Gypsy Davy- Benjamin (ME) c.1860s Flanders K
[From Helen Hartness Flanders book, Ancient Ballads Traditionally Sung In New England, III, 1963, comes "Gypsy Davy," a version of "The Gypsy Laddie." She says, "As heard by Charles H. Benjamin in lumber camps north of Patten, Maine, around the 1860's and 1870's. This was sung by his daughter, Mrs. Charles Woodbury, now of Washington, D.C. - December 15, 1948".
Flanders intro notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 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) Woodbrry, Erskine; 3) Fish. The Pease and Taylor tunes are especially close.
K. Gypsy Davy- sung by his daughter, Mrs. Charles Woodbury as heard by her father Charles Benjamin in lumber camps north of Patten, Maine, around the 1860's and 1870's.
Oh, Gypsy Davy came over the hills,
Came down through the Eastern valleys.
He sang till he made the wild woods ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
CHORUS: Ah-da-dum, a-da-doo, ah-da-doo, ah-da-day,
Ah-da-dum, ah-da-doo, ah-da-day-dee;
He sang till he made the wild wood ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
A lord returning home at night,
Inquiring for his lady,
They made him this reply, that she
Had gone with the Gypsy Davy.
"Go fetch me now my coal-black steed;
My gray is not so speedy;
I've rode all day, but I'll ride all night
Till I overtake my lady."
He rode till he came to the muddy water side-
It looked so dark and dreary;
He rode till he came to the muddy water side,
Where he beheld his lady.
"Oh, will you leave your house and home?
Oh, will you leave your baby?
Oh, will you leave your own wedded lord
To go with the Gypsy Davy?
"Last night you lay in your soft, warm bed
And in our arms your baby;
Tonight you'll lie on the cold, cold ground
In the arms of the Gypsy Davy."
"I never loved my house and home,
I never loved my baby,
I never loved my own wedded lord
As I love the Gypsy Davy."