Song of the Week: Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, O!

Portrait from The British National Portrait Gallery

There were three gypsies a come to my door,
And down stairs ran this a-lady, O.
One sang high and another sang low
And the other sang bonny bonny Biscay O

Known as "Black Jack Davy," “The Gypsy Laddie,” and many other titles, this Scottish ballad originates from the 1720’s. The first written mention of the song comes from Francis James Child, an American historian and scholar, in 1814. Like most folk ballads, many versions of this song exist—changing lyrics and melody from region to region.

The song tells the tale of a gypsy lad who sees a beautiful, young noblewoman and tries, with much success, to seduce her. In some of the versions, she is an unmarried maiden. More scandalously, in other versions, the woman is married. In the latter, verses were added which recount her husband’s pursuit. This is, at its heart, the story of wealth , poverty and love, focusing predominately on the fact that the young woman is willing to give up her opulent life of jewels and silken gowns to sleep on the ground with the gypsies. A version from 1890 was written specifically for children and is a much more cheerful variation on the theme—speaking of blue skies and wondrous trips across the sea.

Regardless of the version, this is a charming ballad in the spirit of the folk songs of the United Kingdom. Here’s a clip of a lovely rendition by Andreas Scholl.