"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (), is a traditional folk song that originated as a Scottish

border ballad Border ballads are a group of songs in the long tradition of balladry collected from the Anglo-Scottish border. Like all traditional ballads, they were traditionally sung unaccompanied. There may be a repeating motif, but there is no "chorus" as ...

, and has been popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the

gypsies The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

(or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "Gypsy Davy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies". Cover of Francis James Child's ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads''

Cover of Francis James Child's ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads''

In the

folk tradition Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

the song was extremely popular, spread all over the English-speaking world by

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

s and

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and Culture, cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Traditio ...

. According to

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

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."

Synopsis

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 Johnny Faa or Black Jack Davy, whereas in others there is one leader and his six brothers. In some versions the lady is identified as

Margaret Kennedy Margaret Moore Kennedy (23 April 1896 – 31 July 1967) was an English novelist and playwright. Her most successful work, as a novel and as a play, was '' The Constant Nymph''. She was a productive writer and several of her works were filmed. T ...

, the wife of the Scottish

Earl of Cassilis Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

. In a typical version, the lord comes home to find his lady "gone with the gypsy laddie". Sometimes this is because the gypsies have charmed her with their singing or even cast a spell over her. 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, stating, "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 hanged on the Cassilis Dule Tree.

Origins and early history

"The Gypsy Loddy", c.1720

The earliest text may be "The Gypsy Loddy", published in the

Roxburghe Ballads In 1847 John Payne Collier (1789–1883) printed ''A Book of Roxburghe Ballads''. It consisted of 1,341 broadside ballads from the seventeenth century, mostly English, originally collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (16 ...

with an assigned date of 1720. The first two verses of this version are as follows:

There was seven gypsies all in a gang, They were brisk and bonny, O; They rode till they came to the Earl of Casstle's house, And there they sang most sweetly, O. The Earl of Castle's lady came down, With the waiting-maid beside her; As soon as her fair face they saw, They called their grandmother over.

In the final two lines shown above, ''they called their grandmother over'' 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.

Johnny Faa and the Earl of Cassilis

A more certain date than that of "The Gypsy Loddy", c.1720 of a version from 1740 in Allan Ramsay's ''Tea-Table Miscellany'', which included the ballad as of "The Gypsy Johnny Faa". Many printed versions after this appear to copy Ramsay, including nineteenth century

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

versions.

Nick Tosches Nicholas P. Tosches (; October 23, 1949 – October 20, 2019) was an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet. His 1982 biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, '' Hellfire'', was praised by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as "the best rock and roll ...

, in his ''Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'N' Roll'', spends part of his first chapter examining the song's history. The

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, according to Tosches, retells the story of

John Faa John Faa (fl. 1540–1553), the ''King of the Gypsies'', was a historical character from Scotland, a contemporary of King James V. Although historical sources place him in Dunbar, in the east of Scotland, much folklore associates him with the Gall ...

, a Scottish 17th-century Gypsy outlaw, and Lady Jane Hamilton, wife of The

(identified in local tradition as the John Kennedy 6th 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. Tosches also compares the song's narrative to the ancient

Greek myth A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

and

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the na ...

Common ancestor and "Lady Cassiles Lilt"

Differences between "The Gypsy Loddy" (c.1720) and "The Gypsy Johnny Faa" (1740) suggest that they derive from one or more earlier versions, so the song is most likely at least as old as the seventeenth century. B. H. Bronson discovered that a tune in the

Skene Skene may refer to: * Skene, Aberdeenshire, a community in North East Scotland, United Kingdom * Skene, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Mississippi, United States * Skene, Sweden, a village now part of Kinna, Sweden * Skene (automobi ...

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.

Robert Burns

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

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 Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; ...

origins of the main protagonist Davie or Johnny Faa, the ballad was translated into Anglo-Romany in 1890 by the Gypsy Lore Society.

Traditional recordings

Hundreds of versions of the song survived in the oral tradition well into the twentieth century and were recorded by folklorists from traditional singers. Percy Grainger in 1907

The song was popular in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, where recordings were made of figures including Harry Cox,

Walter Pardon Walter Pardon (4 March 1914 – 9 June 1996) was an English carpenter, folk singer and recording artist from Knapton, Norfolk, England. He learned songs and tunes from older members of his family and remembered and performed them at a time whe ...

and

Frank Hinchliffe Frank Hinchliffe (1923 - 15 March 1995) was an English folk singer and farmer. The folklorist Ian Russell described him as one of the finest traditional English singers "heard since the advent of sound recording." He was born in either Fulwo ...

singing the song in the 1960s and 70s. In 1908, the composer and song collector

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

used

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

technology to record a man named Archer Lane of Winchcombe,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

singing a version of the song; the recording is available in two parts on the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

website. Many

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

traditional singers have performed versions learnt in the oral tradition, including Paddy Tunney, John Reilly and

Robert Cinnamond Robert Cinnamond (18 May 1884 – 3 June 1968) was an Irish traditional singer and collector of songs. He was born in Tullyballydonnell, Ballinderry, County Antrim, Ireland. Along with his siblings he attended the nearby school located at the f ...

; Paddy Tunney's recording is available on the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Some traditional recordings were made in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, including by the Scottish traveller

Jeannie Robertson Jeannie Robertson (1908 – 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer. Her most celebrated song is "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", otherwise known as "Jock Stewart", which was covered by Archie Fisher, The Dubliners, The McCalmans, ...

and her daughter Lizzie Higgins, whose version can be heard online via the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodic ...

