Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)

Subject: Chord Req: The Gypsy
From: Buzzer65
Date: 25 Sep 05 - 01:53 PM

I am learning the guitar. My method is to learn one song at a time. The latest song I have heard is "The Gypsy" sung by Ralph McTell. I,ve tried to figure out the chords with no success. Can anybody help me with the tabs?....The first line goes..."Ours fathers out from India come, and stopped where they found water". Thanks.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy
From: Susan A-R
Date: 25 Sep 05 - 10:49 PM

Neat song. I hope that someone comes up with chords.

Subject: Chords Add: GYPSY (Ralph McTell)
From: Grimmy
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 12:40 PM

I learned this song many years ago, so my recollection is a little hazy, but

Dropped D tuning.

D                  G    D         G                        D
Our fathers out of India come, and stopped where they found water
                               G      D
And the giorgio boys with their greedy eyes
            C                      D
Coveted our daughters, coveted our daughters

The next bit doesn't use 'proper' chords cos it's picked, so I'll skip to the...

FINAL CHORUS

    D            G      D         A             D
Now if the gypsy cannot dance, in your heart you will discover
                     G                A                D
That the flame needs air to burn, and soon it'll be all over

(Forgive me if the words are wrong - it was a long time ago!).

I'll try to improve on this once I get my hands on a guitar. Hope this helps.

Subject: Chords Add: GYPSY (Ralph McTell)
From: Grimmy
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 12:44 PM

Sorry, I goosed part of it up. It should read:


FINAL CHORUS

    D            G      D             A                D
Now if the gypsy cannot dance, in your heart you will discover
                     G      D         A                D
That the flame needs air to burn, and soon it'll be all over

Subject: Chords Add: GYPSY (Ralph McTell)
From: Grimmy
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 12:52 PM

Sorry, I can't get the spaces to line up - here's a different format:

Our [D] fathers out of [G] India [D] come
and [G] stopped where they found [D] water
And the giorgio boys with their [G] greedy [D] eyes
Coveted our [C] daughters, coveted our [D] daughters

FINAL CHORUS

Now [D] if the gypsy [G] cannot [D] dance,
in your [A] heart you will dis [D] cover
That the flame needs [G] air to burn,
and [A] soon it'll be all [D] over

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy - (McTell?)
From: Buzzer65
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 04:38 PM

Many Thanks!!! Now I've got something to work on. First time I've used The Mudcat for a search....I'll be back!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy - (McTell?)
From: GUEST,Mike, Halifax UK
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 07:22 PM

I would suggest you go to a C based chord on 'India' and hit the 'F' note on the dropped D string and repeat that on the 'greedy eyes bit'. I also think its 'Georgia boys' in Ralph's original text

'Coveted our daughters' slides up to a G on the dropped D string

When it comes to 'the moon shone' etc that's a standard run down i.e.
G, F# E D The instrumental bit between verses is based on a D chord with addition of an A# on the G string.

try it out

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy - (McTell?)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Sep 05 - 08:03 PM

Are those lyrics complete, Grimmy, or is there more to the song?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: GYPSY (Ralph McTell)
From:
Date: 27 Sep 05 - 03:44 AM

Gypsy --
Ralph McTell, From "Not 'Till Tomorrow," 1973

Our fathers out of India come
And stopped where they found waters
And the Georgia boys with their greedy eyes
Coveted our daughters, coveted our daughters
And the moon shone into the seas across the ponds with silver
There was music that night and the darker side of the music made you shiver
To be the Gypsy

Across the deserts our fathers come
With dancing boy and bear and drum
And the Georgia boys with their greedy eyes
Coveted our freedom, coveted our freedom
And we fit in your landscape as the six to the five senses
But the pastures close as the cowboy knows
And the world's cut up by fences
To catch the Gypsy

The colors fade on the caravan
And all roads bend in change
And the vigilantes move us on
But still we do remain
And while we do remain
Your ways only keep us on
The paths that we have chosen
But when it's cold at night
And the fire won't light
And the children's hands are frozen
It's hard to be the Gypsy

The fire that burns to cage the key
The dancer of delight
The flame that burns behind the eyes
Yet flickers in your sight
Flickers in your sight
And you may die of cold because
The ways that you have chosen
Have warmed your hands but not your heart
And left your poor soul frozen
Let the Gypsy dance.

Now if the Gypsy cannot dance
In your heart you may discover
That the flame needs air to burn
And soon it'll be all over

If the Gypsy cannot dance
In your heart you may discover
That the flame needs air to burn
And soon it'll be all over

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy - (McTell?)
From: Grimmy
Date: 27 Sep 05 - 05:45 AM

My misspelling didn't help, but the word is gorgio

Chambers gives: "noun, a gypsy word for a non-gypsy."

I forget who pointed this out to me - could have been Ralph himself!

Subject: Chords Add: GYPSY (Ralph McTell)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Sep 05 - 10:33 AM

What has worked really well for me, with the original tune, is the following key of C chord set, which allows some rather good chord to chord progressions. It suits my voice range, which is better for C than D, but I'm sure it could easily be transposed, or played with capo on fret 2.
    C             F    C         F                         C
    C             F    C         F                         C
Our fathers out of India came, and stopped when they found water,
       C                      F            C          F
And the Giorgio boys wth their greedy eyes, coveted our daughters,
                C
Coveted our daughters,
       F                        C
And the moon shone down into the sea,
    F                        C
And crossed our path with silver,
          F                      C    Em Am
There was music at night, in the dark outside,
       F             G
And the music made you shiver,
          C
To be the gipsy.

As I'm not good at HTML, this is as typed. If it comes out wrong, PM ne and give me your E-Mail address, and I'll send as an attachment.

Don T.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Gypsy - (McTell?)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Sep 05 - 10:35 AM

Cockup as expected! PM me for a version that works,......And it does work very well.

I really must get to grips with formatting.

Don T.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST,John M.
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 11:42 AM

Doesn't he use an Open C tuning for this CGCGCE?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: Fliss
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 03:06 PM

Great. Takes me back to teaching in Croydon in the early 70s - I lived next door to Ralph's mum.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 08:27 AM

On my recording it's in B with a B F# B E G# C# tuning.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 08:32 AM

Re.The above tuning.It's droped D down 3 semitones.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 21 Dec 10 - 02:01 PM

I would say the word is "gadjo".-non gypsy

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: alex s
Date: 22 Dec 10 - 06:31 AM

on Tyneside we say "gadgie"

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: theleveller
Date: 22 Dec 10 - 07:14 AM

And in Yorkshire - used to use it a lot as a kid instead of 'bloke' or 'fellah'.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 06:02 AM

In Bristol gadgie or cadgie is used for a non gypsy.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 12 - 07:12 PM

I once told Ralph at a concert that my mate Curt told me the HE wrote The Girl From The hiring fair. It was hilarious!

You should tune both your E strings down to a D...That is how you get the drone sound. When you play the D chord leave the top string open. Slide that 2 fingered chord up a semitone to the third fret to get that dischordant drone...(:-)

Lee Mitchell

www.littlehalfmoonmusic.com

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST,sMuel
Date: 12 Mar 13 - 06:01 AM

No its in c tuning

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Gypsy (Ralph McTell)
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 12 Mar 13 - 09:37 AM

I remember working this out probably 30 years ago, and I'm very much in agreement with Lee Mitchell. Double dropped-D is the tuning - the dischordant chord pretty much fixes it, as you have the Eb on the B string against the open D which would otherwise be an E string. Apart from the "If the Gipsy cannot dance" section, which is a little busier, it's quite an easy number to pick up.

It shares quite a lot structurally, I think, with "Another Rain" from the same album - that one is in straight dropped-D I seem to remember.