Mandi Went to Poove the Grys

DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer goes to put horses out to graze; a policeman is after the family. The farmer tries to impound the horses; the aunt chases them around the haystacks and steals some hay. Finally the policeman tells them to move on
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (recorded from Frank Copper)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer goes to put horses out to graze; a policeman is after the family (the daughter remarks, "It's just as Father said; we can't get away"). The farmer tries to impound the horses; the aunt (or the singer) chases them around the haystacks (or srikes the policeman) and steals some hay. Finally the policeman tells them to move on
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage horse family police Gypsy migrant
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 349, "Mandi Went to Poove the Grys" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 129, "Mandi Went to Poov the Grais" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), #82, pp. 280-281, "O, 'Tis Mandi Went to Poov the Grais" [from MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland]
Roud #852
RECORDINGS:
Peter Ingram, "Mandi Went to Poove the Girl" (on Voice11)
NOTES [74 words]: This song was apparently widespread among English Travellers. "Mandi" = I; "poov(e) the grys (grais)" = put the horses to grass. It was common practice for Travellers to camp in an unauthorized place, then let their horses into a farmer's field after dark with the intention of retrieving them before dawn. Often as not, they were caught and the horses impounded. - PJS
For a more general discussion see Coughlan, #74, #78-93, pp. 274-285. - BS
File: K349

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