Talk:The Whistling Gypsy

I do not know that this is a "Celtic" song, but it is certainly an Irish one. There is a danger of creating the impression that Celtic is the PC term for "Irish." Unless of course this song is also Scottish, Gaulish, Breton, etc.

This song was written by Dublin songwriter, Leo Maguire. I have amended the article accordingly. Jim Bruce 12:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The song is effectively the "same" as The Gypsy Laddie and "Raggle Taggle Gypsy". There is rarely any such thing as "certainty" in the evolution of folksong. It is "certainly" found in Ireland, and equally certainly found in Scotland. Leo Maguire was about 350 years too late to write it. He may have adapted it. Ogg 12:30, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The ending is completely different from "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" in that the "gypsy" turns out to be richer than the girl's father. No doubt Maguire was responsible for that.--Bedivere 16:22, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Not so. Maguire claimed copyright in 1950, but basically he tweaked a pre-existent song. Certainly, this "Whistling Gypsy" or "Gypsy Rover" diverges from the many Johnny Fa'a-inspired songs as mentioned. But research in the following link to a discussion on the Mudcat Cafe clearly demonstrates that copyrighted versions of "happy ending" and sentimentalized variants of the gypsy/lady tale appeared in Ireland and the U.S. in 1937 and 1925, well before Maguire's 1950 copyright. In addition, a musical play called "The Whistling Gypsy Rover" appeared in London, copyrighted 1919, and there are strong similarities between Maguire's so-called composition and several late nineteenth century American Irish songs. So Maguire gets the credit, but basically he was pulling a Kingston Trio - find a traditional song (in this case with the happy ending), change a few words,copyright it - and watch the money flow in. The Mudcat Cafe discussion is at : http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10547#73576 Sensei48 05:58, 9 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Finally following up on this above - I secured a copy of the Dorothy Scarborough book published by Columbia U. in 1937, A Song Catcher In Southern Mountains. Scarborough includes a song she calls "Gypsy Davy" that is except for one verse nearly word-for-word identical to Maguires's, and Scarborough attributes the song to bother earlier Appalachian and Irish sources. The web ref in the article is to a German blog and includes OR with maguire's claim quoted. There is no doubt (but plenty of obfuscation) about that fact that Maguire did not write this song in any definitive sense and that there is a "happy-ending" traditional gypsy song that is very different from the Gypsy Davy/Johnny Fa'a songs.Sensei48 (talk) 18:22, 30 January 2009 (UTC)