and within the last seven or eight year she was said with equal certainty to have run away this time with a travelling salesman. One wonders what the Count had been putting in her caviar or, on the other hand whether the whole thing feeds on and propagates itself as an ongoing myth. (What did they call an urban myth in the 16th century?) This way of doing the song was given by the beautiful Norfolk singer Walter Pardon to Mike Yates in the 1970s.
This video shows Waterson:Carthy playing The Raggle Taggle Gipsies somewhere in 2007 or earlier:
and at Folkfestival HAM 2009:
Carnival of Souls sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies on their 2000 album Carnival Oddities.
Jack Beck sang The Gypsy Laddies in 2001 on his Tradition Bearers CD Half Ower, Half Ower tae Aberdour. He noted:
Primarily from the singing of Jeannie Robertson, this was influenced by many other versions heard over the years. Most American variants have the lady going off with the vagabond Black-Jack Davy to live happily ever after—a typical change found across the water. For a fascinating insight into the popularity of Scots ballads in Appalachia read The Lion’s Share by Prof. Tom Burton.
Brian Peters sang The Gypsy Laddie on his 2001 album Lines. He noted:
The songs here are all traditional, and a number of them attracted the attention of Professor F.J. Child when he was compiling his English and Scottish Popular Ballads. My version of The Gypsy Laddie (Child 200) is based on that sung by Harry Cox on the terrific The Bonny Labouring Boy CD; I’d always thought the gypsies cast spells over the Earl’s lady, but Cox sang “gabriel”, which I’m told is a type of cloak—I assume they put it around her shoulders rather than over her head like a murder suspect.
Brian Peters also sang The Gypsy Davey, as sung by Delie Hughes of Burnsville, North Carolinas on 5 October 1918, on his and Jeff Davis’s 2013 album of songs and music from the collection made by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachian Mountains between 1916 and 1918, Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest. He noted:
Mrs. Hughes was the very last singer from whom Sharp collected songs in the mountains. For his final expedition he’d chosen to revisit North Carolina, scoring notable successes around Burnsville, just a few miles from his first destination in Madison County. Despite their car getting stuck in a deep river, Cecil [Sharp] and Maud [Karpeles] reached Mrs. Hughes and her husband, who were “clothed in rags, presenting a sorry sight”. She was, nonetheless, “a great character” who performed several ‘Jigs’ and also this version of a ballad very popular in Scotland and England, with a splendidly nonsensical refrain. Sharp wrote down only one verse, but we completed it with stanzas from a very similar version sung to him in a nearby house a week or so earlier by Becky Mitchell. Eliza Coates (see The False Knight) knew one very like it, too.
Brian Peters recorded a third version, Draggle-Tail Gypsies, for Paul Adams in 2017. This recording was included in 2018 on Fellside’s final anthology Destination.
Dave Arthur with Pete Cooper and Chris Moreton (later titled Rattle on the Stovepipe) sang Harrison Brady in 2003 on their WildGoose album Return Journey. They noted:
The source of this American version of The Gypsy Laddie (Child 200) was Lily Bell Dietrick, of Morganstown, West Virginia. In 1949 George Korson, printed it in his Pennsylvania Songs and Legends (John Hopkins, Philadelphia). I used Lily’s fourth verse as a chorus, added the ‘gold and furs’ verse, and set it to a variation of Winder Slide, which seemed to fit the lyrics like a glove. The earliest printed copies of the ballad date from 18th century Scotland; the first being in Allan Ramsay’s Tea-Table Miscellany (1750), where the seducer, who casts the ‘glamer’ (glamour) over the lady, is the Gypsy Johny Faa. As early as 1540 the Faas (Faws) were recognised by James V as being ‘Lords and Earls of Little Egypt’.
In some versions of the ballad the vengeful, cuckolded, Lord wreaks his revenge by hanging several of the Gypsy gang. Ballad scholar Francis James Child suggests that the hanging of ‘Captain’ Johnnie Faa and seven Gypsy companions in 1624, for ignoring the expulsion orders intended to drive them out of Scotland, may have given rise to the ballad. But whatever the origins, the romantic (if unlikely) idea of a high maintenance lady abandoning her rich husband, home and, sometimes, her baby, to roam the countryside with a dark-eyed, impecunious, Gypsy lover, obviously tickled the popular imagination, for the ballad under various titles (Johnny Faa, The Gypsy Laddie, The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies O, Black Jack Davy, Gypsum Davy and Harrison Brady), has been collected all over the British Isles and America, and is number 4 in the Canadian most popular Child Ballad charts.
Jim Moray sang Gypsies on his 2003 album Sweet England.
Rosie Doonan and Ben Murray sang Gypsy Davy on their 2004 CD Mill Lane.
Benji Kirkpatrick sang The Gypsy Laddie in 2004 on his Fellside album Half a Fruit Pie. He noted:
I learnt this from my parents who recorded it together many moons ago, after my mum slightly altered the tune. It was collected from some gypsies in Shropshire many, many moons before that.
Benji Kirkpatrick also sang Draggle-Tail Gypsies-O in 2005 on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs and their American variants, Song Links 2, and Skip Gorman sang the related American variant Clayton Boone. Paul Adams noted on Draggle-Tail Gypsies-O:
From 80-year-old Shadrach ‘Shepherd’ Hayden of Bampton, Oxfordshire, recorded by Cecil Sharp on 21 August 1909 [VWML CJS2/9/2103, CJS2/10/2308] . An agricultural labourer right through to his fifties, ‘Shepherd’ acquired.his nickname when he became a shepherd in the hamlet of Weald. Weald was close to Bampton, home of a long-established custom of Morris dancing, and it was ‘Jinky’ or ‘Jingy’ Wells, the noted Bampton fiddler who played for the Morris, who suggested to Sharp that he find ‘Shepherd’ Hayden and listen to him sing. Sharp paid him six further visits, and noted down twenty-seven songs from him.
Child put forward a theory that the story is based on a real event of the early 17th century, one Lady Cassilis being abducted by gypsies, but then returned to her home and the gypsies hanged. In most versions—and it’s a favourite ballad that was widely sung—the story is that of a lady who chooses to live rough with the gypsies rather than stay with her rich husband—a subtle way for a country or gypsy singer to say “we’re as good, if not better, than you are”
… and on Clayton Boone:
Clayton Boone is a version of The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies, more popularly known in America as Black Jack Davy, where the ballad was second in popularity only to Barbara Allen. It was here in the New World that a different hero, another itinerant, came on the scene, in the form of a cowboy.
Skip Gorman learned this song from the cowboy singer, Harry Jackson. Skip writes: “Harry Jackson was born in Chicago in 1924, learning his first western songs there as a young boy from a cowpuncher who worked handling horses in the Chicago stock yards. He later moved to Wyoming where he worked on the famous Pitchfork Ranch outside Meteesee. Harry learned Clayton Boone from an old cowboy named Ed Marshbank on the Whitt Ranch on Rawhide Creek. Harry Jackson was also a very talented painter and sculptor, particularly renowned for his bronzes.”
Elizabeth Stewart sang The Gypsy Laddies on her 2004 Elphinstone Institute anthology Binnorie. Thomas A. McKean noted:
One of the best-known ballads of all, the Seven Yellow Gypsies, The Gypsy Laddies, The Wraggle-taggle Gypsies, or Black Jack Davie turns up wherever British ballads are sung; Bronson features 128 different tunes for it (The Gypsy Rover is a modern song drawing on these older ones). Scottish Travellers seem to have a particular affinity for the hero as he defies convention and seduces the ‘lady o high degree’. The song has close associations with Scotland, probably since the tumultuous era when Gypsies first began to arrive in northern Europe (late fifteenth century onwards). In the seventeenth century it was still a capital crime to be a Gypsy.
The Askew Sisters and Craig Morgan Robson sang The Gypsy Laddie in 2005 on their Wildgoose album of traditional songs songs collected by George Gardiner from five woman singers in Axford, Hampshire, The Axford Five. They noted:
From Mrs. Hopkins [VWML GG/1/16/1001]
This song was very common all over the country, also known as the Raggle Tagglc Gypsies, or Draggle-tailed Gypsies. The appeal of the gypsy way of life probably helped its popularity the romance of living a wandering, independent existence would have appealed to anyone bound to work and place.
Jon Loomes sang Three Gypsies in 2005 on his Fellside album Fearful Symmetry. He noted:
Cameron doesn’t want Raquel to go to Glastonbury with her dreadful hippie chums, but she goes anyway so he follows them and steals all the beer, perforates their bongos and siphons the petrol out of the VW camper. Then he hangs them all—Hoorah for the aristocracy. By a peculiar coincidence, the tune is called Jacky Tar [as the first track on the album], fearful symmetry indeed.
Kieron Means sang Harrison Brady in 2005 on his Fellside album Far As My Eyes Can See. He noted:
This is a robust version of The Gypsy Laddie (Child #200) which was sung by Lily Bell Dietrick at Morgantown, West Virginia, 1944, and collected by Samuel Bayard. I learned it from Dave Arthur, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, who had reworked the text and tune. Dave uses Lilly Bell’s fourth verse as a chorus. Dave used the tune Winder Side from the tune playing of an Ohio musician, Joe LaRose, and fiddler, Rayne Gilbert. Winder is in Georgia. The ballad dates from the 18th century. […] Child suggests that the hanging of Johnny Faa and his Gypsy Band happened as a result of being expelled from Scotland by James V. The castle in the town of Maybole in Ayr, Scotland was the place of confinement for life of the Countess of Cassilis, a daughter of the first earl of Fladdington, who eloped with Johnny Faa.
Jean Orchard sang Dark Eyed Gypsy on the Orchard Family’s 2005 Veteran album Holsworthy Fair. John Howson noted:
Jean first heard this song sung by Chris Coe in the late 1970s and decided that she had to sing it! It is also known as Gypsy Davy, The Gypsy Countess, The Gypsy Laddie or The Raggle Taggle Gypsies.
Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in 2005 on their WildGoose album Scatter Pipes. They noted:
Many will have sung or heard a version of Wraggle Taggle Gypsies or the Dark Eyed Gypsy. This is ours. In the last verse, the gypsies are hanged by the Lord of the land.
We have an alternative ending that is often favoured by less bloodthirsty audiences where the lady successfully runs away to join the gypsies:
There were eight little gypsies all in a gang
And none of them more lazy oh.
And they sang high and they sang low
And cast their spells around them oh.Just goes to show that we don’t all want a good death toll in our folk tales.
Hammered dulcimer player Cammi Vaughan from Tucson played the tune of The Gypsy Laddie on her 2005 album Lass of Roch Royal.
Ron Taylor and Jeff Gillett sang Seven Little Gypsies in 2006 on their WildGoose CD Both Shine as One. They noted:
A clash of cultures is enacted in the life and decisions of one woman. This is just one of the many fine versions of this ballad, in which a nobleman’s wife is lured away by one or more gypsies, most of whom subsequently pay for their temerity with their necks. It was collected by Peter Kennedy from Paddy Doran in Belfast in 1952.
Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman sang Seven Yellow Gypsies in 2007 on their privately issued EP Lauren McCormick & Emily Portman.
Shona Donaldson sang The Gypsy Laddies at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival in Collessie, Fife in May 2008. This recording was released in the following year on the festival anthology Grand to Be a Working Man (Old Songs & Bothy Ballads Volume 5). She also sang it at the Tanz- & Folkfest Rudolstadt 6.-9. Juli 2017.
Issy and David Emeney sang The Gypsy Countess in 2008 on their WildGoose album The Waiting. They noted:
The prequel to the song of the Seven Gypsies, or Raggle Taggle Gypsies. It’s a mystery to me why on earth the fine lady would leave her goose feather bed and all that to sleep on the cold open ground (I’ve done my fair share of festival camping too!). This song explains it all—sort of, although personally if I’d been her…!
Marilyn Tucker and Paul Wilson sang Gipsy Countess in 2008 on their CD of traditional songs from Devon and Cornwall from the collection of Sabine Baring-Gould, Dead Maid’s Land. They noted:
Sabine reconstructed some of this version of the Gipsy Laddie (Wraggle Taggle Gipsies). Exactly how much we may never know. What is important is that the story is well told and what is fascinating is that there are autobiographical echoes of Baring-Gould’s own courtship—though his story had a happier ending!
Wheeler Street sang Gypsies on their 2009 album roodumdah.
Gavin Davenport sang Seven Gypsies in 2010 on his Hallamshire Traditions album Brief Lives. He noted:
Seven Gypsies (or the Gypsy Laddie) runs Barbara Allen a close second for most commonly collected ballad in the English speaking world. This version came complete with a chirpy tune and an extra verse from some recess of my memory/imagination.
Jon Boden sang Seven Yellow Gypsies as the 16 April 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He also sang Seven Bonnie Gypsies on his 2019 Hudson album Rose in June where he noted:
So many great versions of this song but not too many with a chorus so I’ve borrowed this one from Sheath and Knife which I first heard at a formative stage from a recording of Eliza Carthy accompanied by Dan Plews, both of whom subsequently become good friends and colleagues / employers. The tune is my own. There are different ways of interpreting this song, and in particular of interpreting the socio-historical origins of the story, but I very much see it as a song about people being trapped in situations where the escape route is almost as painful as would be remaining. So the lady chooses to abandon her baby in order to escape an unhappy marriage. What is particularly moving for me is the lack of rancour or bitterness expressed between the characters, just an overwhelming sense of sadness.
Snakefarm (Anna Domino and Michael Delory) sang The Lady O in 2011 on their Fledg’ling album My Halo at Half-Light.
Rosaleen Gregory sang The Gypsy Laddie in 2012 on her first album of Child ballads, Sheath and Knife. She noted:
My favourite version of this well-known ballad of enchantment and elopement. As it sometimes has a happy ending, and I don’t have many of those in my repertoire, that’s how I sing it.
Bella Hardy sang her own song Good Man’s Wife on her 2013 CD Battleplan. She noted:
Raggle Taggle Gypsies, Seven Yellow Gipsies, The Gypsy Laddie, Johnny Faa… This is my take on a well known, and well loved ballad story.
Bryony Holden sang Gypsy Davy in 2013 on her Sandy Denny tribute album Across the Purple Sky.
Another Penny (Maurice Condie and Adam Holden) sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies on their eponymous 2014 album Another Penny. Maurice Condie noted:
This is the one track on the album you can actually dance to. Our version is from the singing of Eliza Carthy, who we understand got it from Walter Pardon.
Michelle Burke got The Gypsies from Cathal McConnell and sang it on her 2014 album Step Into My Parlour.
Debra Cowan and John Roberts sang Gypsum Davy on their 2015 album Ballads Long & Short. They noted:
Gypsum Davy is based on a Tennessee variant of Child 200, one of the most widespread of all the classic ballads, the one about the lady absconding with the gipsy, or gypsies, possibly under a spell. Collected in 1916 by Cecil Sharp, this one appears in his English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians as The Gypsy Laddie. Here, the lady seems set for life with the gypsies, but other versions end less happily.
Stick in the Wheel sang Seven Gypsies with verses nearly identical to Martin Carthy’s on their 2015 CD From Here.
Fay Hield learned Raggle Taggle Gypsy from Suzie Adams and Helen Hockenhull’s album and sang it in 2016 on her CD Old Adam. She also sang it on the 2017 Shrewsbury Folk Festival anthology Resound: A Musical Tribute to Alan Surtees. She noted on her album:
Raggle Taggle Gypsy gives an enticing glimpse at a world we could inhabit if we would only follow our hearts.
Arthur Knevett sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies on his 2016 CD Simply Traditional. He noted:
A very widespread ballad in which a lady forsakes her rich husband to run off with a band of gypsies. Francis J. Child’s collection of ballads gives eleven versions and Bertrand Bronson in The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads gives 128 texts with tunes but does not include this version which was collected from the Norfolk singer Walter Pardon after Bronson had compiled his monumental work.
Son of John (Jacob Johnson) sang Seven Gipsies on his 2016 album Autumn’s Hymn.
Georgia Lewis sang Gypsies in 2017 on her RootBeat album The Bird Who Sings Freedom. She noted:
This is a version of the well-known Raggle Taggle Gypsies—a song I sang as a little girl. The melody is from the singing of Paddy Doran but I first heard it sung by Shirley Collins. The tune [March of the Crows] we put with it is from Scotland via Kevin Burke! Listen out for the flamenco infused stepping, a dance known for its proud emotional intensity and one that I associate with the gypsies of Spain.
Ben Savage and Hannah Sanders sang Clayton Boone on their 2017 album Before the Sun. Ben noted:
Around the time that Hannah and I met at the Black Fen Folk Club in Cambridge I caught the second half of David Jones singing this variant and was bowled over. I’ve been hoping to sing him this arrangement but our paths haven’t crossed since—hopefully soon!
Steamchicken sang Gipsy on their 2017 album Look Both Ways.
Jason Wilson, accompanied by Simon Swarbrick on fiddle, sang Seven Yellow Gipsies in a 2017 recording on his and Dave Swarbrick’s 2018 album Kailyard Tales.
Nick Dow sang The Dark Eyed Gypsy on his 2018 album of unaccompanied traditional folk songs, Far and Wide. He noted:
Collected by Nick Dow from the Lee family of Travellers in Blackpool.
The version of the well-known ballad is backup up by a Gypsy-style tuning (mouth music). The ballad was sung by Sam Gorman to his daughters and granddaughters, who later married into the Lee family. The tuning is as close as I can get to the style sung by the Gormans, and by my wife’s family. My wife Mally learned to dance to mouth music on the top step of a Gypsy caravan, when she was a child.
Alistair Roberts sang lead on The Dark-Eyed Gypsies on the Furrow Collective’s 2018 album Fathoms. They noted:
Our version of this well-known ballad was learnt from a 1961 recording of Cathal O’Boyle featured on the LP Singing Men of Ulster (Green Linnet Records). Born in Armagh but living in Castlederg, Co Tyrone at the time of the recording, Cathal had had this song in his family for at least four generations. Our recording features some additional verses from F.J. Child’s English and Scottish Popular Ballads and a chorus borrowed from Harry Cox’s version as reproduced in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.
Jeff Warner sang Gypsum Davy in 2018 on his WildGoose CD Roam the Country Through. He noted:
Cecil Sharp collected this version of the Gypsy Laddie ballad in the mountains of Tennessee in 1916. The fine mixolydian tune is as he found it. I have inadvertently added text from other versions over the years, but the story remains the same, one that has echoed down the generations. I play it in double C banjo tuning.
Joshua Burnell sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies on his 2019 album The Road to Horn Fair.
Claire Hastings sang Seven Gypsies on her 2019 CD Those Who Roam. She noted:
An 18th century song that is said to have originated in the Dumfries area of south west Scotland.
This video shows Claire in August 2020 at Capture Works, Glasgow, performing for her featured week on Global Music Match. She was accompanied by Jenn Butterworth on guitar and Laura Wilkie on fiddle:
Lankum sang The Dark Eyed Gypsy on their 2019 CD The Livelong Day. They noted:
The Dark Eyed Gypsy is a song that we learned from Micheal Quinn from Mullaghbawn, County Armagh, a fine singer with whom we have spent many a long night of song and companionship. It is a version of the widely known ballad, and according to Hugh Shields was almost the only old British ballad printed by the Irish popular press, a fact that may help to explain its widespread popularity in the country. This particular version of the ballad has been recorded from the oral tradition many times in the north of the country. There is a recording of Joe Holmes singing a particularly sweet rendition on the album Early Ballads in Ireland 1968-1985 [Góilín 007-8], recently reissued on double CD by the Góilín Singers Club, Dublin.
Ye Vagabonds sang Seven Little Gypsies in 2019 on their River Lea album The Hare’s Lament. They noted:
Of the countless versions and variations of this song that exist, from the Raggle Taggle to the Dark Eyed, there have been few that have interested us as much as Paddy Doran’s Seven Yellow Gypsies. It’s not for his lyrics which seems at times strangely muddled (“saddle to me my pretty fair maid”…) or for the completeness of the tale he tells, which is also oddly fragmented. Both of these features may have had something to do with the way in which the song was recorded on that particular day. Paddy Tunney collected a slightly different version of Doran’s lyrics which are in his book The Stone Fiddle. What we love about that recording and all of the other recordings of Doran’s songs that we’ve heard is his style and his voice. To us he’s unique. We haven’t remained faithful to Doran’s lyrics but it was his version that inspired us to sing the song at all. And his singing continues to inspire us to sing.
Oysterband sang Seven Gypsies in 2019 on Topic’s 80th year anthology, Vision & Revision. John Jones noted:
Nic Jones remains one of our favourite artists ever and re-visiting anything that Nie has touched remains a challenge. It took us many listens to define the tune from his interpretation and once we added verses from other versions we felt we had something. Time will tell.
Bellwether sang Gypsie Laddie in 2020 on their eponymous EP Bellwether. They noted:
This is an old traditional song that over the years has spawned many, many versions. It comes often as The Three Gypsies, Seven Yellow Gypsies and The Raggle Taggle Gypsy among others. This version is a new one, and is a bit of a conglomeration of multiple versions we have discovered in manuscript and recording. Eric [McDonald] has mixed, matched and morphed lyrics to suit the setting, but the story and essence he tried to keep intact. The melody is his own, and it paired perfectly with tradition morris tune, The Blue Eyed Stranger, which Alex [Cumming] found in the Esperance Morris Book by Mary Neal.
Vic Shepherd and John Bowden sang Clayton Boone in 2022 on their Hallamshire Traditions album Revel in the Stories. They noted:
Child 200, variously known as Gypsy Davey, Black Jack Davy, The Gypsy Rover and many other titles, is probably one of the best-known ballads, both in Britain and North America.
This unusual version is the cowboy’s take on the story, which contains many lyrical images, such as a “saddle made of silver” and “bridle reins of the beaten gold” while adding a pistol, cowboy’s chaps and a mandolin! It was recorded for the Library of Congress by Harry Jackson, who learned it from an old cowboy named Ed Marshbank, and has since been recorded by a number of singers, including Skip Gorman and Larry Hanks (brother of actor Tom). We first heard it sung at Chippenham Festival a few years ago by David Jones, an English singer now resident in New Jersey.
Jim Causley sang The Raggle Taggle Gypsies on the 2023 anthology Sing Yonder 1. He noted:
This recording of the Raggle-Taggle Gypsies is an amalgamation of the version in Sing Yonder with other versions I have absorbed in folk clubs over the years. The piano pulse I hope gives the flavour of an eager pony desperate to run free! I’m playing accordion too and the funny tinny noise is not a bee trapped in the bellows but actually me playing my accordina which is a French free-reed instrument invented in the 1950s.
Thomm Jutz sang The Gypsy Laddie, as collected from Jane Gentry of Hot Springs, Northern Carolina, on 14 September 1916 by Cecil Sharp [VWML CJS2/9/2540] , in 2023 on Martin Simpson’s and his Topic album of songs collected from Mary Sands and Jane Gentry, Nothing But Green Willow.
Nick Hart and Tom Moore sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies on their 2023 album The Colour of Amber. Nick Hart noted:
Our melody is inspired by the one sung by Harry Green of Tilty in North Essex, with the words coming from several half-remembered versions. This is undoubtedly one of the most prolifically collected ballads in the English language and it’s interesting to note that almost none of those versions come from traveller singers (Jeannie Robertson’s being the only one that comes to mind). Paul Burgess noted that the Romany singer Wiggy Smith “gets angry when he hears the song” and it’s certainly true that many of the characters display a prejudice that Gypsy and Traveller singers may not be at pains to dredge up in their leisure time. From my perspective though, it seems fairly obvious that the sympathies of singers and listeners to this ballad have always been with the female protagonist, and it therefore represents to me an enduring counterpoint to what might be our most enduring bigotry.
Matt Quinn sang The Gypsy Laddie, “from the album Shreds and Patches by John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris”, on his 2024 download album Quinn the Roud: 1-10 in which he followed up Series 1 of his folk song podcast In the Roud with his own recordings of the Roud 1-10 songs.
Eamon O’Leary and Nuala Kennedy sang The Dark-Eyed Gypsy on their 2024 album Hydra. They noted:
These words come from the version recorded by Cathal McConnell which we’ve set to a melody from Sam Henry’s Songs of the People.
Steve Knightley sang Seven Yellow Gypsies on his 2025 album of Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy songs, Positively Folk Street.
Andy Turner sang Shepherd Hayden’s version of The Draggle Tail Gypsies-O as the 28 June 2025 entry of his blog A Folk Song a Week.
Gypsy Rover
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem sang a variant called Whistling Gypsy Rover on Chicago PBS special in July 1962:
The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen also sang Whistling Gypsy in 1973 on their Vanguard album Greatest Hits.
Lorna Campbell and the Ian Campbell Folk Group sang Gypsy Rover in 1964 on their second album, Across the Hills, and Jon Boden sang it as the 18 May 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He noted in his blog:
I’ve only ever heard this sung on Forest School Camps but I dare say it was sung a lot in the sixties. I’m guessing it’s an American version. Interesting that the subtext here is “you might as well run off with a gypsy cause he might be a lord in disguise”, unlike Seven Yellow Gypsies where the subtext is more “keep an eye on your wife or she may run off with the gypsies.”
Woodbine Lizzie sang Whistling Gypsy in a live recording from The Theatre in the Forest, Grizedale, Cumbria, on 17 July 1981 on their Fellside album A Night Out With Woodbine Lizzie.
Lyrics
Texas Gladden sings Gypsy Davy
One night after dark, the landlord came,
A-looking for his lady.
One of the servants then spoke up:
“She’s gone with the Gypsy Davy.”
“Oh, saddle for me my fine brown steed
And bring to me my money.
I’ve rode all day and I’ll ride all night,
Or overtake my honey.”
“Come go with me, my fair young miss,
Come go with me, my honey.
I swear by the gold that hangs by my side,
You never shall want for money.
“If you’ll forsake your house and land,
If you’ll forsake your baby,
If you’ll forsake your own true love,
And go with the Gypsy Davy.”
“I could forsake my house and land,
I could forsake my baby,
I could forsake my own true love,
And go with the Gypsy Davy.”
“Last night you lay in a warm featherbed,
Your arms around your baby,
Tonight you’ll lay on a cold riverside,
In the arms of the Gypsy Davy.”
Paddy Doran sings Seven Yellow Gypsies
O there were seven little Gypsies standing in a row.
They were none of them lame or lazy O,
And the fairest one is among them all;
She is gone with the dark-eyed Gypsy O.
“Come saddle for me, my pretty fair maid.
Will you come with me my honey O?”
“For I wouldn’t give a kiss off a Gypsy laddie’s lips;
Not for all Lord Cash’s money O.”
O she rode a-west and I rode best
Till we came into Strabally.
O and who did I meet but my own wedded wife
And she’s gone with a dark-eyed Gypsy O?
“Come unto me, my pretty fair maid.
Will you come with me, my truelove O.”
“Sure, I wouldn’t give a kiss off a Gypsy laddie’s lips
Not for all Lord Cash’s money O ”
Last night she laid in a bed of a-down.
Had seven yellow Gypsies around her O,
But tonight I am lying in a cold barn floor
And seven yellow Gypsies to annoy me O.
Last night I laid in a cold barn floor
And seven yellow Gypsies to annoy me O
But tonight I’m lying in a bed of a-down
And me own truelove ’longside me O.
Christy Purcell sings The Dark-Eyed Gypsy
O there was three Gypsies lived in the west;
They were so sweet and so bonny O.
For they were so sweet and so bonny, bonny sweet,
That they charmed the heart of a lady O.
“O then, where have you been all the day, old man?
Where have you been all day?”
“O she’s gone, she’s gone,” cried the old servant man,
“And she’s followed up the dark-eyed Gypsy O.”
“O now, taddle [saddle] for me my milk-white steed.
Taddle for me, oh, my heel and go,
And till I’ll ride away on a long, long summer’s day,
And I’ll follow up the dark-eyed Gypsy O.”
O he rode north and he rode south.
He rode in through strong valleys O.
For he rode far away on a long, long summer’s day,
Till he came on three wagons of those Gypsies O.
“O then what about me, ah, your own wedded lord?
And forsake those dark-eyed Gypsies O.”
“No, I’d sooner one kiss from my Gypsy laddie’s lips
O than all of Lord Cash and his money O.”
“O then what about you and your house or your home?
O what about you and your children O?”
“No, I’ll lay on the grass and I’ll drink up the dew,
And I’ll follow up these dark-eyed Gypsies O.”
Jeannie Robertson sings The Gypsy Laddies
Three gypsies came tae oor hall door
An’ O but they sang bonnie O.
They sang so sweet and too complete
That they stole the heart of our lady O.
For she cam tripping down the stairs.
Her maidens too before her O;
An’ when they saw her weel-faured face
They throwed their spell oot-owre her O.
When her good Lord came home that night
He was askin for his lady O,
But the answer the servants gave tae him,
“She’s awa wi the gypsy laddies O.”
“Gae saddle tae me my bonnie, bonnie black.
My broon it’s ne’er sae speedy O,
That I may go ridin’ this long summer day
In search of my true lady O.”
But it’s he rode East and he rode West
And he rode through Strathbogie O.
And there he met a gey aul’ man
That was comin through Strathbogie O.
“For it’s did ye come East, or did ye come West,
Or did ye come through Strathbogie O?
