The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

"Gypsy Davy" and "Gypsy Davey" redirect here. For the sculptor and songwriter, see Gyp Mills.

"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (Roud 1, Child 200), is a traditional folk song in origin a Scottish border ballad, and subsequently popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the gypsies (or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies".

Popularity

In the folk tradition the song was extremely popular, spread all over the English-speaking world by broadsheets and oral tradition. It went under a great many titles, including "Black Jack Davy", "The Gypsy Laddie", "The Draggletail Gypsies", "Seven Yellow Gypsies" and "Johnnie Faa". According to Roud and Bishop,

"Definitely in the top five Child ballads in terms of widespread popularity, and possibly second only to 'Barbara Allen', the Gypsies stealing the lady, or, to put it the other way round, the lady running off with the sexy Gypsies, has caught singers' attention all over the anglophone world for more than 200 years. For obvious reasons, the song has long been a favourite with members of the travelling community."

The song was also published in books. Robert Burns used the song in his Reliques of Robert Burns; consisting chiefly of original letters, poems, and critical observations on Scottish songs (1808). Due to the Romanichal origins of the main protagonist Davie or Johnny Faa, the ballad was translated into Anglo-Romany in 1890 by the Gypsy Lore Society.

One version reached a much wider public. Collected and set to piano accompaniment by Cecil Sharp. Under the title "The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O!" it was published in several collections, most notably one entitled English Folk Songs for Schools, causing the song to be learned by generations of English school children.

In America, the Country Music recording industry spread versions of the song by such notable musicians as Cliff Carlisle and The Carter Family, and later by the rockabilly singer Warren Smith, under the title "Black Jack David". In the American folk music revival, Woody Guthrie sang and copyrighted a version he called "Gypsy Davy" (which was later also sung by his son Arlo).

The Cecil Sharp sheet music version was occasionally used by Jazz musicians, for example the instrumental "Raggle Taggle" by Territory band Boots and His Buddies, and the vocal recording by Maxine Sullivan.

Description

The core of the song's story is that a lady forsakes a life of luxury to run off with a band of gypsies. In some versions there is one individual, named, for example as Johnny Faa or Black Jack Davy. In some versions there is one leader and his six brothers. In one local tradition, the lady is identified as the wife of the Earl of Cassilis. In some versions the gypsies charm her with their singing, or even cast a spell over her. In a typical version, the lord comes home to find his lady "gone with the gypsy laddie". He saddles his fastest horse to follow her. He finds her and bids her come home, asking "Would you forsake your husband and child?" She refuses to return: in many versions preferring the cold ground ("What care I for your fine feather sheets?") and the gypsy's company to her lord's wealth and fine bed. At the end of some versions the husband kills the gypsies. In the local Cassilis tradition, they are hung from the Cassilis Dule Tree.

Origins

The earliest text may be "The Gypsy Loddy", published in the Roxburghe Ballads with an assigned date of 1720. A more certain date is 1740, the publication of Allan Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany", which included the ballad as of "The Gypsy Johnny Faa". Differences between the two texts suggest that they derive from one or more earlier versions. They were followed by several printings, often copying Ramsay. It was then printed by most of the nineteenth century broadside printers.

In "The Gypsy Loddie"

As soon as her fair face they saw
They called their grandmother over

This is assumed to be a corruption of They cast their glamour over her (i.e. they cast a spell), not vice versa. This is the motivation in many texts for the lady leaving her lord; in others she leaves of her own free will.

In some texts the lord is identifies as "Cassilis", and a local tradition identifies him as the John Kennedy 6th Earl of Cassilis. B.H.Bronson discovered that a tune in the Skene manuscripts and dated earlier than 1600, resembles later tunes for this song and is entitled "Lady Cassiles Lilt". The inference is that a song concerning Lord and Lady Cassilis existed before the two earliest manuscripts, and was the source of both.

Nick Tosches, in his Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'N' Roll, spends part of his first chapter examining the song's history. He compares the song's narrative to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad, according to Tosches, retells the story of John Faa, a 17th-century outlaw, described as a Scottish Gypsy, and Lady Jane Hamilton, wife of The Earl of Cassilis. Lord Cassilis led a band of men (some sources say 16, others 7) to abduct her. They were caught and hanged on the "Dool Tree" in 1643. The "Gypsies" were killed (except for one, who escaped) and Lady Jane Hamilton was imprisoned for the remainder of her life, dying in 1642.

