Content provided in partnership with
Cecil Sharp in Somerset: some reflections on the work of David Harker
Folklore, April, 2002 by C.J. Bearman
THE WRAGGLE TAGGLE GIPSIES, O ! 1 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 ! 2 Then she pulled off her silk finished gown And put on hose of leather, O ! The ragged, ragged rags about our door-- She's gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O ! 3 It was late last night, when my lord came home, Enquiring for his a-lady, O ! The servants said, on every hand: She's gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O ! 4 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 ! 5 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 ! 6 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 ? 7 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 ! 8 Last night you slept on a goose-feather bed, With the sheet turned down so bravely, O, And to-night you'll sleep in a cold open field, Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O ! 9 What care I for a goose-feather bed, With the sheet turned down so bravely, O ? For to-night I shall sleep in a cold open field, Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O !
In this instance, Harker's comments were more justified because what the textual editor (Marson) did was to collate two versions--those provided by Emma Overd and Anna Pond--while attributing the song solely to Emma Overd. [6] But the lines Harker attributes to editorial intervention--"ragged ragged rags" and "hose of leather"--are actually given verbatim as they appear in Anna Pond's text. And once again, the text Harker criticised was not the one Sharp and Marson provided, because "I'm off" is actually what is printed. Further, this phrase does not appear either in Emma Overd's text or in Anna Pond's. [7] So, far from demonstrating any "customary masculinist bias" or denigrating the heroine of the song, the textual editor actually invented the reading which Harker prefers.
The second aspect of Harker's comments on the treatment of texts was his implicit allegation that the gross socially or politically motivated changes he detected in the songs were typical of Sharp's practice in the whole of Folk Songs from Somerset. He claimed, "Not one text in Part 1 of Folk Songs from Somerset went unaltered, and in Part 2 that the editors admitted that `The words in this series have been rather more freely dealt with'" (Harker 1985, 196). In Fakesong, Harker gave few indications of what he thought had actually been done to the texts or what the overall effect of these changes might be: the only specific instances he gives refer to bowdlerisation; elsewhere he vaguely refers to "hundreds of alterations, additions and omissions" (Harker, 1985, 196-7). But his 1972 article was more forthcoming and the peroration at the end claimed that:
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Technology
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »