Gypsen Davy- Hart (VA) 1921 Stone/Davis F
[From Davis; Traditional Ballads of Virginia; 1929. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE GYPSY LADDIE
(Child, No. 200)
The eight texts and three tunes of this ballad found in Virginia differ notably from one another, and all are included here. "The Gipsy Laddie" and "Gypsy Davy" are the usual titles.
The ballad story of the ballad is recounted by Child for his A version as follows: "Gypsies sing so sweetly at our lord's gate as to entice his lady to come down; as soon as she shows herself, they cast the glamour on her. She gives herself over to the chief gypsy, Johny Faa by name, without reserve of any description. Her lord, upon returning and finding her gone, sets out to recover her, and captures and hangs fifteen gypsies." Of the historical prominence of Johnny Faa, Child cites numerous facts, among them that Johnny Faw's right and title as lord and earl of Little Egypt were recognized by James V, in 1540. But in the next year Egyptians were ordered to quit the realm within thirty days on pain of death. The gypsies were expelled from Scotland by act of Parliament in 1609. Soon after this date there are several records of the execution of Johnny, or Willie, Faa, and of other Egyptians. The execution of the notorious Johnny Faa seems to have made a considerable impression on the popular mind, as the ballad testifies. Later eighteenth century copies of the ballad seek to identify the lady as the wife of the Earl of Cassilis. But neither Johnny Faa nor the Earl of Cassilis is mentioned in any Virginia variant.
The Virginia variants pass very lightly over the first part of the story, the coming of the gypsies and the charming of the lady, and they also suppress the catastrophe of the hanging of the gypsies. The ballad ends with the lady's evidently final refusal to return with her husband. Only one text, Virginia B, has a spurious ending of two stanzas, in which the wife tires of the Gypsy,
asks her husband to let her return, and is refused -- a puritanical appendage in the interest of morals. The Virginia texts are most like the Child sequence H, I, J.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 9; Belden, No. 10 (fragment); Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos.3, 5, 8, 9, 11; Campbell and Sharp, No. 27: (Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs, 11, No. 2); Child, v: (Massachusetts, New York, Maine); Cox, No. 21, and p. 524 (four texts, melody); Hudson, No. 18 (Mississippi); Journal, xvlii, 191 (Barry, Nova
Scotia, text and melody, Massachusetts, four texts and two melodies, Rhode Island, fragment and melody); xix, 294 (Belden, Missouri); xxii, 80 (Barry, Massachusetts, melody only); xxiv, 346 (Barry, Pennsylvania, Maine); xxv, 173 (Belden, Missouri, Ohio); xxvi,353 (Pound, Nebraska, fragment); xxx, 323 (Kittredge, Massachusetts, text and melody); McGill, p. 15; Pound,
Nebraska, fragment); xxx,323 (Kittredge, Massachusetts, text and melody); xxvi, p. 353; Pound, Syllabus, p. 10 (fragment). For additional references, see Cox, p. 130; Journal, xxx, 323.
F. "Gypsen[1] Davy." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mr. George Hart, of Konnarock, Va. Washington County. November 8, 1921.
1 The squire come home so late in the night,
Inquiring for his lady;
The servant gave him a quick reply:
She's gone with the Gypsen Davy."
Chorus
A radical gypsen, gypsen, gypsen,
A radical gypsen Davy.
2. " Go bridle and saddle my milk-white steed,^
Go bridle and saddle him neatly, \
I'll ride all night till broad daylight
Or overtake my lady."
He rode all night till broad daylight,
He rode to the head of Saluda;
There he spied his pretty little miss
On the knee of a gypsen Davy.
"It's how can you leave your house and land?
How can you leave your baby?
How can you leave your husband dear
And go with the gypsen Davy?"
" Very well I can leave my house and land,
Very well I can leave my baby,
For I'd rather have a kiss from the gypsen's lips
Than to have your land and money."
6 "Pull off, pull off them high-heeled shoes
Made out of Spanish leather,
And give to me your little white hand,
And I'll bid you farewell forever."
7 She soon run through with her gay bow dress,
Her velvet shoes and stockings;
The silver rings flew off of her fingers
And the gold plate off of her bosom.
8 "Once I had a house and land,
Feather beds and money,
But now I've come to the old straw pad,
And the gypsens all around me."
1. This must have been very close to Egyptian in the original singing, but the manuscript wording is preserved.