The Gypsy Daisy- Davis (VT) pre1945 Flanders G
[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, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser (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.
G. The Gypsy Daisy. As sung by Asa Davis[1] of Milton, Vermont. Learned from his grandfather, Charles Atkins of Duxbury, Vermont. M. Olney, Collector; July 21, 1946.
Gypsy come trippling over the plains,
All over hills and mountains;
He sang till he made the greenwood ring,
And he charm-ed the heart of a lady.
Chorus : Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o-daisy,
Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
And follow the Gypsy Daisy.
"Oh, will you forsake your house and home?
Oh, will you forsake your baby?
Oh, will you forsake your own wedded Lord
And follow the Gypsy Daisy?"
Chorus: Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o-daisy,
Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
And follow the Gypsy Daisy.
The lord came home at late at night,
Inquiring for his lady;
The damsel made this sure reply:
"She's gone with the Gypsy Daisy!"
"Oh, I'll hitch up my blackest horse;
The gray is not so speedy;
I rode all day and I'll ride all night
Till I overtake my lady!"
Chorus : Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o-daisy,
"I rode all day and I'll ride all night
Till I overtake my lady!"
He rode till he came to the river's bridge
Where the water looked deep and riley;
The tears came trickling down his cheeks
As he beheld his lady.
Chorus : Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o-daisy,
Rattle o-the-din-o,
"I rode all day and I'll ride all night
Till I overtake my lady!"
"Oh, will you forsake your house and home?
Oh, will you forsake your baby?
Oh, will you forsake your own wedded lord
And follow the Gypsy Daisy?"
"Oh, yes, I'll forsake my house and home;
Oh, yes, I'll forsake m baby;
Oh, yes, I'11 forsake my own wedded lord
And follow the Gypsy Daisy!"
Chorus: Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o, daisy,
Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
And follow the Gypsy Daisy.
"Last night you lay in the bed so warm;
The baby did lie with you;
Tonight you'll lay in the rain and storm,
And the Gypsy shall lie with you.''
Chorus : Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
Rattle o-the-din-o, daisy,
Rattle o-the-din-o, din-o-din,
And the Gypsy shall lie with you.
1. There is, in the collection, another text from Mr. Davis. It is almost identical, with only lines in the chorus differing, and is also dated July 21, 1946.