Monday, July 7, 2025
Time: 7:55 AM
Song: Gypsy Davy
Artist: Woody Guthrie
Mode of Consumption: Listening MP3s on shuffle on the way to the work.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5qNyzWW91FhtUsryyzSrhu?si=724b7eaa402d4349
So, I guess this is how we learn things.
This song played as I entered Dixon this morning on the way to work. As I turned off Route 2 on to 4th Avenue. I had a realization: This is pretty close to the same song as The White Stripes “Blackjack Davy.”
I wondered if Jack White was inspired by this song and changed the name and lyrics a little to be more PC. I had read an article a few years ago about how the Romani people were trying to shed the derogatory “gypsy” label. Maybe Jack White was ahead of the game on that.
I learned more though.
The lyrics are similar, but not quite the same.
Apparently, Guthrie’s song is a version of a song that dates back to as early as the 1720s when a Lady Hamilton rode off with a gypsy named Jonny Faa and his band in the Scottish Borders.
Blackjack Davy is also an old Scottish fable. Davy was a lady killer from the deep woods, who apparently was an inspiration for twentieth century folk artists like the New Lost City Ramblers, Bob Dylan, and Dave Alvin (The Blasters). Blackjack Davy has become a sort of Robin Hood in modern times.
It’s a fun connection between songs and lore and artists with different sounds from different eras.
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