Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves

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

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 was written by songwriter Bob Stone as a story-song called "Gypsys, Tramps and White Trash". Producer Snuff Garrett advised that the title be changed and Stone then changed it to "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves".

It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1971, and it remained there for two consecutive weeks. The single also reached #1 in Canada and the Top 10 in many European countries, becoming the number-one selling single of 1971 at more than 3 million copies worldwide.^[2] 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 "gypsys, tramps and thieves", every night "all the men would come around, and lay their money down".

When a young man is picked up in 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, Cher's own daughter was "born in the wagon of a traveling show", while her mother danced "for the money they'd throw".^[3]

The title of this song has also been shown with alternate spellings of "Gypsies" / "Gypsys".

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.

In the 1991 review for the album Love Hurts, Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly named some of Cher's older songs, including "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", describing it as being "exhilaratingly dumb".^[4]

The song has been adopted by Clyde F.C., a Scottish football team whose fans are known as "The Gypsy Army", and the song is played before the kickoff of home matches at Broadwood Stadium.

The song was featured in an episode of the popular British motoring show Top Gear, in which the hosts traveled to Miami to purchase a car for $1000 and go on a road trip. The song played when the hosts were crossing into Alabama as a joke.

In the 2000 TV mini-series The 10th Kingdom, John Larroquette's character sings this song to a group of gypsys after they threaten to kill him if he does not sing.

Live performances

Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:

• Do You Believe? Tour (performed as part of the Hits Medley)
• The Farewell Tour (2002-2005) (performed as part of the Hits Medley)
• Cher at the Colosseum

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.

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".

Cover versions

• The song was covered by British pop singer Cilla Black.
• The song was covered by Vicki Lawrence on her album The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia in 1973.
• The song was covered by rock band Inkubus Sukkubus in 2001, it was contained in their album Supernature.
• The song has been parodied by Nervous Gender on their Music From Hell Lp.
• The song was covered by Nirvana in 1987 with some of the lyrics changed.
• It was also covered in 1997, possibly in response to Nirvana's cover ten years earlier, by Anti-Nowhere League in their album Scum.
• Traditional Irish band Dervish recorded the song in 2007 and frequently includes it in their concerts.
• In 2007 the French rap group IAM sampled it in their song "Une Autre Brique Dans Le Mur".
• In 2008 Italian rap group Club Dogo sampled it in their song "Confessioni di una Banconota".
• The song was covered by John Larroquette in The 10th Kingdom.

Charts

Chart procession and succession

References

External links

• Official website of Cher