The Gypsy Rover - by The Chilly Winds

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. ( more )