Gypsy Davey- Bracey (ME) 1947 Flanders M
[From Ancient Ballads, III, 1963. Flanders/Coffin's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
The Gypsy Laddie
(Child 200)
This is a very well-known song, one of the few Child ballads sung by educated persons who have no interest in folklore. It tells a romantic tale that would do justice to an operatic setting. Some gypsies sing bewitching songs at a lord's gate. So fascinating is the music, the lady of the house comes down and finds herself completely charmed. she gives herself to the gypsy leader Johnny Faw, or Johnny the Seer, and they ride off. Her lord finds her gone upon his return and hurries off in pursuit. Sometimes he captures the gypsies and hangs them. More often the tale takes a more sentimental turn and the lady refuses to return with her husband, giving away her baby and feather bed for true love.
Johhnny Faw was a common name for gypsies. Child, IV, 61 f., lists a number of incidents where men called this were sentenced to death, and he also cites the tendency in Aryshire to associate the story with the wife of the Earl of Cassilis. In America, however, the names Faw and Cassilis are never mentioned, and the "gypsies" may become only "a lover" or even "an Indian." The New World texts vary widely as to detail and story. See Coffin, 120-124, for discussion and bibliography. Over here the versions are generally related to the child G-J tradition, but localization of events and corruption by other songs, such as "I'm Seventeen come Sunday" is not unusual. "The Gypsy Laddie" was parodied in The Forget-me-not Songster (New York, 1872), and most American texts, unlike the British, have nonsense refrains.
The twenty-six Flanders texts give one a fairly good summary of the song as it is in the New World. The A version, with the seven gypsies in a row, follows the Child G-I tradition. Flanders B is striking in that stanzas 2-6 are a monologue by the lady and are framed by two descriptive stanzas --the opening one being unusual and the closing one consisting of lines that often start the song. C is a version of a broadside from the Alfred M. Williams Collection of Irish Broadsides in the Providence Public Library (see Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 275, and his text E). Flanders D-F are of the most common American sort, although E may be unique in this country if "Lord o' Castle" was once "Lord Cassilis." The G-Y group is from the same tradition as Child J (see Barry, op. cit., 269 f., for discussion), In that series, J has the remarkable finish in which the lord kilts his wife as well as the gypsy. H and I are not so unusual in having the lord remarry (see Child J), but this feature is often left out. R and S are interesting for their phraseology, S perhaps being corrupted by "The Frog Went a-Courtin' "
and other matter.
For bibliography beyond that in Coffin, see Dean-Smith, 69, and Belden, 73-74 (English); Greig and Keith, 126-129, and Ord , 411 (Scottish). There is an analogous Danish ballad in Svend Grundtvig, Danmarhs gamle Folheuiser (Copenhagen, 1853), No. 369.
With the exception of the L.N.C. tune, and the possible exception of the Brigham tune, all the tunes for Child 200 are related. The remaining ones can be divided into sub-families as follows: I) Pease, Richards, Taylor; 2) Woodbury, Erskine; 3) Fish. The Pease and Taylor tunes are especially close.
M. Gypsy Davey. Recited by Mrs. Lilla Bracey of the Agamenticus section of York, Maine, as learned, from her parents, who were the descendants of the early settlers of this part of Maine. Mrs. Bracey sang one stanza to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." M. Olney, collector. September 27, 1947.
Gypsy came walking over the hill,
Gypsy came so sweetly.
He sang till he made the greenwood ring
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
Chorus : Sing atal-tulla-dingdal, ding-dal-day,
Sing atal-tulla-ding-da1, dady,
Sing atal-tulla-ding-da1, tula-didli-ding
And a ding-dal tula-dady.
She came a-tripping down the stairs
With her waiting-maid and baby;
With a glass of wine in either hand
She drank with the Gypsy Davie.
(Chorus)
"Will you forsake your house and home?
Will you forsake your baby?
Will you forsake your own married lord
And follow the Gypsy Davie?"
"Yes, I'll forsake my house and home;
Yes, I'll forsake my baby;
Yes, I'll forsake my own wedded lord
And follow the Gypsy Davie!"
(Chorus)
When her lord came home that night
Inquiring for his lady,
"Alas! kind sir," the maid replied,
"She's gone with the Gypsy Davie!"
"Now, bring me out my blackest horse;
The brown is not so speedy.
I'll ride all night and I'll ride all night
Till I overtake my lady!"
(Chorus)
He rode till he came to the river brink
Where the water was deep and riley
And tears came trickling down his cheek
When he thought he 'held[1] his lady.
1. beheld= saw