Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves

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“Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves”
Single by Cher from the album Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves
Released	1971
Recorded	1971
Genre	Pop/Rock
Length	2:36
Label	Kapp
Writer(s)	Bob Stone
Producer	Snuff Garrett
Certification	Platinum
Cher singles chronology
"For What It's Worth" (1969) "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971) "The Way Of Love" (1972)
Alternative cover
Spanish version

"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" is the first single released by Cher for her seventh album. It was her first chart-topper as a solo artist in the United States.

[edit] Song information

"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the first single from Cher's 1971 self-titled album Cher. The album was subsequently renamed and re-released as Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves after the success of the single. The song originated as a story-song called "Gypsies and White Trash" before songwriter Bob Stone revised it at the request of producer Snuff Garrett.

It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1971, and it remained for two consecutive weeks. The single also reached #1 in Canada, the Top 10 in many European countries and became the number-one selling single of 1971 having sold over 3 million copies worldwide. ^[1] Today it remains one of her signature songs.

The song describes the life of a girl, the narrator of the song, who was "born in the wagon of a traveling show". Her mother "used to dance for the money they'd throw", while her father would do "whatever he could; preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of doctor good". Although the people of the town called them "gypsies, tramps and thieves", every night "all the men would come around, and lay their money down".

When a young man is picked up, just south of Mobile, the narrator is 16, while he is 21. Her family took care of him for a while, although her father "would have shot him if he knew what he'd done". Three months later, the narrator describes herself as a "girl in trouble", and her young man has disappeared.

Echoing the beginning of the song, her own daughter was "born in the wagon of a traveling show", while her mother, the narrator herself, dances "for the money they'd throw".

The title of this song has also been shown with alternate spellings of "Gypsys" / "Gypsies". The lyrics of the song are often ridiculed for their claim to have "picked up a boy just south of Mobile", the idea being that "just south of Mobile" is somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, there are at least six small communities directly south of Mobile on the west side of the bay, and twice that many on the east side.

[edit] Music video

The music video

The video for "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was Cher's first music video. The video was a recorded performance of the song on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1971. Throughout the video Cher is singing in front of a house wagon and in front of a fire. A second video was made, but it was very similar to the original. In the second video, clips of dancing female gypsies were shown.

[edit] Remix version

In 2002, a special remix medley was created by Dan-O-Rama for a video montage that was used in Cher's Living Proof: The Farewell Tour. The medley contains the videos of "All I Really Want to Do", "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady".

[edit] Cover versions

• The song was partly covered by grunge band Nirvana in 1987 with some of the lyrics changed.
• The song was also covered by rock band Inkubus Sukkubus in 2001; it was contained in their album Supernature.
• In 2007 the French rap group IAM sampled it in their song "Une Autre Brique Dans le Mur".

[edit] Charts

[edit] References

1. ^ Just Plain Cher - Cher Music, Photos, Movies, Pictures, Videos