Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac song)

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"Gypsy"
Gypsy single.jpg
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Mirage
B-side"Cool Water"
ReleasedAugust 1982 (US)
  • September 1982 (UK) [1]
Recorded1981-1982
GenreRock
Length4:24 (Album Version)
3:53 (Single Edit)
4:48 (Music Video)
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
Fleetwood Mac UK singles chronology
"Hold Me"
(1982) 		"Gypsy"
(1982) 		"Oh Diane"
(1982)
Fleetwood Mac US singles chronology
"Hold Me"
(1982) 		"Gypsy"
(1982) 		"Love in Store"
(1982)
Music video
"Gypsy" on YouTube

"Gypsy" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. The song was written by Stevie Nicks around 1979, the earliest demo recordings were made in early 1980 with Tom Moncrieff for possible inclusion on her debut solo album Bella Donna. However, when Nicks' close friend Robin Anderson died of leukemia, the song took on a new significance and Nicks held it over for Fleetwood Mac. "Gypsy" was the second single release and second biggest hit from the Mirage album, following "Hold Me", reaching a peak of No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks.

In 2017, Nicks recorded an acoustic version to serve as the theme song for the Netflix drama series Gypsy.[2]

Inspiration[]

There are two points of inspiration behind "Gypsy", as stated by Stevie Nicks, the first of which is a nostalgia for her life before Fleetwood Mac. Before joining the group, Nicks lived with Lindsey Buckingham, who would also join Fleetwood Mac. Nicks and Buckingham were musical and romantic partners; however, only their musical partnership has survived. Nicks met Buckingham at a high school party, where he was singing "California Dreaming" by the Mamas and the Papas. Nicks joined in with perfect harmony, then they introduced themselves. They did not see each other again until college, where they started a relationship and a musical a duo called Buckingham Nicks. Though, they barely got by with the income from Nicks' work as a waitress and cleaning lady.[3]

They could not afford a bed frame, so they slept on a single mattress, directly on the floor. Nicks says the mattress was decorated in lace, with a vase and a flower at its side. Whenever she feels her famous life getting to her, she goes "back to her roots," and takes her mattress off the frame and puts it "back to the floor" and decorates it with "some lace, and paper flowers."[4] It takes her back to the days when she had no wealth—back to herself as a poor gypsy. Some speculate the rest of this song is directed at Buckingham, assuming the lyrics depict her leaving him. On March 31, 2009, Nicks gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly discussing the inspiration for the song:

In the old days, before Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey [Buckingham] and I had no money, so we had a king-size mattress, but we just had it on the floor. I had old vintage coverlets on it, and even though we had no money it was still really pretty... Just that and a lamp on the floor, and that was it—there was a certain calmness about it. To this day, when I'm feeling cluttered, I will take my mattress off of my beautiful bed, wherever that may be, and put it outside my bedroom, with a table and a little lamp.

On March 25, 2009, during a show in Montreal, Quebec on Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed Tour, Nicks gave a short history of the inspiration behind "Gypsy". She explained it was written sometime in 1978-1979 when the band had become "very famous, very fast". It was a song that brought her back to an earlier time, to an apartment in San Francisco where she had taken the mattress off her bed and put it on the floor. To contextualize, Nicks voiced the lyrics: "So I'm back, to the velvet underground. Back to the floor, that I love. To a room with some lace and paper flowers. Back to the gypsy that I was." Those are the words: 'So I'm back to the velvet underground'—which is a clothing store in downtown San Francisco, where Janis Joplin got her clothes, and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane. It was this little hole in the wall, amazing, beautiful stuff—'back to the floor that I love, to a room with some lace and paper flowers, back to the gypsy that I was.'"[citation needed]

The second point of inspiration for the song is the message as a tribute to someone's passing. On October 5, 1982, Robin Snyder Anderson, Nicks' best friend, died of leukemia.

Stevie Nicks and Robin Snyder Anderson[]

Nicks met and befriended Robin Snyder at Arcadia High School in Los Angeles when they were either 14 or 15. Snyder, who had theatrical interests, became Nicks' speech therapist.[5] Videos of the two preparing for concerts are easily accessible over the internet, for instance, one video in particular where Snyder helps Nicks prepare for a concert during the Rumours Tour.[6] Not only did she help her with her singing, but she was also her confidante, and the person who knew her best. According to Carol Ann Harris' book Storms, Snyder could calm her down within just a fraction of a second.[7]

The night before Bella Donna was released, Nicks received a terrifying call from Snyder saying she had leukemia, and the doctors thought she would only live for three months. Even more horrifying to Nicks was the news that Snyder had gotten pregnant, as to leave her husband, Kim Anderson, with something after she left. If Snyder chose to have an abortion, she could have possibly lived for another year. However, the baby was born (three months-premature), and Snyder died three days later. At the time, Nicks was on tour.[8] The only person Nicks felt could understand her grief was Kim Anderson. He felt the same way, and out of grief, as well as a duty towards providing the baby (named Matthew) a good home, the two married.

