| "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Picture sleeve for some 7-inch vinyl releases, including Germany, Italy and Japan. | ||||
| Single byCher | ||||
| from the albumChér | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | September 1, 1971[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Studio | Larrabee Sound (Los Angeles) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:36 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Bob Stone | |||
| Producer | Snuff Garrett | |||
| Cher singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" is a song recorded by American singer and actressCher from her 1971 seventhstudio albumChér (eventually reissued under the titleGypsys, Tramps & Thieves).Kapp Records, a division ofMCA Records, released it as the album'slead single on September 1, 1971. The song was written by Bob Stone, and produced bySnuff Garrett. SinceSonny Bono's first attempts at reviving Cher's recording career had been unsuccessful, the record company recruited Garrett as her producer and he chose Stone to write a song specifically for Cher, in order to cater to anadult audience.
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" is an upbeatpop andfolk rock story-song that features instrumentation from acarnival calliope and a piano with strings in the background. Cher sings from the point of view of a 16-year-oldRomani girl, who was "born in the wagon of atraveling show" and describes her life. It contains themes ofteenage pregnancy and implications ofprostitution. The song received positive reviews bymusic critics, and earned Cher aGrammy Award nomination forBest Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Commercially, it became Cher's first solo number-one single on therecord charts in Canada and the United States, the first single by a solo artist to rank number one on theBillboard Hot 100 at the same time as on theCanadian Singles Chart. It also reached the top five in Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It was certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America for shipment of one million copies across the United States. At the time of its release, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the biggest-selling single in the history of MCA.
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was performed on several episodes ofThe Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-74) andCher (1975-76) and also on six of Cher's world tours. The song has been recorded by a number of artists, includingVikki Carr,Vicki Lawrence andNirvana and has appeared in or been referenced in some TV shows such asThe Simpsons,The X-Files,Charmed andThe Umbrella Academy (TV series). Along with the parent album, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was considered a turning point in Cher's career, with critics starting to acknowledge her as an artist and crediting the song for restoring her popularity, which had diminished at the end of the previous decade.
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the first single fromChér with instrumental backing by L.A. session musicians from theWrecking Crew.[2] The album was subsequently renamed and re-released asGypsys, Tramps & Thieves after the success of the single.
Released four years after her last top ten hit "You Better Sit Down Kids", this song was a comeback single for Cher— it was her first single in four years to chart higher than #84 —not only returning her to the top 10 of the charts but also giving her two weeks at number one on theBillboard Hot 100 in November 1971. It knocked off "Maggie May" byRod Stewart which had spent the previous five weeks at #1. The single also reached #1 inCanada and #4 in theUnited Kingdom. It was the first single by a solo artist to rank number one on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 chart at the same time as on theCanadian Singles Chart. As of November 2011, Billboard reported the digital sales of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" to be 212,000 in the US.[3][irrelevant citation]
The song describes the life of a 16-year old girl, the song's narrator, who was "born in the wagon of atraveling show" with her "mama", anexotic dancer, and "papa", apatent medicine salesmanposing as a preacher. Though the family endures hearing jeers of "gypsies,tramps and thieves" from the people of the town, the narrator would add that, "every night all the men would come around and lay their money down". One day, the family takes in a 21-year-old man who travels with them from "just south ofMobile" toMemphis. One night during the trip, the man and the narrator secretly have sex (the narrator mentioning that had "papa" found out what the young man had done he would have shot him), and three months after the man leaves the caravan, the narrator is "in trouble". After the narrator's daughter is born, she herself subsequently takes up the storytelling for the next generation (referring to "her mama" and "Grampa"), with the family continuing to support themselves through dancing, sellingnostrums and preaching.
The title of this song has also been shown with the alternative, albeit correct spelling of the word "Gypsies". The song was described by Rob Tennanbaum inBillboard magazine as one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.[4]
Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:
The video for "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was Cher's first music video. The video was a recorded performance of the song onThe Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1971. Throughout the video Cher is singing in front of ahouse 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. A promotional video aired on BBC'sTop of the Pops in 1971, which features a group ofRoma travelling through the countryside. The video follows certain lyrics from the song, ie; "dance for the money they'd throw".[5]
In 2002, a special remix medley was created by Dan-O-Rama for a video montage that was used in Cher'sLiving Proof: The Farewell Tour. The medley contains the videos of "All I Really Want to Do", "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady".
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Certifications[edit]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The song makes an appearance inThe Simpsons episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" where it is sung by an anesthesiologist named Richie Sakai, a character of one of the shows producersRichard Sakai. It was also used in season 4 of theNetflix series The Umbrella Academy, as well as in a scene of the season 1 finale of HBO's Six Feet Under.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