And did ye see a gay lady?
She wes followin three gypsy laddies O.”
“For it’s I’ve come East and I’ve come West
And I’ve come through Strathbogie O,
And the bonniest lady that e’er I saw
She wes followin three gypsy laddies O.”
For the very last night that I crossed this river
I had dukes and lords to attend me O,
But this night I must put in ma warm feet an’ wide
An the gypsies widin’ before me O.
Last night I lay in a good feather bed
My own wedded Lord beside me O,
But this night I must lie in a cauld corn-barn
An the gypsies lyin a’ roon me O.
For it’s will you give up your houses an your lands
And will you give up your baby O;
And it’s will you give up your own wedded Lord
And keep following the gypsy laddies O?
For it’s I’ll give up my houses an my lands
An I’ll give up my baby O,
And it’s I’ll give up my own wedded Lord
An keep followin the gypsy laddies O.
For there are seven brothers of us all
We all are wondrous bonnie O,
But this very night we all shall be hanged
For the stealin of the Earl’s lady O.
O.J. Abbott sings The Gypsy Daisy
Oh the gypsy he came into town,
He whistled loud and clearly,
He whistled and sang, caused the wild woods to ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
Chorus (after each verse, repeating the verse’s second half):
Laddie fal the dinko dinko day,
Laddie fal the dinko daisy,
He whistled and he sang, caused the wild woods to ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
This lady she came tripping downstairs
With the servant girl behind her,
And in each hand a bottle of wine
To drink with the gypsy daisy.
Her lord came home in the middle of the night
Inquiring for his lady,
When the servant girl made this reply:
“She’s gone with the gypsy daisy.”
“Go saddle me my old grey steed;
The bay is not so speedy.
I’ve drove all day and I’ll drive all night
Till I overtake my lady.”
He drove along by the water’s edge,
The water it being muddy,
And from each eye a tear trinkled down
When he espied his lady.
“Last night I lay on a nice feather bed
That was both soft and easy;
Tonight I lie on the damp cold ground
And a band of gypsies round me.”
Frank Proffitt sings Gyps of David
Who’s that galloping on the king’s highway,
Singing so gay and haley?
It’s that dark and handsome lad
Known as the Gyps of David,
Known as the Gyps of David.
Where may the good man be, said he,
My own true fair lady?
He’s gone a-searching far and wide
A-searching for the Gyps of David,
A-searching for the Gyps of David.
Will you come away with me
And give up all you’ve saved,
And give up all the ones you love
To go w1th the Gyps of David,
To go with the Gyps of David?
I’ll leave the good man of the house,
The baby in the cradle,
And all the gold that’s stored away,
To go with the Gyps of David,
To go with the Gyps of David.
So away they rode for many a day,
Across the mirey heather;
They didn’t stop for vine nor briar,
Or any sort of weather,
Or any sort of weather.
The good man, when he returned,
Inquiring for his lady—
She sped away awhile ago,
In the arms of the Gyps of David,
In the arms of the Gyps of David.
Go saddle me up my fleetest steed
And don’t fool time a-dawdling;
I’ll have his head on the end of my sword,
The head of the Gyps of David,
The head of the Gyps of David.
He rode till he come to the waters wide
And couldn’t go any farther;
On the other side he spied his bride
In the arms of the Gyps of David,
In the arms of the Gyps of David.
Will you return to the gold I have;
Will you return to your baby?
No, never will I leave the arms,
The arms of the Gyps of David,
The arms of the Gyps or David.
He jumped into the waters wide,
In madness he was raving,
And floated off down to the sea,
Because of the Gyps of David,
Because of the Gyps of David.
Ewan MacColl sings The Gypsy Laddie
There were three gypsies all in a row,
And O but they sang bonnie O;
They sang sae sweet and sae complete,
That they charmed the heart o’ the lady O.
The lady she cam’ doon the stair,
And the twa maidens cam’ wi’ her O;
But as soon as they spied her weel-faured face,
They cast their comprolls o’er her O.
They’ve gi’en to her the nutmeg fine,
And they’ve gi’en to her the ginger O;
But she’s gi’en to them a far better thing,
The gold ring off her finger O.
It’s ye’ll cast off your silken gown,
And put on this tartan plaidie O;
And ye’ll come awa’ this lee-lang nicht,
And follow the gypsy laddie O.
Lord Castles he cam’ hame at nicht,
Enquiring for his lady, O;
“The hounds is run and the hawk is flown,
And the gypsy’s awa’ wi’ your lady O.”
“Come saddle to me the black, the black,
Mak’ haste and soon be ready O,
For it’s meat and drink I winna taste
Till I get back my lady O.”
They’ve rode east and they’ve rode west,
Till they cam’ to yonder boggie O;
And there they spied the wheel-faured maid
Wi’ the gypsies a’ standing’ round her O.
“Will ye gang wi’ me, my honey and my heart,
Will ye gang wi’ me, my lady O?
And I swear by the sword that hangs by my side,
The black band shall never enjoy thee O.”
“I winna come wi’ you, my honey and my heart,
I winna come wi’ you, my dearie O;
Till I hae drunk the breest I brewed,
And that’s in the water o Eerie O.”
Harry Cox sings Black-Hearted Gypsies O
Seven Gypsies all in a gang,
They were brisk and bonny O.
They rode till they came to the Earl o’ Castle’s hall,
And there they sang so sweetly O,
Sweetly O, sweetly O.
They rode till they came to the Earl o’ Castle’s hall,
And there they sang so sweetly O.
They sang so sweet and so complete
Till downstairs came a lady O,
And, as soon as they saw her pretty, pretty face,
They cast a gabriel over her.
Over her, over her.
As soon as they saw her pretty, pretty face
They cast a gabriel over her.
She gave to them a bottle of wine.
She gave to them some money O.
She gave to them when far finer things
Was the gold rings off her fingers O,
Fingers O, fingers O.
She gave to them when far finer things
Was the gold rings off her fingers O.
Then she pulled off her high-heeled boots;
Put on her highland claddie O.
“Last night I slept with my own wedded lord,
And tonight with the Gypsy laddie O,
Laddie O, laddie O.
Last night I slept with my own wedded lord,
And tonight with the Gypsy laddie O.”
When her dear lord come home that night,
Enquiring for his lady O,
The waiting-maid made this reply,
“She has gone with the black-hearted Gypsies O,
Gypsies O, Gypsies O.”
The waiting-maid made this reply,
“She has gone with the black-hearted Gypsies O.”
“Come saddle me my best black horse.
Come saddle it quite swiftly O,
So I may search for my own wedded wife,
Who is gone with the black-hearted Gypsies O,
Gypsies O, Gypsies O.
That I may search for my own wedded wife,
Who is gone with the black-hearted Gypsies O.”
So he rode high and he rode low.
He rode brisk and bonny O.
He rode till he came to a far waterside,
And there he found his lady O,
Lady O, lady O.
He rode till he came to a far waterside,
And there he found his lady O.
“Oh, what made you leave your house and land?
What made you leave your money O?
What made you leave your own wedded lord
To follow the Gypsy laddie O,
Laddie O, laddie O?
What made you leave your own wedded lord
To follow the Gypsies’ laddie O?”
“I know I’ve left my house and land.
I know I’ve left my money O,
And here I am and here I’ll remain,
So fare you well, my honey O,
Honey O, honey O.
Here I am and here I’ll remain,
So fare you well, my honey O.”
Seven Gypsies all in a gang
They were brisk and bonny O,
And tonight they are all condemned for to die
For a stealing Earl o’ Castle’s lady O,
Lady O, lady O.
Tonight they are all condemned for to die
For a stealing Earl o’ Castle’s lady O.
Shirley Collins sings Seven Yellow Gipsies
There were seven yellow gypsies and all in a row,
None of them lame nor lazy O;
And they sang so neat and so complete
They stole the heart of the lady O.
It was late that night when the lord came home
Enquiring for his lady O,
And the answer the servants gave to him,
“She’s gone away with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
“Then saddle me my bonny black horse,
The white one’s ne’er so speedy O.
That I may ride on a long summer night
In search of my false lady O.”
So he rode west and he rode west,
He rode through wood and copses too,
Until he came to an open field
And there he saw his lady O.
“Would you give up your house and land?
Would you give up your baby O?
Would you give up your new-wedded lord?
To run away with the seven yellow gypsies O?”
“Well, what care I for my house and land?
What care I for my baby O?
Sure I wouldn’t give a kiss from a gypsy laddie’s lips
Not for all Lord Cassilis’ money O.”
Caroline Hughes sings The Draggle-Tailed Gypsies
(Spoken:) This was a tall, handsome, dark, curly-headed Gypsy, and this lady, this lord’s wife, took to this here man and she fell in love with him and she walked over to him and she sawed him with the tent and they made pals and she had him. And this lordship missed her, and he went:
“O will you come home to your new-wedded lord,
Or will you come home to your babes, oh, so small,
Or will you come home to your houses and land,
Than seek of the Gypsies in the field?”
“O no, oh, no, I won’t come home.
Abide with the Gypsies in the fields,
While you walk high and I’ll walk low,
And I’ll still be the draggle-tail Gypsies O.”
John Ban Byrne sings The Dark-Eyed Gipsy
There were three gipsies in the East
And they sang so sweet and bonny O,
They sang so sweet, so very sweet
That they softened the heart of the lady O.
When king Charles came home so late at night
And he enquired for his lady O.
“She’s gone, she’s gone,” said the servant man,
“e has followed the dark-eyed gipsy O.”
Then he rode on the length of the night
Until next morning early O
And there he met a gay old man
And him both wet and weary O.
“Then where have you been, my gay old man
Or what brought you out so early O?”
“Sure I have been east and I have been west
And I have been north and southwards O
And the fairest lady that ever I met
She followed the dark-eyed gipsy O.”
