Who sang "The Gypsy Rover"
Beth Weiss
My husband is looking for the name of a group who sang a song he
thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
The refrain goes something like:
The gypsy rover came over the sea
He came to a valley shadey
He whistled and he sang until the green wood rang
And he won the heart of a lady
If you could provide any information, he'd really appreciate it, and
could then justify spending countless hours in used record stores
looking for it.
E-mail replies would be appreciated, but I'll poke in here and check,
too. bwe...@cs.arizona.edu or !uunet!arizona!bweiss
Thanks!
--
--Beth Weiss
bwe...@cs.arizona.edu
Guy Haas
>
> My husband is looking for the name of a group who sang a song he
> thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
> group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
>
That's got to be The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem,
but I can't say which album. Perhaps I can manage to
remember overnight, check at home, and report back.
--Guy Haas
Informix Software (They have their opinions, I have mine)
Menlo Park CA
Andrea Aldridge
>thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
>group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
Sorry, but the only voices I hear singing it in the back of my head are the
Irish Rovers.
--
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<> Andrea Aldridge IRC: Folkie E-Mail: n904...@henson.cc.wwu.edu <>
<> WWU - 452 Edens Hall North/Bellingham, WA 98225-5971 (206) 650-2647 <>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
ga...@stsci.edu
> In article <31...@optima.cs.arizona.edu>
> bwe...@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss) writes:
>>
>>My husband is looking for the name of a group who sang a song he
>>thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
>>group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
>
> Sorry, but the only voices I hear singing it in the back of my head are the
> Irish Rovers.
No Andrea, I think its The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, as I said
in e-mail to Beth. Perhaps the Rovers sang it too, I never paid them
much attention after the Unicorn. I know it's on one of my old vinyl
CB&TM albums.
-Bill Gawne, Space Telescope Science Institute
Nathan Rose
Nathan Rose
Frank Prindle
I may have a tape around somewhere. Something like "...he whistled and he sang
as the green wood rang, and he won the heart of a lady...".
Sincerely,
Frank Prindle
Frank....@bbs.oit.unc.edu
--
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
internet: laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Gary Martin
In article <31...@optima.cs.arizona.edu> bwe...@cs.arizona.edu (Beth
Weiss) writes:
>
> My husband is looking for the name of a group who sang a song he
> thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
> group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
>
..
=======================================================
That's got to be The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem,
but I can't say which album. Perhaps I can manage to
remember overnight, check at home, and report back.
The lyrics in the original post indicate that it could be a variant
called "The Whistling Gypsy". That title appears on an old album
I picked up used for 50 cents a few years ago, called, I think,
"Bud Dashell & The Kinsman Sing Everybody's Greatest Hits"
(or something like that).
Whose greatest hit it was, I'm not sure, but there was an article
a year or so ago in the Wesleyan University alumni magazine about
a group called the Highwaymen who made the charts in the early 60s
with "The Whistling Gypsy". The group, which was formed in 1959,
sued Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings (et. al.?) a few years ago when
they tried to tour under the name "Highwaymen". (They settled
for the right to open a concert for Nelson, Jennings, et. al., and
the right to continue using the name.)
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
Deborah Fisch
From: Nathan Rose, ndr...@husc8.harvard.edu
Date: 5 Feb 93 09:41:18 GMT
In article <1993Feb5.0...@husc3.harvard.edu> Nathan Rose,
In a rather different vein, Boiled in Lead does a wonderfully thrash-y
version of this - or something like it, anyway - on their album _From the
Ladle to the Grave_.
Jeff Kallenbach
> My husband is looking for the name of a group who sang a song he
> thinks is called "The Gypsy Rover". He thinks it's a 1960s male folk
> group but he doesn't think it's the Irish Rovers.
>
..
> Thanks!
> --
> --Beth Weiss
> bwe...@cs.arizona.edu
The Kingston Trio also recorded this tune on Close-Up, although it wasn't a
highlight of the album.
-
============================================================================
Jeff Kallenbach |Opinions are not neccessarily shared
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory |by my employer. In fact, they agree
708-840-2210 |with very little of what I say.
============================================================================
David Wald
<Debora...@umich.edu> writes:
>In article <1993Feb5.0...@husc3.harvard.edu> Nathan Rose,
>ndr...@husc8.harvard.edu writes:
>
>>The Clancy Brothers, among others, sang this.
>
>thrash-y version of this
I was hoping someone would mention this version. I get two reactions
from people when I put on their rendition: hysterical laughter or
outright flight.
