Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O!
(artwork by Tracy Butler, found here)
We were talking the other day about music in schools, remembering when Maya used to sing every day in class, and how much she liked it, and then how that…ended…when she got to 1st grade. They still had music, but it was a music teacher who came once or twice a week, rather than the class singing songs together. I was reminded of the 4th grade, back in 1976 (I remember because it was an election year, very controversial among the 4th graders), when we had Mrs. Katz, the music teacher, who would come to our class once or twice a week with her guitar, and we would sing. I must tell you, I loved Mrs. Katz. She was so beautiful, with her long curly hair, and she was always so happy to see us, not like our regular teacher, Mrs. Fulton (who was the first teacher I ever heard tell a classroom of children to shut up…though the next week she went in for a hysterectomy, so I’m guessing she wasn’t feeling very well at the moment, and the class was being rather loud…). She taught us a lot of different songs, and we always looked forward to music day. I also remembered when her time with us ended. I don’t remember why, whether she was moving, or if she only had a partial year contract, or what, but when she came to tell us goodbye, I cried. I knew I was too old to cry over a teacher, like a kindergartener, but I did.
My favorite song that we sang with Mrs. Katz was “The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies” (or is it Raggle Taggle Gypsies? I’m not sure). I do remember in 7th grade or so, looking through some books in our garage, and finding a book of songs for children, and Wraggle Taggle Gypsies was among them.  Anyway, here are the lyrics, and look, I youtubed it, and they have it too! They had quite a few versions, but this is the one that seemed closest to what Mrs. Katz taught us way back when.
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!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qbO3AA–I[/youtube]
5 Comments
Maya's Granny
School is that place where your child leads her first independent life, with memories that you don’t know unless she tells you. And, I wonder if the bride preferring the gypies is like the women in America who were taken by Indians and then didn’t want to return?
ML
It’s fun to sing when you’re a kid! 🙂
J
Mom, Here’s the story, or at least, one of many, as this is a very old Irish song:
First, from this site:http://www.contemplator.com/child/wraggle.html
Circa 1788 this ballad became associated with John, the sixth earl of Cassilis and his first wife, Lady Jean Hamilton. Before her marriage Lady Jean was in love with “Johnny Faa, of Dunbar.” Years later, after she had borne two children, Johnny Faa returned and persuaded her to elope. Johnny Faa and seven other gypsies (which correlates to the 1624 sentence) were hanged and Lady Jean was banished and confined in a tower built specifically for her imprisonment. Eight heads, effigies of the gypsies, were said to be carved in the stone tower.
And wiki has this:
“The Raggle Taggle Gypsy” (Roud 1, Child 200) is a traditional folk ballad. It was originally titled “The Gypsy Laddie”. It has also been referred to as “Black Jack David”, “Gypsy Davy”, “Gyps of Davy”, “The Gypsy Lover”, “Black-Eyed Davy”, “The Lady’s Disgrace”, “The Three Gypsy Laddies”, and “The Jewish Lady”.
Nick Tosches in his Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock ‘N’ Roll, spends part of his first chapter examining the song’s history. He compares the song’s narrative to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad, according to Tosches, retells the story of John Faw, a 17th century outlaw, described as a Gypsy, and Lady Jane Hamilton, wife of John VI, Earl of Cassillis. The “Gypsies” were killed (except for one, who escaped) and Hamilton was imprisoned for the remainder of her life, dying in 1642.
Not as happy an ending as I imagined in the 4th grade, which was her refusing to return, and living out her years happy and ‘raggle taggle’.
Gina
I’ve never heard of that song! Although at Catholic school, we had “song practice” every week. I loved it.
And that artist looks familiar, her drawings look similar to the ones on the Mercedes Lackey Heralds of Valdemar series.
Py Korry
That is such an odd version, and I think that’s why I love it. The high voice (and a slight rolling of the tongue). It’s great and weird at the same time!