Mrs. Tilly Quigley sings The Dark-Eyed Gipsy
There were three gipsies, they lived in the East
And they were braw and bonny O
And they sang so sweet, so very, very sweet
They charmed the heart of a lady O.
She gave to them the sparkling wine.
She gave to them the brandy too
And the gay gold ring that the lady wore
She gave it to the dark-eyed gipsy O.
When the lord of the castle came home
He enquired for his lady O.
“She’s gone, she’s gone”, said the brave servant boy,
“She’s away with the dark-eyed gipsy O.”
Charles then put spurs to his horse
And off he rode so speed’ly too
Until he fell in with his gay wedded love
Along with the dark-eyed gipsy O.
“Are you going to forsake your house and land?
Are you going to forsake your children three?
Are you going to forsake your gay wedded love
And go with the dark-eyed gipsy O?”
“What cares I for my house and home?
What cares I for my children three?
For I lay last night in a fine feather bed
In the arms of a dark-eyed gipsy O.”
Martin Carthy sings Seven Yellow Gypsies
There were seven yellow gypsies and all in a row
And none of them lame nor lazy O,
And they sang so sweet and so complete
That they stole the heart of the lady O.
And they sang sweet and they sang shrill
That fast her tears began to flow,
And she lay down her silken gown,
Her golden rings and all her show.
She plucked off all her highheeled shoen,
All made of the Spanish leather O,
And she would in the street in her bare bare feet
To run away with the seven yellow gypsies O.
They rode north and they rode south,
And they rode it late and early O
Until they come to the river side
And oh but she was weary O.
Says, “Last night I rode by the river side
With my servants all around me O,
And tonight I must go with my bare bare feet
All along with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
It was late last night when the lord come home
And his servants they stood ready O.
And the one took his boots and the other took his horse,
But away was his own dear lady O.
And when he come to the servants’ door
Enquiring for his lady O,
The one she sighed and the other one cried,
“She’s away with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
“For I met with a boy and a bonny, bonny boy,
And they were strange stories he told me O,
Of the moon that rose by the river side
For to pack with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
“Go saddle to me my bonny, bonny mare,
For the brown’s not so speedy O.
And I will ride for to seek my bride
Who’s run away with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
O he rode north and he rode south,
And he rode it late and early O
Until he come to the river side
And it was there that he spied his lady O.
“What makes you leave all your house and your land,
All your gold and your treasure for to go?
And what makes you leave your new-wedded lord
To run away with the seven yellow gypsies O?”
“What care I for my house and my land?
What care I for my treasure O?
And what care I for my new-wedded lord,
For I’m away with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
“Last night you slept in a goose-feather bed
With the sheet turned down so bravely O.
And tonight you will sleep in the cold barren shed
All along with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
“What care I for my goose-feather bed
With the sheet turned down so bravely O?
For tonight I will sleep in the cold barren shed
All along with the seven yellow gypsies O.”
There were seven yellow gypsies and all in a row,
None of them lame nor lazy O.
And I wouldn’t give a kiss from the gypsies’ lips
For all of your land or your money O.
John Reilly sings The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
There was three of the gypsies came to our hall door,
They came brave an’ bol-del O.
But there’s one sung high and the other sung low
And the lady sung “The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
It was upstairs, downstairs, the lady ran.
She took off her silk so fine, and put on a dress of leather O
And it was the cry all around our door,
“She’s away with the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
It was late last night when the Lord came in,
Inquirin’ for his lady O.
And the servin’ girls took from hand to hand
“She’s away with the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
“You come saddle for me my milk-white steed,
My bay one is not speedy O
And sure I will ride, and l’ll seek my bride
That’s away with the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
O for he rode east and he rode west,
Half the south and the east also
Until he rode to the wide open field.
It was there he spied, was his darling O.
Sayin’ “Are you forseekin’ your house or land?
Are you forseekin’ your money O?
Are you forseekin’ your own wedded Lord?
An’ you’re goin’ with the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
“What do I care for my house or land?
Neither for my money O.
Or what do I care for my own wedded Lord?
I am goin’ with my Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
“It was ere last you’d a goose-feather bed,
with the sheets pulled down so combley O
But tonight you’ll lie in the cold open field,
All along with the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.”
“What do I care for my goose-feather bed,
With the sheets pulled down so combley O?
But tonight I’ll lie on a cold barren floor
All along with my Raggle-Taggle Gypsy O.
Sayin’, “You rode high when I rode low
You rode woods and valleys O
But I’d rather get a kiss of the yalla gypsy’s lips
O than all Lor’ Cash’s of money O.”
Fotheringay sing Gypsy Davey
There was a gypsy came over the land,
He sang so sweet and gaily.
He sang beneath the wild wood tree
And charmed the great lord’s lady.
The lord he did come home
Enquiring for his lady,
“She’s gone, she’s gone,” said the serving man,
“She’s gone with the gypsy Davey.”
“Go saddle me my black mare,
The grey is ne’er so speedy.
And I’ll ride all night and I’ll ride all day
Till I overtake my lady.”
He rode all by the riverside
On the grass so wet and dewy,
And seated with her gipsy lad
It’s there he spied his lady.
“Would you forsake your house and home,
Would you forsake your baby?
Would you forsake your own true love
And the promises you gave me?”
“What care I for my house and home
Or even my wee baby?
What care I for my own true love
For I love the gypsy Davey.”
“Well it’s fare thee well my dearest dear,
It’s fare thee well forever,
And if you don’t return with me
I swear you’ll see me never.”
And the lord he did go homeward
And kissed his own wee baby.
And ere six months had passed away
He’d married another lady.
Lizzie Higgins sings Three Gypsies
Three gypsies came to oor hall door
An O but they sang bonny O,
They sang sae sweet and too complete
That they stole the heart of our lady O.
She came tripping doon the stairs
Her maidens still before her O
An when they saw her weel-faured face
They throwed their spell aroun her O.
When her good lord came home that night
Asking for his lady O
The answer the servants gave tae him
“She’s awa wi the gypsy laddies O.”
“Come saddle to me ma bonny bonny black,
Ma broon it’s ne’er sae speedy O,
That I may go ridin a lang summer day
In the search of my true lady O.”
He rode east, an he rode west,
An he rode through Strathbogie O
Until he’s seen a gey auld man
He wes comin through Strathbogie O.
“Did ye come east, did ye come west,
Did ye come through Strathbogie O,
And did ye see a gay lady,
She wes follyin three gypsy laddies O?”
“I’ve come east, and I’ve come west,
An I’ve come through Strathbogie O,
An the bonniest lady that e’er I saw
She was follyin three gypsy laddies O.”
“The very last nicht I crossed this river,
I had dukes an lords to attend me O.
This nicht I must put in ma warm feet and wide,
An the gypsies waden before me O.
“Last night I lay in a good feather bed
With ma own wedded lord beside me O.,
This nicht I must lie in a cauld corn barn
An the gypsies lyin aroon me O.”
“Will you give up your houses and your lands,
Will you give up your baby O?
An will you give up your own wedded lord,
An keep follyin three gypsy laddies O?”
“I’ll give up my houses and my lands,
An I’ll give up my baby O.
An I’ll give up my own wedded lord
And keep follyin three gypsy laddies O.”
“There are seven brothers of us all,
We all are wondrous bonny O,
An for this very night we all will be hung
For the stealing of the earl’s lady O.”
Christy Moore sings The Raggle Taggle Gipsies
There were three auld gypsies came to our hall door.
They came brave and boldly-o.
And one sang high and the other sang low
And the other sang a raggle taggle gypsy-o.
It was upstairs, downstairs the lady went,
Put on her suit of leather-o,
And it was the cry all around her door;
“She’s away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
It was late that night when the lord came in,
Enquiring for his lady-o,
And the servant girl’s reply to him was;
“She’s away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
“Then saddle for me my milk-white steed
Me big horse is not speedy-o
And I will ride and I’ll seek me bride,
She’s away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
He rode east and he rode west
He rode north and south also,
And when he rode to the wide open field
It was there that he spied his lady-o.
“Arra, why did you leave your house and your land,
Why did you leave your money-o?
Why did you leave your only wedded lord
All for the raggle taggle gypsy-o?”
“Yerra what do I care for me house and me land?
What do I care for money-o?
What do I care for me only wedded lord?
I’m away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
“It was there last night you’d a goose feather bed,
Blankets drawn so comely-o.
But tonight you lie in a wide open field
In the arms of the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
“Yerra, what do I care for me goose feather bed?
Yerra, what do I care for blankets-o?
What do I care for me only wedded lord?
I’m away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o.”
“O, for you rode east when I rode west,
You rode high and I rode low.
I’d rather have a kiss of the yellow gypsy’s lips
Than all the cash and money-o.”
Putnam String County Band sings Black Jack Davey
O Black Jack Davey came riding by,
A-whistling so merrily.
He made the woods all around him ring
And he charmed the heart of a lady. (2x)
“O come with me my pretty little onem
O come with me my honey.
I swear by the beard upon my chin
That you’ll never want for money.
“Pull off, pull off your high heeled shoes
All made of Spanish leather,
Put on, put on your low heeled boots
And we’ll ride off together.”
She pulled off her high heeled shoes
All made of Spanish leather,
She jumped behind him on his horse
And they rode off together.
That night her husband he came home
A-looking for his lady.
Her maid she spoke before she thought,
Said, “She’s gone with Black Jack Davey.”
“O saddle me up my coal black steed,
My white one’s not so speedy.
I rode all day and I’ll ride all night
And I’ll bring home my lady.”
He rode all night till broad day light,
He came to a rive raging.
And there he spied his darling bride
In the arms of Black Jack Davey.
“Pull off, pull off your long black gloves
All made of Spanish leather,
And jump behind me on my horse
And we’ll ride home together.”
She pulled off her long black gloves
All made of Spanish leather,
She gave to him her lily white hand
and said good-by for ever.
“Would you forsake your house and home;
Would you forsake our baby?
Would you forsake your wedded love
And go with Black Jack Davey?”