-David
--
============================================================================
David Wald wa...@theory.lcs.mit.edu
"Blessed are the peacocks, for they shall be called sonship of God"
-- Matt 5:9, from a faulty QuickVerse 2.0
============================================================================
Steve Putz
(VSD-17/18) that contains a cut of Tommy Makem singing "The Whistling Gypsy"
(with Pete Seeger on banjo and Eric Weissberg on guitar). Apparently
from a Newport Folk Festival.
--
Steve Putz <pu...@parc.xerox.com>
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto, California
Jerry Dallal
Brothers version posters are looking for is on "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy
Makem" Columbia Records CL 1648 (m) / CS 8448 (s).
Carl P. Zwanzig
Carl Zwanzig
Elizabeth Schwartz
Whistling Gypsy," "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies-O" and even "Blackjack
Davy" all seem to spring from a common source. They all have similar
tunes and the story of a woman who disappears, is pursued by her
husband or father, and who when found refuses to return because she is
happy with her wandering lover... this would probably make a neat
history project for someone. Does anyone know other songs that come
from this same source?
--
System Administrator Internet: bet...@cs.umb.edu
MACS Dept, UMass/Boston Phone : 617-287-6448
100 Morrissey Blvd Staccato signals
Boston, MA 02125-3393 of constant information....
Jon Berger
>There are a number of variations of this song. "The Gypsy Rover," "The
>Whistling Gypsy," "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies-O" and even "Blackjack
>Davy" all seem to spring from a common source. They all have similar
>tunes and the story of a woman who disappears, is pursued by her
>husband or father, and who when found refuses to return because she is
>happy with her wandering lover... this would probably make a neat
>history project for someone. Does anyone know other songs that come
>from this same source?
There's a novel, or a bit of one. My apologies if this has already been
brought up -- I've been away from work for a while, and haven't followed
this whole thread -- but there was a fantasy novel by, I think, Elizabeth
Scarborough, the hero of which was a wandering-minstrel-type guy, and
there's a scene early on where he turns up in some mighty lord's castle
and does his usual singing schtick for the assembled nobles, including
a version of "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy." When he gets done, everyone in the
room is glaring at him like he's suddenly developed a very visible case
of leprosy; turns out that the ballad, unbeknownst to him, is based on an
actual event, and the heroine of the actual event was that very lord's
daughter, and the lord is not overly happy about hearing this related
in his dining room. I don't remember the name of the novel (somebody
will, doubtless), and I don't remember liking it all that much, but that
part was really excellent. It had never occurred to me, but that sort
of thing must have happened all the time to the wandering bards: "Oh.
That happened to _you_. Uhh, sorry..."
Plug: Tempest does a good version of "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy" on the new CD,
"Serrated Edge" (fantasy fans will immediately recognize where that name
came from), which will be available Real Soon Now [tm] in a record store
near you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-__ __ /_ Jon Berger "If you push something hard enough,
//_// //_/ jo...@ingres.com it will fall over."
_/ --------- - Fudd's First Law of Opposition
Archer Sully
*I don't remember the name of the novel (somebody
*will, doubtless), and I don't remember liking it all that much, but that
*part was really excellent. It had never occurred to me, but that sort
*of thing must have happened all the time to the wandering bards: "Oh.
*That happened to _you_. Uhh, sorry..."
*
"Phantom Banjo", volume 1 of "The Songkiller Saga." I found it unreadable,
due to the fake Appalachian accent the whole damn thing was written in.
For similar torture, I can recommend (?) "The Cockroaches of Stay More" by
Donald Harrington.
BTW: Shouldn't the real question be "Who didn't do 'The Gypsy Rover'?"
Plug the 2nd: Kala Din does >not< do "The Gypsy Rover" on their upcoming
(as yet untitled) record.
Archer Sully arc...@sgi.com
You are a good man, but you are in the wrong place and
you are going to die a horrible death.
- A Chinese Ghost Story
Gary Martin
writes:
In <1993Feb12.2...@pony.Ingres.COM> jo...@Ingres.COM (Jon Berger)
writes:
*I don't remember the name of the novel (somebody
*will, doubtless), and I don't remember liking it all that much, but that
*part was really excellent. It had never occurred to me, but that sort
*of thing must have happened all the time to the wandering bards: "Oh.
*That happened to _you_. Uhh, sorry..."
*
"Phantom Banjo", volume 1 of "The Songkiller Saga." I found it unreadable,
due to the fake Appalachian accent the whole damn thing was written in.
Are you sure? I read the whole "Songkiller Saga" last summer and remember
neither the "Wraggle-Taggle Gypsy" episode nor the fake Appalachian
accent.
