The cover picture for this post is the front of ‘Hilda Boswell’s Treasury of Poetry’. My grandparents had a big shiny hardback copy and I always had it out to pore over when we visited them. (Yes Mum, I do remember the time I left it lying on the floor, then ran into the room, slipped on it and ended up being taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle). One of the poems in it that really caught my imagination was ‘The Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ – I loved its sense of unbridled freedom and romance. I then discovered it had a tune when we played an arrangement in wind band at school – with a great oboe solo for me to enjoy. Finally, words and music came together for me in this stomping version by The Waterboys. I played it obsessively when one of my housemates at university introduced me to it.