Celtic - NOT!

 

Bryn "O'Gypsy" Muldoon
(Meghan Brunner)

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Born among copious siblings to Ma and Da Muldoon at the Irish Cottage. Da went out to the pub one night. When he didn’t return for a couple weeks, Ma asked her visiting sisters -- Meg of the Wood and Brieanna Morgan -- to watch the children while she went out after Da. She never returned. The aunties, saddled with a bunch of children they had no desire to be keepers of for a long period of time, decided it might be wise to start marrying them off so that they could be “supported in a manner to which they would like to become accustomed.” As Bryn was by then the eldest of the remaining children, she was first in line. And the Lord Mayor was eligible, so the obvious conclusion entered their heads.

A handsome roguish Gypsy named Chrysto took to playfully courting Bryn, and the lass saw her opportunity. She snuck off while her family slept — waking her siblings briefly to bid them farewell — and ran off to join the Gypsies. She did not leave for Chrysto — since he’s a Gyp she figured he’s only interested in her for a wink and a smile, and would soon enough be diverted to some other lass. Bryn left because she saw no other option, and besides, there are a fair number of songs about ladies running away with Gypsies.

Enter Bryn, Celtic Gypsy Extraordinare.....

Her old clothes have long since worn to tatters and she has had to make new — in the Gypsy style, though somehow she got that “dark colors with a flash of bright” thing reversed. Her new outfit is in eye-wrenchingly bright colors because Bryn’s fond of all things that sparkle, jingle, or blind. However, when Bryn thinks of herself, it is still as an Irishwoman first, and a Gypsy as a side-thought. She still has her Irish accent — though how long she will manage to keep it is unsure. She loves to tell stories and play music — she loves the Gypsy stories and songs, but she doesn’t have the range with them that she does with her native music and tales. She sees her fellow Gypsies as a wonderful lot of people who have rollicking fun — much like the family she left behind. As for the family’s somewhat — ahem — unconventional means of procuring supplies, Bryn convinced herself that they’re Robin Hood-ing, and my guess is that people will find it entertaining to let her keep believing that.

On something of a lark a few years back, Bryn wrote a song of her escape into Gypsy life and set it to a tune on the Flashgirls Maurice and I album.

Yet Another Gypsy Song

Me name it is Bryn, and if truth’s to be told,
I would never be wed, though I grow grey, wrinkled, bent, and old
And Katie and Tara and Shannon ShaeLinn
younger sisters, to marry, no hurry are they in

But me Ma and me Da left me Aunties in charge
And me Aunties want gowns, gold and jewels that could fill a barge
For this life they’d live, a rich husband’s the key
and so they have decided the Mayor’s wife I’ll be

Now waiting, o waiting, so waiting, o!
I’m waiting, waiting, waiting for me gypsy-o!

A young suitor asked for some whiskey one day
So I poured out a gill, and I vowed that I would make him pay
Me Aunt Hannah Faith swore she’d teach me to flirt
But I “slipped” and it spilled down his fine white silken shirt

Then the Mayor he walked through our green wooden door
I had spilled on meself, and beneath the table on the floor
I hid, but he said, “We’re alike, I can tell --
All the townspeople think that I am all wet as well!”

Now waiting, o waiting, so waiting, o!
I’m waiting, waiting, waiting for me gypsy-o!

A Gypsy he sat at the table we share
And he said, with a wink, “Oh, now, darlin’, won’t ya tame my hair?”
And Aunt Meg she said, “Come now, my sister Brie,
Let young Bryn have the Gyp, for he’s fine as you can see!”

And so Hannah she bound up the Gypsy right firm
and she nodded and called it, “Another thing a lass should learn.”
But Chrysto got loose and then he slipped away,
after tying me up, saying “I’ll steal you someday.”

Now do come, o do come, so do come, come,
O come, o come, o come, o come my gypsy-o!

The Gyp’s mischief smile and a red bow tie bright
Gave me Aunt Brie a bag, when the trees had caught next morning light
“A bid for Bryn’s hand, and the lass’s dowry
And the Mayor’s less rich than he thinks himself to be.”

Then I laughed with delight, for I knew it no joke,
And when darkness did fall, bundled all my clothing in my cloak,
Then I climbed through window and snuck through the night
And they ne’er knew me gone till the early morning light!

Now I’ve gone, o I’ve gone, so I’ve gone, gone,
I’ve gone, I’ve gone, I’ve gone, o to my gypsy-o!

I sing with the birds, and I laugh with the sea
And I dance with the wind, and I climb o’er every rock and tree
And those that do think only marriage is right
For a lass, never danced with the gypsies all so bright!

Now do come, o do come, so do come, come,
O come, o come, o come, come, join the gypsies-o