Related Songs

The song "The Whistling Gypsy" also describes a lady running off with a "gypsy rover". However, there is no melancholy, no hardship and no conflict. Her father rides after her and discovers that the "gypsy" is really a rich lord.

The song "Lizzie Lindsay" has a similar theme. Robert Burns adapted the song into "Sweet Tibby Dunbar", a shorter version of the story. There is also a children's version by Elizabeth Mitchell which has lyrical content changed to be about a young girl "charming hearts of the ladies", and sailing "across the deep blue sea, where the skies are always sunny".

Although the hero of this song is often called "Johnny Faa" or even "Davy Faa", he should not be confused with the hero/villain of "Davy Faa (Remember the Barley Straw)". [Silber and Silber misidentify all their texts] as deriving from "Child 120", which is actually "Robin Hood's Death". According to The Faber Book of Ballads the name Faa was common among Gypsies in the 17th century.

Recordings

A vast number of artists and groups have recorded the song. This selection is limited to artists and/or albums found in other Wikipedia articles.:

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
Early American Ballads	John Jacob Niles	1938	The Gypsie Laddie	78 rpm record album
Black Jack David	Cliff Carlisle	1939	Black Jack David	single on Decca label, reissued on Blue Yodeller And Steel Guitar Wizard (1996) & A Country Legacy (2004)
Black Jack David	The Carter Family	1940	Black Jack David	single on Okeh label, resissued on several albums
Gypsy Davy	Woody Guthrie	1944	Gypsy Davy	single recorded by Moses Asch reissued on several albums
Black Jack David	T. Texas Tyler	1952	Black Jack David	single, reissued on CD by the British Archive of Country Music (BACM)
Black Jack David	Warren Smith	1956	Black Jack David	single, reissued on several albums
The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies Folk Songs & Ballades of Elizabethan England	Alfred Deller	1956	The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies	vinyl LP the Cecil Sharp version sung in Elizabethan style by countertenor
The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs	A. L. Lloyd	1956	The Seven Gypsies
Pete Seeger Sings American Ballads	Pete Seeger	1957	Gypsy Davy
Songs and Ballads of the Ozarks	Almeda Riddle	1960	Black Jack Davey
British Traditional Ballads In The Southern Mountains Volume 1	Jean Ritchie	1961	Gypsy Laddie
The English And Scottish Popular Ballads Vol.2, F.J. Child Ballads	Ewan MacColl	1961	The Gypsy Laddie
Folk, Blues and Beyond	Davy Graham	1964	Seven Gypsies
All the Good Times	Alice Stuart	1964	Black Jack David
Remembrance of Things to Come	New Lost City Ramblers	1966	Black Jack Daisy
The Power of the True Love Knot	Shirley Collins	1968	Seven Yellow Gypsies
Prince Heathen	Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick	1969	Seven Yellow Gypsies
Ride a Hustler's Dream	Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera	1969	Black Jack Davy
I Looked Up	The Incredible String Band	1970	Black Jack Davy	also (as "Black Jack David") on Earthspan (1972)
Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys	Arlo Guthrie	1973	Gypsy Davy
Planxty	Planxty	1973	Raggle Taggle Gypsy	version learnt from John Reilly (see below 1977)
The Shipbuilder	Bob Pegg & Nick Strutt	1974	The Raggle Taggle Gypsies
All Around My Hat	Steeleye Span	1975	Black Jack Davy	also on On Tour and Gone to Australia (live albums) and Present - The Very Best of Steeleye Span (2002)
For Pence and Spicy Ale	Mike Waterson	1975	Seven Yellow Gypsies
Are Ye Sleeping Maggie	The Tannahill Weavers	1976	The Gypsy Laddie
Traditional Ballads of Scotland	Alex Campbell	1977	The Gypsy Laddie
The Bonny Green Tree Songs of an Irish Traveller	John Reilly	1977	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy	recorded 1967. The version learnt by Christy Moore and popularised among Irish groups
Shreds and Patches	John Kirkpatrick & Sue Harris	1977	The Gypsy Laddie
There Was a Maid	Dolores Keane	1978	Seven Yellow Gypsies	version of Paddy Doran (see below 2012)
The Boatman's Daughter	Golden Bough	1983	Black Jack Davy	This version written by Paul Espinoza of Golden Bough.
Watching the White Wheat	The King's Singers	1986	The Raggle Taggle Gypsies	the Cecil Sharp version, highly arranged for male-voice a capella group
