The Gypsy Davy- Dexter (MA) c1872 Kittredge JAF
[From: Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE GYPSY LADDIE (Child, No. 200).
For American copies see Child, 4 : 71-73; JAFL 18: 191-195; 19 :294-295; 24 :346-348; 25 : 173-175; 26 :353; G. B. Woods, "Modern Language Notes," December, 1912 (reprinted in "The Miami Student," Jan. 9, 1913); McGill, "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," 1917, pp. 14-17. One stanza from West Virginia (Child's J, st. I) is printed by Cox, 44: 428 (with a burden), two texts are reported by him (45 : 160; JAFL 29 : 400). Compare Belden, No. 10; Pound, p. 10; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P. 5; No. 5, p. 8; JAFL 22 :80; 27: 59, 62-63; 28 : 200-202; Dr. Bertrand L. Jones has found the ballad in Michigan. The lady repents in a text printed in "Arlington's Banjo Songster" (Philadelphia, cop. 1860), pp. 47-48. The ordinary English broadside version (Child's Gb) is different.
See the following Harvard broadsides,[1] all of which agree closely in text: 25242.17, ii, 21 (G. Walker, Jr., Durham); ii, 171 (Carbutt, Tadeaster); ii, 191 (Forth, Bridlington; same in iii, 19); iv, 131 (J. Gilbert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); iv, 208 bis (Forth, Pocklington); 25242.5.6 (161), No. 9 (= 25242.27, P. 211); 25242.25, P. 37 (Pitts); so in "A Garland" (E. Sergent), 25276.43.58, No. 21. Similar is the text in Gillington and Sellars, "Songs of the Open Road," No. 7, pp. 16-17; their No. 5 (pp. 12-13) differs.
"The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies," a version now in oral circulation in England,[2] with a pleasing tune, is likely to become current per ora virum in this country from the singing of the Fuller Sisters and others. Collectors in search of American texts should take notice and examine pedigrees when this turns up anywhere.
For copies of "The Gypsy Laddie" ("The Gypsy Davy"), revised or altered with comic intent, see Belden, JAFL 25 : 171 (fragment); broadside, H. de Marsan, New York, List 3, Song 28 (Brown University); De Witt's "Forget-Me-Not Songster," p. 223; Hooley's "Opera House Songster," p. 46.
The Gypsy Davy.- From Mrs. William L. R. Gifford, 1914, as remembered from the singing of Mrs. Catharine Bonney Dexter in Rochester, Mass., about 1872. Mrs. Dexter was born in 1832, and died in 1898. She learned the ballad from her mother, Mrs. James Ruggles (born Toppan), who came from Newburyport, Mass. This is a variant of Child's version J (Maine and Massachusetts).
[Music]
1. My lord came home quite late one night,
Inquiring for his lady.
The servant made him this reply:
"She's gone with a Gypsy Davy."
Raddle daddle dingo day,
Raddle daddle dingo davy.
The servant made him this reply:
"She's gone with a Gypsy Davy."
2. "Go saddle for me the white," said he,
"The brown is not so speedy.
I'll ride all night and I'll ride all day
Till I find my charming lady."
Raddle daddle, etc.
3. My lord rode down by the water's side,
The waters there flowed freely;
The tears were trickling down his cheeks,
For there he spied his lady.
Raddle daddle, etc.
4. "Will you forsake your house and lands?
Will you forsake your baby?
Will you forsake your own true love
And go with a Gypsy Davy?"
Raddle daddle, etc.
5. " I care not for my house and lands?
I care not for my baby,
I care not for my own true love,
And I'll go with a Gypsy Davy."
Raddle daddle dingo day,
Raddle daddle dingo davy.
"I care not for my own true love,
And I'll go with a Gypsy Davy."
Footnotes:
1 Such's broadside No. 46 (25242.17, xi, 46) varies from these.
2 See Sharp and Marson, Folk-Songs from Somerset, No. 9, I : 18-I9 (cf. p. 61). Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 5, pp. xviii, 13-16; Baring-Gould MS; (Harvard College Library), p. 5; cf. Notes and Queries, IIth series, I8 : 176 (1913).