A question I am certain that is troubling your mind these days…. Here’s the answer! An edited bit from my book A Friend of the Devil - the Glorification of the Outlaw in Song - from Robin Hood to Rap - Enjoy!!!
“Black Jack Davy,” was a lady killer from the deep woods hailed in song for centuries by Scottish folk singers until finding his way into the repertoires of the twentieth century folk-revivalists the New Lost City Ramblers, Bob Dylan, the Incredible String Band, Dave Alvin (of the Blasters) as well as the White Stripes and bluesman Taj Mahal.
Beyond his romantic gypsy allure, Davy is an obvious symbol of class and race warfare. Stealing the lady of the manor away from her lord and spiriting her off into the “green, green trees,” the debonair kidnapper quickly converted his captive to the romantic life of the forest-dwelling outlaw. She, the “fair Eloise,” falls so hard for Gypsy Davy that by the time her husband arrives to retrieve her, she objects, claiming she’d rather sleep on “the cold, cold ground” with her new beau (and man of the people) than live in a gilded cage with him, a stuffy old aristocrat. Fair Eloise, we’re told, even forsakes her baby. While we cheer for our heroes and their hot new love affair, the payback is swift. In the version of “Black Jack Davy” sung by the Incredible String Band (the pair of eccentric young bards from Edinburgh, Scotland, who along with their fellow Scot, Donovan created some of the best psychedelic folk of the mid 1960’s) the song ends on a high note, with the gypsy and his fair Eloise riding off defiantly to live happily ever-after, “singin’ through the green, green trees.” But the tale most often told bears little or none of their brand of hippie optimism, and in some instances ends in a bloody retaliation at the hands of the vengeful, jilted husband.
The Incredible String Band and Leaf, the dog….
The earliest version of “Black Jack Davy” (Aka “Blackjack Davey,” “Black Jack Davey” and sometimes “Black Jack David”) can be traced back to 1624 when a charismatic gypsy king by the name of Johnny Faa (a common Romany surname) along with seven of his band were rounded up and brutally executed in Scotland. Faa was guilty of enticing the Lady Jean Hamilton (a young, bored upper-class mother of two) away from her manor to elope with him, for which he was unceremoniously hung by the neck while she wound up imprisoned in a lonely wooden tower, pining the rest of her life away for her dead outlaw.
Originally entitled “Gypsy Davy” and sung as everything from “Gypsy Laddie” to “Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies,” the song was first published in 1720 in The Skene Manuscripts, a book of Scottish genealogy. The blues yodeler/steel guitar picker Cliff Carlisle then introduced the tune to the American record-buying public in the 1930’s. Despite various lyrical twists, “Black Jack Davy” has remained the prototype for nearly every outlaw (or rock ‘n’ roller) who’s ever come down the pike, whether on a milk-white steed or in a shiny new Ford Mustang and stolen the hearts (and frequently, the virginity) of some young lass, only to hit the road once again before the cock crowed. He regularly re-appears over the centuries in a variety of guises, re-incarnating as Mississippi John Hurt’s “Candy Man” as well the notorious lady’s man, Mr. Earl, from the Cadillac’s 1955 hit “Speedo,” a romantic hustler who “don’t never take it slow.”
Bluesman Taj Mahal, while staying true to the song’s lyric, reworked its rhythm on his 1974 album Mo Roots, giving the song a funky chugging reggae feel. Along with his smoky soulful vocals Taj ultimately made “Black Jack Davy” “Black!”
Taj Mahal backstage at the Bottom Line - mid 80s - photo by John Kruth
A year later the British folk-rock revivalist band Steeleye Span, with their layered modal harmonies, rock-solid rhythm section and intricate string arrangements (which together forged a new genre that could be considered “Prog/Trad”), fashioned “Black Jack Davey” into something of a four-minute mini-opera. Steeleye Span, along with the Pentangle and Fairport Convention (which at one point featured vocalist Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson on guitar and mandolin) made traditional music hip for a new generation. While the song’s melody takes a few unexpected twists, Steeleye Span’s version of “Black Jack Davey” for the most-part sticks firmly to the script. The band’s lead singer, the mellifluous Maddy Prior sings of a “bonny brown steed” which “the squire” rides “down dales (and) over a many a wild high mountain” until at last he comes upon his young wayward wife “cold and wet and weary.” Once more she rebukes him. A “goose-feather bed” has little or no appeal to her now that she has slept “on the cold hard ground,” with the likes of Black Jack Davey.
Then I’ll kick off my high heeled shoes Made of the Spanish leather And I’ll put on my lowland brogues And trip it o’er the heather
Bob Dylan cast “Black Jack Davey” into a minor key on his 1992 acoustic folk roots album Good As I’ve Been To You. Bob’s trademark rough vocals and supple guitar chops were the perfect vehicle for this traditional ballad. Whether or not Dylan decided to leave Davey’s fate a mystery by ending the tune before filling in the details of the gypsy’s gory death, we’ll never know. Dylan has always been something of an enigma himself as well as a benchmark for all singer/songwriters to aspire to.
Dylan by Dylan (AKA Bob on Bob)
So, it’s not surprising that Jack White, while reworking traditional material would look to Dylan for his arrangement of the old Scottish folk song. Although a rocker of the first order, White has always kept one foot in Americana, performing and recording strong renditions of songs by Son House and Dolly Parton as well as producing rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson. White’s version of “Davey,” recorded in 2003 with his band the White Stripes, brings a hard, crunchy electric Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin feel to the tune. Meg White’s simple drumming put a galloping beat behind her (then) husband’s fuzz drenched riffs, driving the lyrics, which describe the forlorn lord of the manor as he rides his horse through the gloaming, desperately in search of his young, runaway bride, who was “just 16”.
While the band’s clever use of dynamics makes the version of the song memorable, White (keeping true to Dylan’s version) also fails to take the ballad to its ultimate conclusion. Instead he leaves the husband (who represents “The Establishment”), his wife and her gypsy lover (embodying the image of young romantic revolutionaries) standing by a riverbed to sort out their tangled affair. One can only assume that the care-free couple happily then runs off into the woods together, leaving behind her overbearing husband, a needy baby and all that household drudgery. After all she is only a teenage girl! But as we know this is not how the story ends and Davey and his fellow “wraggle-taggle gypsies” wind up dead – whether hung or displayed in the middle of town with their heads atop poles, depending on which earlier version of the story you hear.
“That song has an element of class consciousness as many traditional folk songs do - lust, babies and horses. What else do ya need?” singer/songwriter/guitar-slinger Dave Alvin of the Blasters asked. Alvin released a soulful acoustic version of the tune as the title cut of his 1998 album Blackjack David. “I first heard the [Woody] Guthrie version, then the 1920’s Vernon Dalhart record and then the 50’s Warren Smith version. It has an interesting historical take that could be true, but the essence of a bored gal running off with the mysterious stranger goes all the way back to Greek mythology and probably all the way back to Eve and that no good, lying snake in the Garden.”
Here’s one version I missed, that my friend Kevin Orton just pointed out to me - by Warren Smith - with a great guitar sound!
(If you’re looking for the whole book - here’s a link!)
A most interesting report about Blackjack.
Im ordering the book from the library.