Geordie Downie

DESCRIPTION: "Hae ye heard o' a widow in rich attire... She's followed a tinker frae Dee-side, His name was Geordie Downie." She rejoices to follow tinker Geordie rather than her former husband. But he gets drunk, kills her, and falls off his horse and dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Greig/Duncan2)
KEYWORDS: tinker Gypsy courting abandonment homicide death horse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig/Duncan2 279, "Geordie Downie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan7 1349, "My Bonny Love Geordie Gordon" (1 fragment)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 461, "Geordie Downie" (1 text)
Roud #3930
NOTES [43 words]: Ord-BothySongsAndBallads discusses this in connection with the "glamour" cast by the Gypsy Laddie over women, implying that this is a sort of sequel of that song. This seems unlikely, but it probably does derive from the same sort of anti-Gypsy feeling. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord461

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography