There were three gipsies a-come to my door,
And downstairs ran this a-lady, O!
One sang high and another sang low
And the other sang bonny, bonny Biscay, O!
Then she pull'd off her silk finish'd gown
And put on hose of leather, O!
The ragged, ragged rags about our door
She's gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
It was late last night, when my lord came home,
Enquiring for his a-lady, O!
The servants said, on ev'ry hand:
She's gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
O, saddle to me my milk-white steed,
Go and fetch me my pony, O!
That I may ride and seek my bride,
Who is gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
O he rode high and he rode low,
He rode through woods and copses too,
Until he came to an open field,
And there he espied his a-lady, O!
What makes you leave your house and land?
What makes you leave your money, O?
What makes you leave your new wedded lord,
To go with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O?
What care I for my house and my land?
What care I for my money, O?
What care I for my new wedded lord?
I'm off with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
Last night you slept on a goose-feather bed,
With the sheet turned down so bravely, O!
And tonight you'll sleep in a cold open field,
Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
What care I for a goose-feather bed,
With the sheet turned down so bravely, O?
For tonight I'll sleep in a cold open field,
Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!
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Source: Sharp, C (ed),1916,One Hundred English Folksongs,Boston,Oliver Ditson Co
Notes:
Sharp wrote:
Compare this song with "The Gipsy Countess" (Songs of the West, no 50, 2d ed.) and "The Gipsy" (A Garland of Country Song, no 32). A Scottish version of the words is in Ramsey's Tea-Table Miscellany (volume iv); see also "Gypsie Laddie," in Herd's Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs (volume ii, p. 95, ed. 1791). In Finlay's Scottish Ballads (1808) the ballad appears as "Johnnie Faa," and in Chambers Picture of Scotland, a valiant effort is made, after the manner of Scottish commentators, to provide the story with a historical foundation.
The tune is in the AEolian mode. I have noted no less than eighteen variants.
Roud: 1 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: 200
Related Songs: Gipsy Laddy O (thematic) Gypsy Davey (thematic) The Gipsy Countess (Part2) (thematic)