10B. Raggle Taggle Gypsies O- Manassee (WV) 1925
[From: Traditional Ballads & Folk Songs Mainly from West Virginia- John Harrington Cox- 1939 Edited by George Herzog and Herbert Halpert 1939 and George Boswell, 1964.
R. Matteson 2014]
10B. THE RAGGLE TAGGLE GYPSIES, O
(The Gypsy Laddie, Child, No. 200)
Contributed by Miss Dorothy Manassee, Hamlin, Lincoln County, August 5, 1925. Learned in New York City. Music noted by Mrs. Huntington, Cabell County.
Last night three gypsies came to my door
And down the stairs ran my Lady,
And one sang high and one sang low
And the other sang Bonnie, Bonnie Bisca, O!
Then she stripped off her silk-finished gown
And put on hose of leather, O!
And ragged ragged rags around the door,
She's off with the raggle taggle gypsies, 0!
It was late last night when my Lord came home
Inquiring for his lady,
The servants said on every hand,
"She's off with the raggle taggle gypsies, O!
"Unsaddle for me my milk-white steed
And fetch to me my pony, O!
That I may ride and fetch my bride,
Who's off with the raggle taggle gypsies, O!"
Then he rode high and he rode low,
He rode through fields and copses, O!
Until came to a wide, open field
And there he espied his Lady, O!
"What makes you leave your house and lands,
What makes You leave Your money, O?
What makes you leave your new-wedded Lord
To go with the raggle taggle gypsies, O?"
"What care I for my house and lands,
What care I for my money, O?
What care I for my new-wedded Lord?
I'm off with the raggle taggle gypsies, O!"
"Last night you slept on a goose-feather bed,
With the sheets turned down so bravely, O!
To-night you sleep in a wide open field,
Along with the raggle taggle gypsies, O!"
"What care I for a goose-feathered bed,
With the sheets turned down so bravely, O?
To-night I sleep in a wide, open field,
Along with the raggle taggle gypsies, O?