“Last night I slept in a warm feather bed
Beside my husband and baby,
Tonight I’ll sleep on the cold, cold ground
In the arms of Black Jack Davey.”
Joe Holmes sings The Dark-Eyed Gipsy
There were three gipsies lived in the East
And they were braw and bonny O;
They sang so sweet at the castle gate
That they charmed the heart of the lady O.
She gave to them the sparkling wine,
She gave to them the brandy O
And the gay gold ring that the lady wore
She gave to the dark-eyed gipsy O.
When the lord of the castle he came home
And enquired for his lady O
“She is gone, she is gone” said the young servant boy,
“She’s away with the dark-eyed gipsy O.”
“Come saddle to me my milk-white steed,
The bay is ne’er so speedy O,
And I’ll ride for a day and a whole long night
Till I find my own wedded lady O.”
Then Charles he put spurs unto his horse
And off he rode so speedy O
Until he fell in with his own wedded love
Along with the dark-eyed gipsy O.
“Are you going to forsake your house and land.
Are you going to forsake your children three?”
“I would leave them all for the one I love
And I’ll follow my dark-eyed gipsy O.
“Last night I lay on a fine feather bed,
My own wedded lord beside me O;
But this night I lie on a cold barn floor
In the arms of my dark-eyed gipsy O.”
Steeleye Span sing Black Jack Davy
Late last night when the squire came home
Enquiring for his lady,
Some denied and some replied,
“She’s gone with the Black Jack Davy.”
“Go saddle to me the bonny brown steed
For the grey was never so speedy.
I’ll ride all day and I’ll ride all night
Till I catch that Black Jack Davy.”
Chorus (repeated after each verse):
He rode up hills and he rode down dales
Over many a wild high mountain,
And they did say that saw him go,
“Black Jack Davy he is hunting.”
He rode east and he rode west
All in the morning early
Until he spied his lady fair,
Cold and wet and weary.
“Why did you leave your house and land?
Why did you leave your baby?
Why did you leave your own wedded lord
To go with the Black Jack Davy?”
“What care I for your goose feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely?
Well I may sleep on the cold hard ground
Along with the Black Jack Davy.
“Then I’ll kick off my high healed shoes
Made of the Spanish leather,
And I’ll put on my lowland brogues
And skip it o’er the heather.”
Dick Gaughan sings The Gipsy Laddies
Three gipsies cam tae our haa door
An wow bit thae sang bonnie O
Thae sang sae sweet an sae complete
That thae chairmt the Earl o Fyvie’s ladie O
An it’s she cam trippin doun the stair
Wi her maidens twa afore her O
An thae tuik ane luik at her weil-faured face
An thae cast thair spells out ower her O
Thae gied tae her the nutmeg fine
Likewise the wee bit ginger O
An the ane o thaim stept tae her side
Stole the gowd ring aff her finger O
An ’tis she’s taen aff her silken goun
Pit oan her tartan plaidie
An she’s caad her maidens tae her side
For tae bid fareweil tae thair ladie O
Bit whan her guid lord cam hame that nicht
He wis spierin for his ladie
“O, the hound has rin an the hawks are flown
An the gipsies awa wi your ladie O”
“Gae saddle tae me the bonnie black steed
The broun wis never sae speedie O
An it’s A will neither eat nor drink
Until A bring back my ladie O”
An it’s he’s rade east an he’s rade west
An he’s rade thro Strathbogie O
Until he spied his ain bonnie lass
She wis followin the gipsy laddies O
“Well, last time that A crossed this burn
A had dukes and lords tae attend me O
Bit this nicht A maun tak tae ma white feet an wade
Wi the gipsies wadin aa roun me O”
“Thair’s sieven brithers amang yese aa
An wow bit ye sang bonnie O
Bit this verra nicht ye’ll aa hing high
For stealin the Earl o Fyvie’s ladie O”
An he’s sent for a hangman frae Fife
An anither frae Kirkcaldy O
An he’s lain thaim aa doun ane by ane
For stealin awa his bonnie ladie O
“Last nicht A slept in a braw feather bed
Wi the sheets turnt doun sae bravely O
Bit this nicht A maun lie in a cauld barren field
Wi the gipsies lyin aa roun me O”
Mike Waterson sings Seven Yellow Gypsies
O there’s seven little yellow Cassilis gypsies and they’re all in a row,
And they’re all of them lame and they’re lazy O,
And they sang so neat and so very complete
That they stole away the heart of the Earl of Cassilis’ lady O.
And she come tripping it down the stair,
She being dressed in her silk and her amber O,
But they tooken one look at her well-far’d face
And they cast their spells out of her hair O.
She given to them the nutmeg fine,
So they given her back the ginger O;
But she given to them a far greater thing,
It was the gold ring offen her finger O.
Her lord, he come home late that night
Enquiring for his lady O,
But the servants cried on either side,
Stole away been the Earl of Cassilis’ lady O.
“Go saddle to me my good grey steed,
For the black one’s not so speedy O,
And away I will ride over yon hillside
For to seek for the Earl of Cassilis’ lady O.”
And he rode high and didn’t he ride low,
Why, he rode through the woods and the copses O
Till on yon hillside there he has espied him
The fire at the camp of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.
And boldly he, he rode up that hill,
It being an hour before the dawning O,
And so boldly didn’t he enter him in
To the camp of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.
“What makes you leave, leave your houses and your land?
What makes you leave your baby O?
And what makes you leave your new-wedded lord,
Run away with the raggle-taggle gypsies O?”
“What care I for, for my houses and my land?
What care I for my baby O?
And what care I for my new-wedded lord?
For I’m happy with my raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“Last night you slept and in a goose-feather bed
In sheets turned down oh so bravely O,
But tonight you will sleep in the cold open field,
Rolled around with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“Last night I’ve slept and in a goose-feather bed
In sheets turned down oh so bravely O,
But tonight I will sleep in the arms of my dear,
He’s the king of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
There’s seven little gypsies all in a row,
And they’re all of them lame and they’re lazy O.
But the Earl of Cassilis, he had ’em all hung
For the stealing of the Earl of Cassilis’ lady O.
Bob Fox & Stu Luckley sing Gypsy Davey
It’s of a gypsy come over the land and he sang so sweet and gaily.
Sang beneath the wildwood tree and charmed.the great Lord’s lady,
She lay down her silken gown, and she left her new-born baby,
She rode down by the riverside, along with the Gypsy Davey.
They rode North and they rode South and they rode it late and early.
They sat down by the riverside for the lady she was weary,
She says, “Last night I came by here with me servants all around me
But tonight I will sleep on the open ground, along with the Gypsy Davey.”
It was late that night when the Lord came home and his servants all stood ready,
And one took his boots, another took his horse, but away was his own dear lady.
He searched the house all round but could only find his baby,
Forsaken by its mother dear, to ride with the Gypsy Davey.
“Go saddle for me my bonny black mare, for the brown she’s not so speedy,
I’ll ride all night and I’ll ride all day ’til I overtake my lady.”
He rode down by the riverside on the grass so wet and dewy,
And lying with her gypsy lad, it’s there he spied his lady.
“Would you forsake your house, your land, would you forsake your baby,
Would you forsake your own true love and the promises you gave me?”
“What care I for me house or me land, what care I for me little baby,
What care I for me own true love, when I love the Gypsy Davey.”
“Last night you slept in a goose-feather bed with the sheets turned down so bravely,
Tonight you will sleep on the open ground not fitted for a lady.”
“What care I for a goose-feather bed with the sheets turned down so bravely,
Tonight I will sleep on the open ground, along with me Gypsy Davey.”
“Well, it’s fare you well me dearest dear and fare you well for ever,
If if’s you won’t return with me I swear I’ ll see thee never.”
The great Lord he went home, and he cursed the Gypsy Davey,
But before six months were up and passed he’d married another lady.
Debra Cowan sing John Roberts sing Gypsum Davy
It was late last night when the lord come home, enquiring for his lady
Servants they were heard to cry, “She’s gone with the Gypsum Davy”
Chorus (after each verse):
Rattle to my Gypsum, Gypsum, Rattle to my Gypsum Davy
Rattle to my Gypsum, Gypsum, Rattle to my Gypsum Davy.
“Go saddle to me the bonny brown steed, for the grey was never so speedy
I’ll ride and I’ll ride til the broad daylight, til I overtake my lady”
He rode and he rode till he come to the town, and he rode till he come to the valley
There he spied his lady fair, cold and wet and weary
“It’s come go back my dearest dear, and it’s come go back my honey
Come go back my dearest dear, never shall you want for money”
“I won’t go back my dearest dear, and I can’t go back my honey
Won’t go back my dearest dear, for you nor for all your money”
“Oh, how can you leave your house and lands, how can you leave your baby?
How can you leave your own wedded lord to go with the Gypsum Davy?”
“I’ll forsake my house and lands, I’ll forsake my baby
I’ll forsake my own wedded lord to go with the Gypsum Davy”
“Then give to me your snow-white gloves, made of Spanish leather
Give to me your lily-white hand and bid farewell forever”
She’s pulled off her snow-white gloves, made of Spanish leather
Given to him her lily-white hand, and the ring from off her finger
“Oh, once I had a house and lands, feather bed and money
Now I’ve come to an old straw pad, and the gypsies are dancing round me”
Walter Pardon sings The Raggle-Taggle Gipsies
Three gypsies come round to my door,
Downstairs ran my lady O.
One sang high and one sang low
And one sang Bonny Bonny Biscay O.
Then she took off her silken gown
And dressed in hose of leather O.
The dirty rags around my door;
She’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.
Twas late at night my lord returned
Enquiring for his lady O.
The servants one and all replied,
“She’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“Go harness up my milk white steed,
Go fetch me my pony O.
And I will ride to seek my bride
Who’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
he rode high and he rode low,
He rode through woods and copses too,
Until he came to a wide open field.
There he espied his lady O.