The Voice of the People Vol 6 Tonight I'll Make You My Bride	Walter Pardon	1988	The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies	recorded 1975
The Voice of the People Vol 17 It Fell on a Day, a Bonny Summer Day	Jeannie Robertson	1988	The Gypsy Laddies	recorded 1953
In Search of Nic Jones	Nic Jones	1988	Seven Yellow Gypsies	recorded 1981 for BBC Radio 2 Radio Folk
Room to Roam	The Waterboys	1990	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Fiddler's Green	Fiddler's Green	1992	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Good as I Been to You	Bob Dylan	1992	Blackjack Davey
Gypsies & Lovers	The Irish Descendants	1994	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Neat and Complete	Sandra Kerr & Nancy Kerr	1996	Seven Yellow Gypsies
Stargazy Pie	Nancy Kerr & James Fagan	1997	Seven Yellow Gypsies
October Song	The House Band	1998	Seven Yellow Gypsies
Pastures of Plenty	JSD Band	1998	The Gypsy Laddie
The Long Haul	Shanneyganock	1998	Raggle Taggle
Blackjack David	Dave Alvin	1998	Blackjack David
Traveller	Christy Moore	1999	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Os Amores Libres	Carlos Núñez	1999	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy	sung by Mike Scott
Broken Ground	Waterson:Carthy	1999	Raggle Taggle Gypsies	sung by Eliza Carthy
Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 4	The Carter Family	2000	Black Jack David	reissue of 1940 recording (see above)
The Alan Lomax Collection: Portraits Texas Gladden - Ballad Legacy	Texas Gladden	2001	Gypsy Davy	recorded 1941
The Bonny Labouring Boy	Harry Cox	2001	Black-Hearted Gypsies O	recorded 1965
Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill	Debra Cowan	2001	Dark-Skinned Davy
Wayfaring Stranger: Folksongs	Andreas Scholl	2001	The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies, O!	sung as dialogue between counter-tenor and baritone, accompanied by Edin Karamazov & the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Away with the Fairies	Mad Dog Mcrea	2002	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Further Down the Old Plank Road	The Chieftains	2003	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy	featuring Nickel Creek
Elephant	The White Stripes	2003	Black Jack Davey	Single track listing
Swinging Miss Loch Lomond 1952–1959	Maxine Sullivan	2004	Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies	single recorded in 1950's
Another Dawn	Tempest	2004	Black Jack Davy
With Us	The Black Pine	2004	Black Jack David
The Irish Connection	Johnny Logan	2007	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Celtic Fire	Rapalje	2007	The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
The Song Train	Harvey Reid	2007	Black Jack Davy	sung by Joyce Andersen
Act Two	Celtic Thunder	2008	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
Fotheringay 2	Fotheringay	2008	Gypsy Davey	recorded 1970
A Folk Song a Day: April	Jon Boden	2011	Seven Yellow Gypsies
The Voice of the People Good People Take Warning	Paddy Doran	2012	Seven Yellow Gypsies	recorded 1952
The Voice of the People I'm A Romani Rai	Carolyne Hughes	2012	The Draggle-Tail Gypsies	recorded 1968
The Speyside Sessions	Speyside Sessions	2012	Raggle Taggle Gypsy
A North Country Lass	Lesley Garrett	2012	The Raggle Taggle Gypsies	the Cecil Sharp version, performed by classical soprano and orchestra

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 11(1446), "Gypsy Laddie", W. Stephenson (Gateshead), 1821–1838; also Harding B 11(2903), "Gypsy Loddy"; Harding B 19(45), "The Dark-Eyed Gipsy O"; Harding B 25(731), "Gipsy Loddy"; Firth b.25(220), "The Gipsy Laddy"; Harding B 11(1317), "The Gipsy Laddie, O"; Firth b.26(198), Harding B 15(116b), 2806 c.14(140), "The Gipsy Laddie"; Firth b.25(56), "Gypsie Laddie"
• Murray, Mu23-y3:030, "The Gypsy Laddie", unknown, 19C
• NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(092), "The Gipsy Laddie", unknown, c. 1875

External links

• "The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies-O" melody and lyrics
• Origins: "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy" at The Mudcat Café
• Covers at SecondHandSongs
• Covers at WhoSampled
• Variant lyrics, with chords from The Waterboys arrangement
• Child Ballad #200 Entry at Contemplator.com