Can anyone shed any light on the origins of this song? I believe it's a music hall number romanticising the gypsy lifestyle, rather than trad; despite subsequently being taken up by many Gypsy & Traveller singers, including Phoebe Smith's tour-de-force. Does anyone know who wrote it, when, if it was part of a particular performance etc? It's difficult to Google, as most hits return the excellent Shirley Collins/Topic/Voice of the People compilation by the same name. The lyric that I know, from Smith, is: I was borned in an old Gypsy's wagon Out there on the Commons, you know And our troubles began in the winter That's when we've nowhere to go But I'm intermined (determined) to marry the girl that I love Take a wagon and horse on my own I'm a Romany rai Just a poor diddakoi Born in a tent underneath the blue sky I want no gilded mansion That life would not suit me You give to me the open sky And the song of the lark As it flies so high Roaming around the country That life would just suit me For I am a Romany Everyone knows And a Romany I shall be Thanks for any/all pointers!
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