Gypsy Davy- Blair (NJ-NC) 1930 Henry B
[Fragment from: Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands, 1938 by Mellinger Henry. His notes follow.
Greer's recording is rare today and I have not found an MP3 of it. Greer text is found as Brown E, 1915.
R. Matteson 2015]
22. THE GYPSY LADDIE
(Child, No. 200)
For American texts, see Barry, No. 9; Barry-Eckstorm-Smyth, 269—277; Belden, No. 10; Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 27; Cox, No. 21; Davis, No. 37; Flanders and Brown, p. 220; Hudson, No. 18; McGill, p. 15; Pound, Syllabus, p. 10; Journal, XVIII, 191 (Barry); XIX, 294 (Belden); XXII, 80 (Barry, melody only); XXIV, 346 (Barry); XXV, 173 (Belden); XXVI, 353 (Pound); XXX, 323 (Kittredge). Add Lunsford and Stringfield, 30 and 1 Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains, New York (Carl Fischer), p. 4; Bradley Kincaid, My Favorite Mountain Ballads and Old-Time Songs, Chicago, 1928, p. 33. Professor I. G. Greer and Mrs. Greer with dulcimer accompaniment have recorded the song on Paramount Records 3195A and 3195B.
Professor Greer is on the faculty of the State Normal School at Boone, N. C, where it has been our privilege to listen to his singing of "The Gypsy Laddie" and a number of other traditional ballads. He is a genuine son of the mountains of North Carolina and has a large collection of native folksongs. Mrs. Greer is a skilled accompanist.
B. "Gypsy Davy." This fragment came as a result of a talk on ballads by the writer and the playing of Professor Greer's records on the Victrola at "The Pines," Branchville, N. J., May 25, 1930. Miss Mary H. Blair, 431 Broadway, Paterson, N. J., recalled and sang the following stanzas which she had learned as a child in North Carolina.
1. I was a high born gentleman;
She was a high born lady;
We lived in a castle great and grand
Till she met with Gypsy Davy.
2. Last night she slept in a goose-feather bed;
Her arms were round her baby;
But tonight she sleeps by the cold brook side
In the arms of her Gypsy Davy.