The Gypsy Laddie- Harmon (VA) 1923 Davis A
[From Davis; Traditional Ballads of Virginia; 1929. His notes follow.
The "Gyspy Laddie" name is rarely sung in North America. This makes this version suspicious, in my opinion- especially since he usually called "Gypsy Davie" in this version.
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.
A. "The Gypsy Laddie." collected by Miss Alfreda M. Peel. Sung by Miss Myrtle Harmon, of Bland, Va. Bland County. August 28, 1923. With music.
1. Young Davie he came whistling by,
He whistled so loud and gaily,
He whistled till he made the green buds ring
And charmed the heart of a lady.
Chorus
Oh, rum, diddle dum, diddle dum, diddle dum,
Oh, rum, diddle dum, diddle do di,
Oh, rum, diddle dum, diddle doo, diddle dum,
Oh, rum, diddle dum, diddle do di.[1]
2 The lady she came stepping down stairs,
With her waiting maid behind her,
A glass of wine in her hand,
To drink a health to Davie.
3 The new Ingram-lord came home that night,
Inquiring for his lady;
The waiting maid she vowed and said,
"She's gone with a Gypsy Laddie."
4 " Go saddle me my brightest bay,
My roan is not so speedv;
I'll ride all night and I'll ride all day
Till I overtake my lady."
5 He rode till he came to the broad waters
That run so deep and muddy,
And there the tears ran down his cheeks,
"And it's where will I find my lady?"
6 He overtook her at Gravel Hill,
Where the grass grows green and swarthy:
"Have you forsaken your house and home?
Have you forsaken your baby?
Have you forsaken your new Ingram lord
To go with Gypsy Davie?"
"Yes, I have forsaken my house and home,
Yes, I have forsaken my baby,
Yes, I have forsaken my new Ingram[2] lord
To go with Gypsy Laddie."
"Last night you lay on a fine feather bed,
Your own true husband beside you;
Tonight you'll lie on the cold damp ground,
With Gypsy Davie beside you."
"Oh now pull off those high-heeled shoes,
That are made of Spanish leather,
And reach to me your little white hand,
And I'll bid farewell forever."
1. The words of the manuscript chorus do not agree with those interwoven with the music. As the former cannot be sung to the tune without alteration, the words of the musical text have been adopted as more authoritative, at least more useful. The other
jargon ran:
Rum a didle dum, dum a diddle dum,
Rum a didle dum, diddle do di,
For a rum diddle dum, for a rum diddle dum
Diddle do di.
2. misheard "own grim"