LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,158)
  • Text Authors (19,577)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,115)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

The Gypsy Laddie
Language: English 
The gypsies came to our good lord's castle gates, 
And O! but they sang sweetly, O! 
They sang so sweet and complete 
That down came our fair lady, O! 

They gave to her the nutmeg brown, 
They gave the finest ginger. 
The gypsies saw her well-fared face, 
And cast their glamour over her. 

'Go take from me this silver cloak 
And bring to me a plaidie. 
I will forget my kith and kin, 
And follow the gypsy laddie. 

Last night I lay on a feather bed, 
My wedded lord beside me; 
Tonight I lie with stars and moon and sky; 
Ah! Whatever shall betide me!'

(Epilogue: The Lady leaves with the gypsies, and the Lord returns..) 

'Go, saddle to me the black' he said, 
'The brown rides never so speedy: 
And I will neither eat nor drink nor sleep, 
Till I avenge my lady'. 

There were fifteen valiant gypsies, 
They were black, O! but they were bonny. 
They are all to be hanged on a tree 
For stealing our good lord's lady. 

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , Scottish folk ballad [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Judith Weir (b. 1954), "The Gypsy Laddie", 1982 [tenor or soprano and piano], from Scotch Minstrelsy, no. 4, Novello & Co Ltd [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-10
Line count: 25
Word count: 172

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris