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Raggle-Taggle Gypsy (Irish Descendants)
See also: Gypsy Laddie-O (Collected by Peacock)
And also: The Whistling Gypsy (Leo McGuire)
And also: Roving Gypsy (Collected by Leach)

Ah, there were three old gypsies came to our hall door,
They came brave and boldly-o;
And there's one sang high and the other sang low,
And the lady sang the raggle-taggle gypsy-o.

It was upstairs and downstairs the lady went,
Put on her suit of leather-o;
It was the cry all around the door,
"She's away with the raggle-taggle gypsy-o."

It was late that night when the lord came in,
Inquiring for his lady-o;
The servant girl she replied to the lord,
"She's away with the raggle-taggle gypsy-o."

"Oh, saddle for me, me milk white steed,
Me big horse is not speedy-o;
Tonight I'll ride to the wide-open field,
And it's there that I'll spy my Lady-o."

So he rode east and he rode west,
He rode north and south also;
But when he rode to the wide-open field,
It was there that he spied his lady-o.

"Oh, why did you leave your house and your land?
Why did you leave your money-o?
Why did you leave your only wedded lord,
To be off with the raggle-taggle gypsy-o?"

"Yerra, what do I care for me house and me land?
What do I care for money-o?
And what do I care for my only wedded lord?
I'm away with the raggle-taggle gypsy-o."

"Last night you slept in a goose-feather bed,
With blankets drawn so comely-o;
Tonight you'll lie in a wide-open field,
In the arms of a raggle-taggle gypsy-o."

"Yerra, what do I care for a goose-feather bed?
What do I care for blankets-o?
And what do I care for me only wedded lord?
I'm away with the raggle-taggle gypsy-o."

So he rode east and she rode west,
He rode high and she rode low;
"I'd rather have a kiss of the yellow Gypsy's lips,
Than all of your cash and your money-o."

####.... Author unknown. Variant of an 18th century British ballad (Child ballad #200) The English And Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898) edited by Francis James Child (Dover, 1965). Also a variant of a British broadside ballad, Gypsy Laddie, published by W. Stephenson (Gateshead) sometime between 1821 and 1838, and archived at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, shelfmark: Harding B 11(1446) ....####

This variant arranged by The Irish Descendants and recorded on their albums: Gypsies And Lovers, 1995; Best Of - So Far So Good; 1999; We Are The Irish Descendants, 2004.

A variant was also recorded as The Whistling Gypsy by Leo McGuire of Dublin, Ireland, ca.1950.

A variant was collected in 1951 from Mrs. T. Ghaney of Fermeuse, NL, and published as Roving Gypsy in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

A variant was also collected in 1958 from Freeman Bennett of St. Paul's, NL, by Ken Peacock and published as Gypsy Laddie-O in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, p.194, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

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