. The song has been recorded many times in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, mostly under the title of "Gypsy Davy" or "Black Jack Davy", by people whose ancestors brought the songs from the British Isles. American performers include the Appalachian musicians

Jean Ritchie Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally ...

, Buell Kazee,

Bascom Lamar Lunsford Bascom Lamar Lunsford (March 21, 1882 – September 4, 1973) was a folklorist, performer of traditional Appalachian music, and lawyer from western North Carolina. He was often known by the nickname "Minstrel of the Appalachians." Biography B ...

Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler (April 16, 1907 – January 24, 1992) was an American Appalachian Folk singer from Madison County, North Carolina. His a cappella performances on compilation albums were recorded by folklorist and musicologist John Cohen. ...

and

Texas Gladden Texas Anna Gladden (' Smith, March 14, 1895 – May 23, 1966)

;

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

recorded a woman singing a version in Boone,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

in the early 1930s, which can be heard on the

website. Many traditional

Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant porti ...

singers including

Almeda Riddle Almeda Riddle (November 21, 1898 – June 30, 1986) was an American folk singer. Born and raised in Cleburne County, Arkansas, she learned music from her father, a fiddler and a teacher of shape note singing. She collected and sang traditio ...

and

Ollie Gilbert Ollie Gilbert (1892–1980) was a folk musician from the Ozarks in Arkansas. She sometimes performed as "Auntie Ollie". Max Hunter recorded her singing more than 300 folk songs. She was from the Mountain View area. In 1964, she and Jimmie Driftw ...

whose recording can be heard via the Max Hunter collection. The following four verses are the beginning of the Ritchie family version of "Gypsy Laddie", as sung by

An English lord came home one night Inquiring for his Lady. The servants said on every hand, She’s gone with the Gypsy Laddie. Go saddle up my milk white steed, Go saddle me up my brownie, And I will ride both night and day Till I overtake my bonnie. Oh, he rode East and he rode West, And at last he found her. She was lying on the green, green grass And the gypsy’s arms all around her. Oh, how can you leave your house and land? How can you leave your money? How can you leave your rich, young Lord To be a gypsy’s bonnie?

Recent history

At the start of the twentieth century, one version, collected and set to piano accompaniment by

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...

, reached a much wider public. Under the title "The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O!", it was published in several collections, most notably one entitled ''English Folk Songs for Schools'',Baring Gould, Sabine and Cecil Sharp ''English Folk Songs for Schools''. 1906. Curwen. leading the song to be taught to generations of English school children. It was later occasionally used by jazz musicians, for example the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

"Raggle Taggle" by the

Territory band Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven n ...

Boots and His Buddies, and the vocal recording by Maxine Sullivan. In America, the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

recording industry spread versions of the song by such notable musicians as Cliff Carlisle and the

Carter Family Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...

, and later by the

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

singer Warren Smith, under the title "Black Jack David". In the

American folk music revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-B ...

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspire ...

sang and copyrighted a version he called "Gypsy Davy" (which was later also sung by his son Arlo).

Popular 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:

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. The song " Lizzie Lindsay" has a similar theme.

adapted the song into "Sweet Tibby Dunbar", a shorter version of the story. There is also a children's version by

Elizabeth Mitchell Elizabeth Mitchell (born Elizabeth Joanna Robertson) is an American actress known for her lead role as Juliet Burke on the ABC drama mystery series ''Lost'' (2006–2010). Mitchell also had lead roles on the television series '' V'' (2009–2 ...

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)". ilber and Silber misidentify all their textsas deriving from "Child 120", which is actually "

Robin Hood's Death Robin Hood's Death is the 120th ballad of the Child ballads collection published by Houghton Mifflin. The fragmentary Percy Folio version of it appears to be one of the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood; there is a synopsis of the story in the ...

". According to ''The Faber Book of Ballads'' the name ''Faa'' was common among Gypsies in the 17th century.

Bella Hardy Bella Hardy (born 24 May 1984) is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale, Derbyshire, England, who performs a combination of traditional and self-penned material. She was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2014 ...

's song "Good Man's Wife" is in the voice of Lord Cassillis' wife. The theme of the song is how she fell in love with the gypsy as her marriage turned cold, and the song ends with the familiar exchange of featherbed and wealth for sleeping in a field with her love; the husband's pursuit does not occur.

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

References

External links

"The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies-O"
melody and lyrics
Origins: "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy"
at The

Mudcat Café The Mudcat Café is an online discussion group and song and tune database, which also includes many other features relating to folk music. History The website was founded by Max Spiegel as a Blues-oriented discussion site. It was named after a ...

Covers
at SecondHandSongs
Covers
at

WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website and app database of information about sampled music or sample-based music, cover songs and remixes. History Nadav Poraz founded the site in London, England in 2008, as a way to track musical samples and cover songs. ...

Child Ballad #200 Entry at Contemplator.com

at mainlynorfolk.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Raggle Taggle Gypsy, The 18th-century songs Bob Dylan songs Jean Ritchie songs Border ballads Child Ballads Northumbrian folklore Scottish folklore Romani in Scotland Works about Scottish Travellers