Hi,

I'm putting my collected North American versions of Gypsy Davey on my web-site here: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/us--canada-versions-200-the-gypsy-laddie.aspx It's mess but it will get better!!

I'm a bit flummoxed at several words as well as trying to sort the versions in some semblance of order. So I'm enlisting your help!!!

Let's start the words; 1) several versions including one collected by my grandfather in 1933 have as the second line:

A-singing so loud and halely;

Is haily/haley/hailey a word or is it a mistake for "gaily." Frank Proffitt's version (Fol legasy 1962) has:

Who's that gallopin' on the King's highway,
Singin' so gay and haily?

And there are others. I dunno?

2) What or who is an Ingram lord? Ingram appears in several version and most notably perhaps one of the finest in Appalachia as sung by Robert Shiflett in 1961:

Her Ingram Lord came home that night,
Inquiring for his lady,
The waiting maid cried, as she replied,
"She's gone with Gypsy Davey."

Ingram has appeared in several versions. Whatdya think?

Still wondering,

Richie