The Gypsy Rover

Derived from the Scots ballad "Gypsy Davy," this Irish version has a curious history. Though it had long been known and sung throughout Eire, in 1950 one Leo Maguire claimed to have written the song on a dare that he could not "write an Irish song with a happy ending." Maguire copyrighted his version, which enraged traditionalists who had been singing the song with but a word or two of difference for decades. Tommy Makem gave it its first widespread fame in America with a lovely solo rendition at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959, and Tommy has sung it numberless times since, both solo and with the Clancy Brothers. Nearly all of the popular folk groups of the 60s on both sides of the Atlantic did some version of the song. The Chilly Winds here (again in Colorado in 2006) have chosen to do it Tommy's way - a bit slower and with as much Celtic lilt as they can manage at three generations' remove from the Emerald Isle.
Bass accompaniment and additional vocals by Rick Jarusiewisc.

The Chilly Winds debut CD Live In Colorado,including enhanced digital audio of many of the videos on this channel, is available by mail order from

thechillywinds@sbcglobal.net

for $15.00 including S&H.

You can visit the Chilly Winds online at their homepage:

http://thechillywinds.blogspot.com

and on MySpace:

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• Irish
• song
• Clancy
• Brothers
• Tommy
• Makem
• KingstonTrio

[tigerhugger66]

Great job guys! I just love this song!!!

[sensei48]

@tigerhugger66 - Thanks TH! and thanks for the subscription. Glad you like our efforts.

[leprechaungreen]

Nice song and performance. Anyone knows the tabs/chords for "The Dublin saunter" (also known as Dublin can be heaven) by the same composer? Thanks. Greetings from Portugal

[sensei48]

I'll look for it and post. Thanks for the comment!

- Jim from the Chilly Winds

[dragonhunter1011]

Who is singing this? i can't see faces.

[sensei48]

Sorry about that, Dragon. We had no control over the video shooting. If you look at the liner notes for the song, you'll see we're The Chilly Winds, a semi-pro folk group from around the U.S. There are links in the notes to some of our other websites.

- Jim from the Chilly Winds

[judy0606]

I sang this song in primary school.

I had no choice,had to sing this piece of crap also sang oom pah pah

sang lots of john denver songs

My school tortured us with these songs

[monkeypaw1010]

Thanks for the little bit of history in the description. I sang this years ago in high school chorus, and I loved it but knew very little about it. The version we sang was very similar to this.

[accrag]

love this song boys well done.

[tigerhugger66]

You're welcome my friend. Love your version of Tom Dooley too.

[boorawr400]

They make it sound almost cheerful, I heard this at Outdoor School and it was the saddest song ever. Not because of the lyrics but by the way the people sang it to me. For some reason it made me homesick, and when I was back home it made me want to be back at Outdoor School again.

[davisquinn]

Great rendition, with full harmonies and haunting whistling. I just uploaded my own rendition as well. Good to see the folk process is still alive and well.

[meowsgomoo]

i thing this is such a folk song we r playing this on guitar and singing the corus of it.....in music