“Why did you leave your new-wedded lord
And your house and lands and money O
To go and seek a roving life
’Long with the raggle-taggle gypsies O?”
“What care I for my new-wedded lord,
My house and lands and money O?
For I will seek a roving life
Along with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“Last night you slept in a goose-feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O;
Tonight you’ll lie in the cold open fields
In the arms of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“What care I for a goose-feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O?
For I will seek a roving life
Along with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
Cilla Fisher sings The Gypsy Laddies
Three gypsies cam’ tae oor ha’ door an’ oh but they sang bonnie,
They sang sae sweet an’ sae complete that they stole the hairt o’ a lady.
Well she’s cam’ trippin’ doon the stair an’ a’ her maids gaed ‘fore her,
And the very first thing that she gaed tae them wis the gowd ring aff her finger.
She’s gaen tae them a fine bottle o’ the wine, the nutmeg an’ the ginger,
But the very best thing that she gaed tae them wis the gowd ring aff her finger.
It’s “Ye’ll tak’ aff yer silken goon, pit on yer tartan plaidie,
An’ ye’ll come awe’ this lea lang nicht fir tae follow wi’ the gypsy laddies.”
“Yes I’ll tak’ aff my silken goon, pit on my tartan plaidie,
An’ I’ll come awe’ this lea lang nicht fir tae follow wi’ the gypsy laddies.”
Late that night her lord cam’ hame enquiring for his lady.
“The very last sicht that we saw o’ her she wis followin’ the gypsy laddies.”
“Gie saddle tae me my black, my black, gie saddle tae me my pony,
And I’ll ride ower yon high high hills in search o’ my dear lady.”
He’s rade east and he’s rade west an’ he’s rade tae Strathbogie,
An’ there he spied an auld beggar man an’ he speired him for his lady.
“I’ve come east an’ I’ve come west an’ I’ve come frae Strathbogie,
An’ the bonniest lady that e’er I saw she was following’ the gypsy laddies.”
“If this be the truth that ye tell tae me half o’ my lands I’ll gie ye,
But if it be a lie that ye tell tae me frae my castle gates I’ll hang ye.”
He’s rade on and further on till he’s cam’ tae Strathbogie,
An’ there he spied his ain dear wife lyin’ doon wi’ the gypsy laddies.
“Wid ye forsake yer hooses an’ yer land, wid ye forsake yer baby,
Wid ye forsake yer ain weddit lord tae gae follow wi’ the gypsy laddies?”
“Yes I’d forsake my hooses an’ my land, I’d even forsake my baby,
I’d forsake my ain weddit lord tae gae wi’ the gypsy laddies.
“Last nicht I lay in a fine feather bed, my ain weddit lord lang side me,
This nicht I will lie in a cold barn shed wi’ the gypsies yin’ a’ aroon me.”
For they are seven brothers o’ us a’ an’ a’ o’ them sae bonnie,
They were hanged every man according tae the law for the stealing of a gay lord’s lady.
Nic Jones sings Seven Yellow Gypsies
There were seven gypsies all of a row
And they sang neat and bonny O;
Sang so neat and they’re so complete,
They stole the heart of a lady.
She’s kicked off her high heel shoes
Made of the Spanish leather,
And she’s put on an old pair of brogues
To follow the gypsy laddie.
Late at night her lord come home
And he’s enquiring for his lady.
And his servant’s down on his knees and said,
“She’s away with the seven gypsies.”
He’s ridden o’er the high, high hills
Till he come to the morning,
And there he’s found his own dear wife
And she’s in the arms of the seven gypsies.
“Well, last night I slept in a feather bed
And the sheets and the blankets around me;
Tonight I slept in the cold open fields
In the arms of my seven gypsies.”
Seven gypsies all of a row
And they sang neat and bonny O;
Sang so neat that they all were hanged
For the stealing of a famous lady.
Sandra and Nancy Kerr sing Seven Yellow Gypsies
There were seven yellow gypsies all in a gang,
There was none of them lame or lazy O.
And the fairest one is among them all
She has gone with the dark-eyed gypsy O.
“Will you come with me my pretty fair maid?
Will you come with me my honey O?”
“O I wouldn’t give a kiss of the gypsy laddie’s lips
Not for all Lord Cash’s money O.”
When her dear lord came home that night,
Enquiring for his lady O
The waiting maid made this reply,
“She has gone with the dark-eyed gypsy O.”
“Will you saddle for me my pretty white steed?
Will you saddle it up so bonny O?
So that I may go and search for my own wedded wife
Who has gone with the dark-eyed gypsy O.”
Well she rode west but he rode best
Until he came to Strabally
Where who should he see but his own wedded wife
And she’s gone with the dark-eyed gypsy.
“What made you leave your house and your land?
What made you leave your honey O?”
“O I wouldn’t give a kiss of the gypsy laddie’s lips
Not for you and all your money O.
“Last night I laid in a fine feather bed
With the sheets pulled down so handy O,
But tonight I am lying in a bed of down
With seven yellow gypsies to annoy me O.”
Waterson:Carthy sing Raggle-Taggle Gipsies
Three gypsies come round to my door,
And downstairs ran my lady O.
And one sang high and one sang low
And one sang Bonny Bonny Biscay O.
Then she took off her silken gown
And dressed in hose of leather O.
The dirty rags around my door;
She’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.
Twas late at night my lord returned
Enquiring for his lady O.
The servants one and all replied,
“She’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
“Go harness up my milk white steed,
Go fetch to me my pony O.
And I will ride and seek my bride
Who’s gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
So he rode high and he rode low,
He rode through woods and copses too,
Until he came to a wide open field
Where he has spied his lady O.
“Why did you leave your new wedded lord
And your house and lands and money O
To go and seek a roving life
Along with the raggle-taggle gypsies O?”
“What care I for my new wedded lord
And my house and lands and money O?
Tonight I’ll seek a roving life
Along with the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
Last night she slept in a goose-feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O;
Tonight she’ll lie in the cold open field
In the arms of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.
“What care I for a goose-feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O?
Tonight I’ll lie in the cold open field
In the arms of the raggle-taggle gypsies O.”
Chris Foster sings Raggle Taggle Gipsies
Three gypsies stood at the castle gate.
They sang so high and they sang so low,
And the lady sits in her chamber late
and her heart it melted away as snow.
They sang so sweet and they sang so clear
That fast her tears began to flow.
And then she’s laid aside her silken gown
To go with the raggle taggle gypsies.
And then she’s took off her high heeled shoes,
Made of Spanish leather,
And around her shoulders a blanket she threw
To go with the raggle taggle gypsies.
It was late that night when her lord come home,
Enquiring for his lady.
Then the servant girl gave this reply,
“Oh, she’s gone with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
“Then saddle to me my milk white steed,
Bridle me my pony,
That I may ride to seek my bride
Who’s gone with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
Then he’s rode high and he’s rode low,
He rode through woods and copses,
Until he came to the far green fields,
O and there he spied his lady.
“What makes you leave your houses and land?
What makes you leave your money?
What makes you leave your new wedded lord?
To go with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
“O what care I for houses and land?
What care I for money?
What care I for my new wedded lord?
I’l go with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
“O but last night you slept in a goose feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely.
Now tonight you will lie in the cold open fields,
All along with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
“But what care I for a goose feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely?
For tonight I will lie in the wide open fields
Along with the raggle taggle gypsies.”
Chris Foster sings The Gypsy Countess
Well there came an earl a-riding by
And a gypsy maid then he did see
“O nut brown girl” to her he said
“I want you to come away with me
“I’ll take you up carry you home
And I’ll put a safeguard over you
Your shoes shall be made of the Spanish leather
Your silken stockings all of blue
“All night you lie ’neath the starry skies
All day you walk in the rain and snow
Now you shall lie in a feather bed
Wrapped in the arms of a husband O”
“But I like to lie ’neath the starry skies
I do not mind the rain and snow
So I’ll be away come night and come day
To follow away with the gypsies O”
“But I will wed you sweet maid” he said
“I will marry you with a golden ring
You shall dance and merry merry be
And we shall have such a fine wedding”
“But I’ll not marry you kind sir she said
I’ll not wed you with a golden ring
For I’m free as the wind and I swear I can find
The man that will make my wedding”
“But no more would you be put in the stocks
Or trudge about from town to town
You shall ride in pomp and pride
In a red embroidered velvet gown”
“But I’ll pawn my hat pawn my coat
Sell my silken stockings blue
I’ll pawn my petticoat then my shift
To follow away with the gypsies O
“Because my brothers three no more I’d see
If I went along with you
I’d rather be torn by thistle and thorn
With my bare feet all in the dew”
“Well then I’ll lock you up in a castle tall
Bar you up in a room so high
You gypsy maid from the green wood glade
So that never a gypsy shall you find”
Three gypsies stood at the castle gate
They sang so high and they sang so low
The lady sits in her chamber late
And her heart it melted away as snow
They sung so sweet they sung so shrill
That fast her tears began to flow
Then she’s put down her velvet gown
Her golden rings and all her show
She’s took off her high heeled shoes
Made of the Spanish leather O
To run away in the rain and snow
To follow away with the gypsies O
And it was past midnight when her lord come home
Where his lady was he would know
The servants replied on every side
“O she’s gone away with the gypsies O”
“Saddle my horse bridle my mare
And hang my sword to my saddle bow
So I may ride to seek my bride
Who has gone away with the gypsies O”
So they saddled his horse bridled his mare
And they hung his sword to his saddle bow
So he could ride to seek his bride
Who was gone away with the gypsies O
He rode high he rode low
And he rode through hills and valleys O
He rode ’til he spied his own fair bride
Following along with the gypsies O
“What makes you leave your house and lands?
What makes you leave your money O?
What takes you abroad from your wedded lord
To follow away with the gypsies O?”