However, three months later, Nicks filed for divorce after she "received a sign" from Snyder telling her to get out of there. Nicks has stated that she has put Matthew through college and told him about what had happened many times. As Snyder was dying, Nicks dedicated "Gypsy" to her. Nicks found it extremely difficult to sing the song in concert.[9]

Music video[]

The video for the song, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was the highest-budget music video ever produced at the time.[10] The video locations included a highly detailed portrayal of a forest and required many costumes and dancers. It was the very first "World Premiere Video" on MTV in 1982.

Interpersonal strife amongst the band members complicated the shoot, much as they had with the earlier video for "Hold Me". When he was pairing them during blocking, Mulcahy recalls, "people were pulling me aside saying, 'No, no. Those two were fucking and then they split up and now he's sleeping with her.' I got very confused, who was sleeping with whom."[11]

Nicks especially remembers the experience as unpleasant. Two weeks before the shoot, she had gone into drug rehabilitation to try to overcome her cocaine addiction. However, the video shoot could not be rescheduled, and she had to take a break for it. Near the end of the first of three days of the shoot, Nicks was exhausted and said she needed cocaine. A small bottle was discreetly given to her, though it was thrown out before she could use any. Nicks later said, "I think we would probably have gone on to make many more great videos like 'Gypsy' had we not been so into drugs."[11]

The aforementioned issues Nicks was having were further strained by having to work closely with her former boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. "We weren't getting along well then. I didn't want to be anywhere near him; I certainly didn't want to be in his arms," Nicks said of the scene where the two are dancing. "If you watch the video, you'll see I wasn't happy. And he wasn't a very good dancer."[11]

B-side[]

The b-side of the "Gypsy" single [45 RPM] was "Cool Water," an acoustic performance featuring Buckingham and John McVie on lead vocals, a rare occurrence where McVie contributed his vocals to a Fleetwood Mac recording. The song was originally written in 1936 by Bob Nolan and has been covered by numerous artists over the years. The Fleetwood Mac version appears on the compilation album Revenge of the Killer B's, Volume 2,[12] and has been released on the Deluxe Edition of the band's Mirage CD.

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Weekly charts[]

Chart (1982) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[13] 17
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[14] 16
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[15] 3
Germany (GfK)[16] 35
Ireland (IRMA)[17] 25
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[18] 42
Poland (LP3)[19] 21
UK Singles Chart[20] 46
US Billboard Hot 100[21] 12
US Cashbox Hot 100[22] 13
US Hot Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[23] 9
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[24] 4
Chart (2020) Peak
position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[25] 21

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Silver 200,000double-dagger

double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ "Fleetwood mac singles".
  2. ^ "Stevie Nicks Re-Records Classic Fleetwood Mac Tune 'Gypsy' for Netflix Thriller".
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-02-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Stevie Nicks on Gypsy". Inherownwords.com. 1983-09-13. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  5. ^ "Stevie Nicks Story pg3 - Arcadia High School ROCK Legends". Arcadiaapaches.com. 1982-10-05. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  6. ^ "Stevie Nicks "Merlin" - Preparation before a show w/ Robin". YouTube. 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  7. ^ Harris, Carol Ann. Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2007. Print.
  8. ^ "Stevie Nicks on Robin Snyder Anderson". Inherownwords.com. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  9. ^ Barrett, Annie (2009-03-31). "Stevie Nicks On Her Favorite Songs: A Music Mix Exclusivere". Music-mix.ew.com. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  10. ^ "You've Never Heard This Version Of Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy"...Or HAVE You?". Society Of Rock. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Marks, Craig; Tannenbaum, Rob (2011). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. New York, NY: Dutton. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-525-95230-5.
  12. ^ Viglione, Joe. "Revenge of the Killer B's Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  13. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. ^ "Top Singles - Volume 37, No. 12". RPM. 6 November 1982. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  15. ^ "Adult Contemporary - Volume 37, No. 16". RPM. 4 December 1982. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  16. ^ "Single Search: Fleetwood Mac – "Gypsy"" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  17. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Gypsy". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  18. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Fleetwood Mac – "Gypsy"" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Notowanie nr 28" (in Polish). 30 October 1982. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  20. ^ "OfficialCharts.com". Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Billboard: The Hot 100, 23 October 1982". billboard.com. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  22. ^ "Cash Box Top 100, 6 November 1982". cashbox.com. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  23. ^ "Billboard: Adult Contemporary, 23 October1982". billboard.com. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  24. ^ "Billboard: Mainstream Rock Songs, 25 September 1982". billboard.com. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  26. ^ "British single certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Gypsy". British Phonographic Industry.

External links[]

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