Lyr Req: Gypsy Laddie (Jean Redpath #200)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: curmudgeon
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:36 PM

The version of this ballad that I've been singing for the past forty years or so is a collation of Ewan MacColl's with additional verses from Jeannie Robertson, and thus is rather long foe most occasions.

"Last nicht I slept in a warm feather bed,
My ain weeded lord aside me O.
Tonicht I lie in a cauld corn barn
Wi' the Gypsies lyin' aroon me O."

And...

"There were seven brithers o' us a'
We a' were wondrous bonny O
This verra nicht, we a' shall be hanged
For the stealin' o' the Earl's lady O."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 02:05 PM

oh, I'm sure Jean Redpath would have 'massaged' the text and versions to fit her own sense and notions of the story. There are very few ballads with more versions and variations IN basic versions. I think I have seen lists of about 125-130. A map of the 'tree' showing the history and sources would be fascinating!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 12:25 PM

I haven't seen the text printed in Folk-Song of the North East, but the one quoted here is a collation. Most of it is from a text sent to Grieg by Miss Annie Shirer (c.1908-9) which derived from her uncle Kenneth Shirer (88 at the time, it seems). She also sent a variant of her own (neither with tunes), but the other material here (verses 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 as quoted above) are taken, so far as I can see, from another text without tune, this time from David Rorie. Six of Kenneth Shirer's verses are omitted, while Jeannie Robertson's first line has been substituted for his ("There was three gipsy laddies came to Errol Castle gate"). The usual sorts of alterations of word and phrase, conscious and unconscious, are present.

A few notes.

Verse 2. Mr Shirer: "camprols". "Not in Dialect Dictionaries, but probably allied to 'camperlecks', which Jamieson gives as used in Buchan for magical tricks or 'cantrips'." (Notes, Grieg-Duncan Collection II, p 565: 278.J)

Verse 6. Mr Rorie: "The one denied, and the other replied"

Verse 9. "Breest": "... apparently an Aberdeenshire form of 'browst' (= a brewing)". "Eerie" is given as an alternative to "Urie".

Verse 10 (Mr Rorie's v 14) appears thus:

Last night I lay on a fine feather bed
And my great lord aside me oh
But this night I lie on a caul' open van
And the gipsies a' lyin' roon me oh.

Verse 11 (Mr Rorie's v 13) appears thus:

There is sixteen o' you, a' great men
And none o' ye tae ca' bonny oh
But ye shall a' hangèd be
For the stealin' awa' Lord Castles' lady oh.


Grieg-Duncan Collection II, no. 278, pp 331-336. Examples G (David Rorie) and J (Kenneth Shirer).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Roberto
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 10:17 AM

Thank you, Bill D. R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 09:40 AM

Last night I lay in a fine feather bed
A great wedded lord aside me O
The night I will lay in the cold open field
Wi' the gypsies lying aroond me O

(I've only been listening to Jean's version for maybe 35 years now..*smile*)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Roberto
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 08:32 AM

Thank you, Mary Humphreys, but I think the line starts with "I" and there is an "r" sound after the "g", and she's talking about "a lord": it seems to compare the two conditions, being with a lord and being surrounded by the gypsies, more than referring to her own wedded lord. In the other line, I can't hear "this", maybe it could be "taenight", or something like that.

I take the chance to ask you to please go on recording, especially the big ballads: all your recordings I do appreciate a lot. R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 07:51 AM

Is it 'with my guid lord aside me o' ( where guid is pronounced like 'goo-eed'?
And the next line may be 'This night'.

Mary

Subject: Lyr Req: jean redpath's gypsy laddie #200
From: Roberto
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 03:16 AM

The Gypsy Laddie
Jean Redpath, First Flight, Rounder CD 11556; ballad first issued on Scottish Ballad Book, Elektra EKL 214. Jean Redpath writes that the tune was taken from Jeannie Robertson, and the text from the one recorded by Gavin Grieg in the second volume of his Folksongs of the North east.

I CAN'T GET A COUPLE OF WORDS IN THE LAST TWO STANZAS.Please, help. Thank you. Roberto

Three gypsies come to oor ha' door
And O but they sang bonnie O
They sang sae sweet and sae complete
They charmed the heart o' a lady O

The lady she cam' doon the stair
Her twa handmaidens wi' her O
Sune as they spied her weel-faured face
They cast their comprolls o'er her O

They've gi'en to her the nutmeg fine
Yhey've gi'en to her the ginger O
She's gi'en to them a far better thing
The gold ring fae off her finger O

It's ye'll tak off your silken goon
Pit on this tartan plaidie O
And come awa' this lee-lang nicht
Tae follee the gypsy laddie O

So she's ta'en off her silken goon
Pit on her tartan plaidie O
And gaed awa? that lee-lang nicht
Tae follee the gypsy laddie O

Lord Castles he cam' hame at nicht
Enquiring for his lady, O
One did hide and the other replied:
She's awa' wi' the gypsy laddie O

So he rode east and he rode west
Till he cam' to yonder boggie O
There he spied the pretty young girl
Wi' the gypsies standing aroond her O

It's ye'll come back and back ye'll come
Ye'll come back my lady O
For I will neither eat nor drink
'fore you come back aside me O

O I winna come wi' you, my honey and my heart
I winna come wi' you, my dearie O
Till I've drunk the breest I brewed
And that's in the water o Eerie O

Last night I lay in a fine feather bed
I .... (sounds like "gread"???) with a lord aside me O
The (?) night I will lay in the cold open field
Wi' the gypsies lying aroond me O

There's sixteen o' you and a' guid men
Nane o' (?) you are bonnie O
And ye shall a' a-hangit be
For the stealin' awa' o' my lady O