“I want none of your house and lands
I want none of your money O
I don’t want to be wed to a lord she said
I’ll follow away with the gypsies O”
“But last night you slept in a feather bed
Wrapped in the arms of a husband O
Now you shall sleep on the cold cold ground
And walk along in the rain and snow”
“But I don’t want sleep in a feather bed
Held in the arms of a husband O
I’d rather sleep on the cold cold ground
And walk along in the rain and snow”
“No that will not be I swear” said he
As he drew his sword from his saddle bow
Three times he smote on her lily white throat
Then her red blood down did flow
Three gypsies stood at the castle gate
And they sang so high and they sang so low
The lady sits in her chamber late
And her heart it melted away as snow
Benji Kirkpatrick sings Draggle-Tail Gypsies-O
There was three gypsies came to the door
And they sang brisk and bonny-o.
They sang high and they sang low
And downstairs ran the lady-o.
Then she pulled off her new silk gown
And round her shoulders a blanket thrown,
Round her shoulders a blanket thrown
For to toddle with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.
And when the old lord he came home
Enquiring for his lady-o,
The housemaid gave him this reply,
“She’s gone with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.”
“Then bridle me my milk white steed
And saddle him so bonny-o,
That I may ride to seek my bride
Who is gone with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.”
Then he rode all that dark night long
And part of the next morning-o,
And there he saw his own true love
A sitting with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.
“How could you leave your house and land?
How could you leave your money-o?
How could you leave your new wedded lord
To toddle with the draggle-tail gypsies-o?”
“What care I for house or land?
What care I for money-o?
I don’t care a fig for my new wedded lord,
I’ll toddle with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.
“Last night I lied on a warm feathered bed
And my new wedded lord at my side-o.
And tonight I’ll lay in the cold open field
Along with the draggle-tail gypsies-o.”
Skip Gorman sings Clayton Boone
Way out in old New Mexico along the Spanish line
I was working for old Clayton Boone, a man well past his prime.
Well he rides in and asks of me, “What’s happened to my lady?”
I says to him, “she’s quit your range and runs with handsome Davy.”
“Go saddle for me the proud cut dun with the coal-black mane and tail,
Going after me them fresh-laid tracks and after them I’ll trail,
And after them I’ll ride.
“I’ll buckle on leather chaps, I’ll tie my pistol lower,
I’ll step aboard that blackstrap dun and ride this whole world over.”
I rode upon a saddle fine, a saddle made of silver,
My bridle rein of beaten gold, not of your common leather.
I rode until the midnight sun till I see the campfires burning,
I heard the sweetest mandolin and the voice of Davy singing,
The voice of Gypsy Dave.
“Come home with me to your own sweet bed, the sheets turned down so gaily.
Do not forget my silver and gold and your darling little baby,
Our little blue-eyed boy.”
“Well, I’ll not come home to my own sweet bed, the sheets turned down so gaily,
I’ll not forget your silver and gold, and all for the love of Davy,
But I can’t forget my baby.
“Last night I slept with a mean old man in golden rooms so stately,
Tonight I’ll sleep on the hard cold ground by the warm side of my Davy,
And I’ll ride along with Dave.”
Jean Orchard sings Dark Eyed Gypsy
Seven gypsies all in a row
There was none of them lame or lazy O
They sang so sweet with the changing of their notes
They stole Lord Castle’s lady O
They sang so sweet and so complete
Downstairs came my lady O
And as soon as they see her bonny bonny face
They cast their gabrel(?) over her.
She kicks off her high heel shoes
Made of the Spanish leather O
She’s out in the street with her bare bare feet
She’s away with the dark eyed gypsy O
When the good lord came home that night
Enquiring for his lady O
His servant maid did reply
She’s away with the dark eyed gypsy O
Go saddle to me my good grey horse
For the brown is not so speedy O
For tonight I’ll ride to seek my bride
Who’s away with the dark eyed gypsy O
He rode east and he rode west
He rode through the woods and valleys O
He rode until he saw his bride
In the arms of the dark eyed gypsy O
Would you forsake your house and land?
Would you forsake your money O?
Would you forsake your new wedded lord
For to go with the dark eyed gypsy O?
What care I for me house and me land
What care I for money O
What care I for my new wedded lord
I’m away with the dark eyed gypsy O
They gave to me some sugar sweet
They gave to me some honey O
I gave to them a far finer thing
Was the gold rings off my fingers O
Last night I slept in a goose feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O
Tonight I sleep in a cold barn shed
All along my dark eyed gypsy O
And I’d rather have a kiss from my gypsy’s lips
Than you and all your money O
(repeat first verse)
Jon Boden sings Seven Bonnie Gypsies
There’s seven bonnie gypsies and they’re all in a row
There’s none of them lame or lazy
They sang so sweet and so complete
That they won the heart of a lady
The squire came home on a summer’s night
Enquiring for his lady
The servant girls replied to him all
She’s away with the gypsy laddie
Chorus (after every other verse):
The broom blooms bonnie
The broom blooms fair
And where’er it blooms my love lies there
Go saddle for me the bonnie grey mare
The white was ne’er so speedy
That I may ride on a long summer’s night
And search for my bonnie lady
So he rode east and he rode west
And he rode late and early
Until he spied his own wedded bride
In the arms of the gypsy laddie
O how could you leave your house and land?
And how could you leave your baby?
How could you leave your own wedded lord
To run with the gypsy laddie?
O what care I for my house and land?
And what care I for my baby?
Tonight I’ll lie in the wide corn field
In the arms of my gypsy laddie
Snakefarm sing The Lady O
They were three gypsies come to call
And downstairs ran the Lady O
Crying she would not be back at all
For she’s off with the ragged gypsies
Then late last night when the boss came home
A calling for his lady O
We had to tell him O lord she’s gone
Run off with the ragged gypsies
She’s gone without her silks and gowns
And her legs in boots of leather O
In a coat of rags she is headed down
To be off with the ragged gypsies
Well the boss searched high and he searched low
He rode to the town and country too
’Till he’came upon an open field
And there he spied his lady, the Lady O
What makes you leave my house and land
And all my gold and money O
What makes you leave your new wedded man
To be off with the ragged gypsies?
Ah what care I for your house and land
And what care I for your money O?
What use have I for a high born man
Out here with my handsome gypsy
Last night you slept in a feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O
Tonight you’ll sleep in a cold open field
Along with your ragged gypsy
Ah what care I for a feather bed
With the sheets turned down so bravely O?
When I can sleep in this cold open field
In the arms of my handsome gypsy
Fay Hield sings Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Gypsy Davey come through the wood,
A-singing so loud and merry.
The green hills all around him rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
“How old are you, my pretty fair miss?
How old are you, my lady?”
She answered him down by the riverside,
“I’ll be sixteen next Sunday.”
“Come go with me, my pretty fair miss,
Come go with me, my lady.
I’ll take you over the country wide,
You never shall want for money.”
So she kicked off her high-heeled shoes,
All made with bows and feathers,
She pulled on her low flat shoes
And they rode off together.
Chorus (repeated after every other verse):
𝄆 Raggle taggle gypsy, gypsy,
Raggle taggle gypsy Davey. 𝄇
It was late at night when the squire came home,
Enquiring for his lady.
The servants all around him said,
“She’s gone with Black Jack Davey.”
Go saddle up for me my milk-white steed,
The black one’s not so speedy.
He rode all night to the broad daylight
And overtook his lady.
“How can you leave your house and land,
Your feather bed and baby?
How can you leave your husband man
To go with Black Jack Davey?”
“Very well can I leave my feather bed,
I’m sorry to leave my baby.
Much better can I leave my husband man
To go with Black Jack Davey.
“I won’t come back, my darling dear,
I won’t come back, my honey.
I wouldn’t give a kiss from Davey’s lips
For you nor all your money.”
So she pulled off her milk-white glove,
All made of Spanish leather.
She’s gave to him her lily-white hand
And bade farewell for ever.
She soon ran through her silken gown,
Her velvet shoes and stockings.
The gold ring from her finger’s gone
And she was left with nothing.
“Oh once I had a house and land,
A feather bed and baby.
But now I lie on the cold clay ground
With the gypsy dancing round me.”
Eamon O’Leary and Nuala Kennedy sing The Dark-Eyed Gypsy
There were three gypsies in the east
They were brave and bonny-o
And they sang so sweet at the castle gate
They charmed the heart of a lady-o
She gave to them the sparkling wine
She gave to them the brandy-o
And the gay gold ring that the lady wore
She gave to the dark-eyed gypsy-o
When the lord of the castle he came home
Inquiring for his lady-o
She’s gone she’s gone cried the servant lad
Away with the dark-eyed gypsy-o
Go saddle to me the milk-white steed
The bay is not so speedy-o
And I’ll ride for a day and all the night
To find my wedded lady-o
Then he put spurs to his horse
Away he rode so speedy-o
Till he came upon his own wedded love
Along with the dark-eyed gypsy-o
Will you forsake your houses and land?
Will you forsake your children three?
I will leave them all for the one I love
And follow my dark-eyed gypsy-o
Last night I lay on a feather bed
My own wedded lord beside me-o
But tonight I lie on the cold barn floor
In the arms of my dark-eyed gypsy-o
Lorna Campbell sings Gypsy Rover
The gypsy rover came over the hill
Down through the valley so shady.
He whistled and he sang ’til the green wood rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Ah dee doo, ah dee doo dah day,
Ah dee doo, ah dee day dee,
He whistled and he sang ’til the green wood rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
She left her father’s castle gate,
She left her own true lover;
She left her servants and her estate
To follow the gypsy rover.
Her father saddled his fastest stead,
Roamed the valley all over;
Sought his daughter at great speed
And the whistlin’ gypsy rover.
He came at last to a mansion fine
Down by the river Claydee;
There was music and there was wine
For the gypsy and his lady.
“He is no gypsy, my Father,” she cried,
“But Lord of these lands all over.
I shall stay ’til my dying day
With my whistlin’ gypsy rover.”
Acknowledgements
Transcribed by Garry Gillard and Greer Gilman with heartily thanks to Steve Willis for corrections.