Lyr Req: Gypsy (Keith Sykes)

Subject: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: JeremyC
Date: 19 May 07 - 11:13 AM

I was out the other night, and someone played this song that was an absolute unabashed tear-jerker. It was about a couple of kids who'd decided to drown their dog because she was too old. The chorus had something about the look in the dog's eyes saying "I know you'll always be my friend." The final verse (before the chorus) has the older boy falling into the river as they're about to chain her up and throw her in, and the younger boy is too small to save him, so Dixie dives in and pulls him out. All I remember about the author is that his last name was Sykes, which doesn't really narrow things down. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: Peace
Date: 19 May 07 - 02:38 PM

ANYthing else at all?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: JeremyC
Date: 19 May 07 - 11:40 PM

Yeah, I'd like to know who did the song, and I don't know when I'll see the guy who played it again.

It's a REAL tear-jerker. The chorus also had a line about how, even if they hit her with a stick today, she'd play with them tomorrow. As manipulative as it was, it struck me as a quality song, although it could have been this guy's playing.

He said the author has been around since the 60s, and that he was a big guy who looked like a biker, and he wrote a lot of stuff like that. I could be wrong, but I think he said he saw him in Texas.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 20 May 07 - 08:06 PM

I'll try to do a little searching if and when I have time. If anyone discovers more on this song, please post.

This sounds like one of those songs I need to learn for my collection so when I get those snide comments about how all folk songs are sad songs about death, love gone bad, etc., I can throw this one at them as an example of unconditional love. They probably won't consider it an uplifting song or a "happy" one, but it would help show the point that most people don't act, trust, or love without question; that's why so many songs are about the things gone bad.

SC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: open mike
Date: 21 May 07 - 10:57 AM

who did you hear sing it? and where?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: Stu
Date: 21 May 07 - 12:12 PM

When we were growing up dog our was called Dixie, so I don't want to hear this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: JeremyC
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 08:34 AM

I was able to confirm that the writer is Keith Sykes (he didn't email me back, Peace, but I ran into my friend again, and he told me that much). Didn't have a chance to get the album name or lyrics, though, as my wife was pushing me out the door. I'll post more when I do.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 01:36 PM

Did a quick search on Keith Sykes. He's been around since '69. When I checked his song list there was only one song with "Dixie" in the title and it was something like "Train to Dixie" which probably isn't about a dog.

His personal web site is here.

More info about him and his music is here.

SC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: GUEST,in York
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 02:08 PM

There was book read aloud on a children's programme on radio 4 called 'Because of Winn- Dixie' by Kate Decamillo. There's a CD of music from the film of the book with among other things, a song by the be Good Tanyas, but I don't know whether the plot (or any of the other songs on teh CD) correspond to the song you're seeing...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 02:26 PM

'"Because of Winn Dixie" tells the story of ten-year old Opal. She has just moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. On an errand to the grocery store Opal finds a large, ugly, homeless dog. Opal is immediately attached to the dog whom she names Winn Dixie after the grocery store where she finds him. Together they make friends with Otis, an ex-convict who runs the local pet store; Miss Fanny, the librarian who has a desk full of "Litmus Lozenges" a type of candy which her great grandfather invented; and Gloria Dump, the lady the local children think of as a witch because of her jungle-like yard. This book will make you laugh as Opal and Winn Dixie make friends with these very likable characters in this small southern town.'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: JeremyC
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 12:50 PM

SC,

I checked out his site, but I can't find a track listing for his earliest albums, which is where I think this song probably appears (if this guy saw him in college, it was probably before I was born). I could have gotten the dog's name wrong, but it sounded like Dixie. Maybe Gypsy? I can't think of any other possibilities. In any case, I'm not seeing Gypsy there, either.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: John J
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 12:03 PM

Bernard Wrigley's 'Dixie's Dog' perhaps?

JJ

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: JeremyC
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 11:47 AM

(Refresh)

The dog's name WAS Gypsy, and the chorus has a line like "you are my friend" in it. There's a song by that name on Sykes' first album (self-titled, Vanguard records, 1970-ish), but I can't find any more information on it than that. What's interesting is that the reference I found online said "trad/arr Sykes," so it could be a folk song. However, it doesn't sound like one to me, and finding a folk song about a dog or a folk song called "Gypsy" is like finding hay in a haystack.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 08:19 AM

Was it The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: quokka
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 08:37 AM

Awww that's just plain mean, pengegg! sorta reminds me of something David Strassman's Chuckie Wood would say to Ted E. Bear.

www.puppetronics.com/testsite/reviews.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: quokka
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 08:41 AM

try again

Strassman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: quokka
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 08:43 AM

Strassman and Chuck

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a dog named dixie
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:28 PM

I found a radio station playlist that says Keith Sykes recorded a song called GYPSY (trad/arr.Sykes) on his album "Keith Sykes" Vanguard VSD-6548, 1969 or '70.

Keith Sykes own web site mentions the album but it doesn't give a track list, and the album is not for sale there (although several other albums are).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gypsy (Keith Sykes)
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 28 Jun 18 - 11:03 PM

my mother sang this..i remember parts of it. would have been sung by her in 50s

two little boys and an old family dog on the banks of a stream stood one day
the boys had decided old rover must die a nuisance now quite in the way
....

till one of the boys slipped and fell in the stream the other stoofd by with ??

a loud cry for help and old rover jumped in no signs of old age or decay

..seemed to say..

i'm your very best friend boys
no one could love you so true
although you might beat me and kick me todya
tomorrow i'll play games with you

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gypsy (Keith Sykes)
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 28 Jun 18 - 11:39 PM

Here's a youtube link for the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsHwcRZxl7k

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gypsy (Keith Sykes)
From: mg
Date: 29 Jun 18 - 04:10 PM

there are a lot of overlaps between this song and the one my mother sang. could be anything...he might have remembered bits, or it could be subconscious memory or anything, but I think the KS song is closer to other song than I would call original.

Subject: Lyr Add: GYPSY (Keith Sykes)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Jul 18 - 02:35 PM

GYPSY
As recorded by Keith Sykes (1969)

Two little boys and their dog Gypsy
Were down along the stream one day.
Gypsy must die, they had decided,
For she was old and couldn't play.

Old Gypsy sat before the children
And tried so hard to understand.
Her gentle eyes so soft and pleading,
Turned to the boys as if to say:

"I am your friend and love you deeply.
No one else could be as true;
And even though today you beat me,
Tomorrow I'll play games with you,
Tomorrow I'll play games with you."

They had a chain to wrap around her
And drag her down below the waves,
When suddenly a boy was cryin',
For he had fell into the stream.

His brother was too small to help him,
So Gypsy dove to save him then,
And as they swam to shore together,
Old Gypsy's eyes they seemed to say:

"I am your friend and love you deeply.
No one else could be as true.
The only one favor I'm askin':
Let me live my last days with you.
Let me live my last days with you."


* identification from YouTube. Thanks to Phil Cooper for the link.
Another song that tells basically the same story: OLD ROVER, recorded by Hank Snow in 1964.