The Gypsy Laddie- House (NC) 1916 Sharp C
[There is no easy alternative title so I'm using the a generic title Sharp used. From: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; collected by Cecil J. Sharp also Olive Dame Campbell. Edited by Maud Karpeles; Volume I, published 1917, 1932. Notes from 1932 edition follow, then Sharp's diary entry.
Hester House is one of the Madison County singers. She is not mentioned in Sharp's Sept. 15 diary entry-- which is odd. Since she is mentioned on Sept. 16 (see below) it's probable the date is off one day.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
Notes No. 33. The Gypsy Laddie.
Texts without tunes:—-Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 200. C. S. Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 550. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii, art. 110. Irish and English broadsides. Garret's Merrie Book o' Garlands, vol. i. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 120. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 294; xxiv. 346; xxv. 171-5. Broadside by H. de Marsan, New York (a comic parody).
Texts with tunes:—-Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 50. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 9 (also published English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, i. 13, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 13). Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 60. Scots Musical Museum, ii, No. 181. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, pp. 130 and 524. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 191 ; xxii. 80 (tune only) ; xxx. 323. British Ballads from Maine, p. 269. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 423 and 590. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 15. Sandburg's American Songbag, p. 311.
Version A is published with pianoforte accompaniment in Folk Songs of English Origin, 2nd Series.
The first two lines of the second stanza of text A provide a good instance of the stereotyped idiom of the ballad. Owing to the almost invariable description of a 'steed' as 'milk-white' the term has come to lose its literal significance, and in the mind of the singer a 'milk-white steed' means merely a horse. Similarly the folk will sing without any sense of contradiction of a 'false true lover.'
Sharp's diary 1916 page 279. Saturday 16 September 1916 - Hot Springs — Asheville
Packed early then off again to Mrs House & Mrs Johnson & Mrs Gentry. I took several photographs. Got several more songs making this the richest week I have yet had 70 songs including 5 new children! Caught the 12.40 train to Asheville. There we discussed plans, decided to go to Black Mountain on Monday for a night, sample Mrs Buckner, Mrs Johnson’s mother and so on to Charlottesville Virginia on Tuesday.
F. [Go Catch Up my Old Grey Horse] Gypsy Laddie- Sung by Hester House; Hot Springs, NC Sept. 15, 1916.
1. Go catch up my old grey horse,
My blanket is so speedy O;
I'll ride all night and I'll ride all day,
Or I'll overtake my lady, O.
2 It's he caught up his old grey horse,
His blanket being so speedy, O.
He rode all night and he rode all day
And he overtaken of his lady, O.
3 It's come go back, my dearest dear,
Come go back, my honey, O;
Come go back, my dearest dear,
And you shall never lack for money, O.
4 I won't go back, my dearest dear,
Nor I won't go back, my honey, O.
For I wouldn't give a kiss from the gypsy's lips
For the sake of you and your money, O.
5 It's go pull off those snow-white gloves
That's made of Spanish leather, O.
And give me your lily-white hand,
And bid me farewell for ever, O.
6 It's she pulled off them snow-white gloves
That's made of Spanish leather, O,
And give to him her lily-white hand,
And bid him farewell-for ever, O.
7 I once could have had as many fine things,
Fine feather-beds and money, O.
But now my bed is made of hay
And the gypsies a-dancing around me, O.
8 She soon went through with many fine things,
Fine rockum (morocco) shoes and stockings, O.
She soon went through with her finger rings
And the breast pin off her bosom, O.