"Phantom Banjo" lists Scarborough's other titles. Could it be one of
these?
Song of Sorcery
The Unicorn Creed
Bronwyn's Bane
The Harem of Aman Akbar
The Christening Quest
The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas
The Goldcamp Vampire
The Healer's War
Nothing Sacred
But back to Betsy's question. There's an American version that Michael
Cooney sings (and attributes, I think, to Woody Guthrie) called
Harrison Brady. The "lord" is transformed into the "boss".
In the notes to her recording of "The Gypsy Laddie", Jean Redpath says:
"There seems to be no particular historical basis for this fine ballad,
although several events may separately have set the scene and provided
the dramatis personae....Tradition has it that one Lady Jean Hamilton
wed John, 6th Earl of Cassillis, but was in love with Sir John Faa
of Dunbar. When Lord Cassillis was in Westminster, Sir John,
disguised as a gypsy, came to the lady, but was captured by the
surprise return of her husband and hanged. Records show how common among
gypsies was the name Johnny Faa, which appears in many of the older
British versions. From such a combination of sources the main elements
of the ballad have emerged. The many American versions vary
considerably in details from their Scottish counterparts in two specific
ways: tragic conclusions are usually resolved into happy endings,
and all references to spells are omitted."
Garry Wiegand
In a recent article bet...@cs.umb.edu (Elizabeth Schwartz) wrote:
>There are a number of variations of this song. "The Gypsy Rover," "The
>Whistling Gypsy," "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies-O" and even "Blackjack
>Davy" all seem to spring from a common source.
>... Does anyone know other songs that come from this same source?
Ah. At Camp Harmony over New Year's this year I made friends with a
wonderful woman from Seattle. She and I swapped versions of Whistling-
Roving-Black-Jack Davy at great pleasurable length... I knew three -
she knew *five*. All different. Yum.
My current favorite is Woody Guthrie's cowboy version - it's hilarious
when what you're used to is the Child ballad (sing it "twangy"):
Gypsy Davy, via Woody Guthrie
It was late last night when the boss came home
A-ask-in' for his lady
The only answer that he got
"She's gone with the Gypsy Davy
She's gone with the Gypsy Dave"
Go saddle for me my buckskin horse
And a hundred-dollar saddle,
Point out to me their wagon tracks
And after them I'll travel,
And after them I'll ride.
Well I had not rode to the midnight moon
When I saw the campfire gleaming.
I heard the notes of the big guitar
And the voice of the Gypsies singing
That song of the Gypsy Dave.
There in the light of the camping fire
I saw her fair face beaming.
Her heart in tune to the big guitar
And the voice of the Gypsies singing
That song of the Gypsy Dave.
Have you forsaken your house and home
Have you forsaken your baby?
Have you forsaken your husband dear
To go with the Gypsy Davy?
And sing with the Gypsy Davy
That song of the Gypsy Dave?
Yes I've forsaken my husband dear
To go with the Gypsy Davy,
And I've forsaken my mansion high
But not my blue-eyed baby,
Not my blue-eyed babe.
She smiled to leave her husband dear
And go with the Gypsy Davey;
But the tears come a-trickling down her cheeks
To think of the blue-eyed baby,
Pretty little blue-eyed babe.
Take off take off your buckskin gloves
Made of Spanish leather;
Give to me your lily-white hand
And we'll ride home together,
We'll ride home again.
No, I won't take off my buckskin gloves
They're made of Spanish leather.
I'll go my way from day to day
And sing with the Gypsy Davey,
That song of the Gypsy Davey,
That song of the Gypsy Davey,
That song of the Gypsy Dave.
When I sing the above with people I repeat the last two lines of
each verse to supply a bit of a chorus. Also I often omit the two
verses about the baby.
Wonder what "buckskin gloves made of Spanish leather" look like :-)
Garry Wiegand --- ga...@ithaca.com --- Ithaca Software, Alameda, California
tart...@gmail.com
Arlo Guthrie
> It was the Highwaymen, on the b side was cotton fields.
Arlo Guthrie
Michael Black
that someone back in 1993 pointed that out, it's kind of a song with
various titles and similar lyrics. The version I know best is off "Last
of the Brooklyn Cowboys". But I thought I heard another version along the
way, so maybe Woody's.
Wikipedia has a decent entry on the song, and all the recorded versions.
I kind of wonder if "Boots of Spanish Leather" is a nod to "buckskin
gloves made of Spanish leather".
You used to always sign your posts with "ADG", making me wonder if you
were named after the song.
Michael