Let's Talk About Gypsy. Repeatedly... ;)

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

What is your problem?! She lives somewhere and she thinks it's a great town, good for Dani! Especially in light of the Stevie connection. What right do you have to be all sarcastic about her opinion?! Is there anything anyone posts on here that you don't take issue with? Everything from a thread being slightly, maybe, possibly related to a thread that has come before it or you don't like someone's comments about their own town? Jeez...

As I originally posted, my distaste was for San Jose and the area around it... and unless I'm mistaken, she doesn't live in Los Gatos, but Monte Sereno. As someone who has spent tons of time in the region, I have pretty strong opinions about the area- but certainly not anything personal. Again, I can't recall anyone in this thread saying they live in Los Gatos.

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

I LOVE this song. It's my favourite Stevie Mac moment and quite possibly my favorite Mac track.

Its certainly the best song on the Mirage album, for sure.

[daniellaaarisen]

Originally Posted by LukeA

As I originally posted, my distaste was for San Jose and the area around it... and unless I'm mistaken, she doesn't live in Los Gatos, but Monte Sereno. As someone who has spent tons of time in the region, I have pretty strong opinions about the area- but certainly not anything personal. Again, I can't recall anyone in this thread saying they live in Los Gatos.

Okay, Los Gatos: population 30,000ish.
Monte Sereno: basically a suburb of Los Gatos with a grand total of 3,000 people. They share a postal code, a downtown, a DMV. Monte Sereno is nothing but residential neighborhoods with not a single store or public building to itself. So yes, I live in "Monte Sereno" because I'm one block north of downtown Los Gatos..... but if you know the area as well as you say you do, you know that I am essentially a Los Gatos resident.

Either way, it doesn't matter. I've gotten pretty used to your tendency to disagree with me about things that really have no bearing to this thread and typically, you are pretty condescending about it..... I don't think we've had a single positive interaction on the Ledge so your opinions mean next to nothing to me at this point. Fair enough, I think.

[Black_Moon]

Gypsy is my second favourite Fleetwood Mac song, I love love love it. It has this whole nostalgia thing, I think. Going back to a simplistic life, where love carries you through, as corny as that sounds.

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by LukeA

I really would rather not think that this beautiful song was inspired in any way by San Jose or its immediate outliers... ughhhhh..

Whatever the area is like today, it has no doubt changed since 1969. Besides, the song is not about the town. The song is about that time period in her life. The lines as Stevie points out are defined as follows:

"So I'm back to the velvet underground"- San Francisco
"Back to the floor that I love" - the bedroom where hers and Lindsey's mattress was on the floor because they couldn't afford any furniture
"To a room with some lace and paper flowers" - their little house in Los Gatos (which she has used interchangeably with San Jose), probably because more people have heard of SJ than LG.

Obviously, this song holds special meaning to Stevie and Lindsey. Lindsey has called it their greatest collaboration. And, it's highly sentimental. Because of that, it's definitely in my top 3 favorites. The acoustic version from AHI 2000 is fantastic - it really gives off the most intimate, personal feeling - which is truly the heart of this song.

*In all your deciphering - keep in mind this song was written in total and recorded before Robin Anderson died. This song has nothing to do with her, although because the song was a single (or had just been released as a single), at the time of Robin's death and they were on tour, Stevie may have very well thought of her dying friend when she sang it. Hence, Stevie's later interviews where she talks about the lyrics from that perspective. In reality though, Robin did not inspire the lyrics of the song.

[Lala]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

To answer a previous poster I think that the Robin stry and adding the extra lines is true, Stevie has confirmed it may times.

I'm curious...does anyone have any quotes from Stevie confirming this? I feel like I read something years ago and can't find it now.

[David]

Originally Posted by LukeA

Its certainly the best song on the Mirage album, for sure.

I second your statement, but change only one word. I would say it's certainly the best track on the Mirage album, for sure.

It's the best orchestration the band created since You Make Loving Fun. It follows voicing rules while seeming to break them -- or breaks voicing rules while seeming to follow them, I don't know which.

As an orchestrated track, Hold Me is mighty close to Gypsy. But the gain on the guitar solo during the instrumental break has a slightly wincing quality that I think may have been a misstep.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

Okay, Los Gatos: population 30,000ish.
Monte Sereno: basically a suburb of Los Gatos with a grand total of 3,000 people. They share a postal code, a downtown, a DMV. Monte Sereno is nothing but residential neighborhoods with not a single store or public building to itself. So yes, I live in "Monte Sereno" because I'm one block north of downtown Los Gatos..... but if you know the area as well as you say you do, you know that I am essentially a Los Gatos resident.

Either way, it doesn't matter. I've gotten pretty used to your tendency to disagree with me about things that really have no bearing to this thread and typically, you are pretty condescending about it..... I don't think we've had a single positive interaction on the Ledge so your opinions mean next to nothing to me at this point. Fair enough, I think.

Dani, well said.

[GypsyBlueEyes]

Originally Posted by Lala

I'm curious...does anyone have any quotes from Stevie confirming this? I feel like I read something years ago and can't find it now.

I don't know if this is what you are looking for...I'm sure there are probably a few others

"The song Gypsy isn't a real happy story. Gypsy is a lot about returning to San Francisco. And Gypsy was written when my best friend [Robin] died of Leukemia and uh ...about the fact that she wasn't going to see the rest of this: I still see your bright eyes, it was like she wasn't ...going to make it. And uh, I was like the lone gypsy ~ this was my best friend from when I was 15 and so I was a solo gypsy all of a sudden and it was very sad for me and that's sometimes when I write my very best songs.

Robin had been on the road with Fleetwood Mac for five years. As my speech therapist and also management, an incredibly efficient helper. I still miss your bright eyes ~ that's why we don't do it on stage ~ it's because it's really too hard for me to sing. Lightening strikes maybe once, maybe twice... that means one time in your life you find a very good friend, and maybe if you're incredibly lucky, you might find a second. It all comes down to you, means but you have to look very hard."

[mgikallaroundme]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

Whatever the area is like today, it has no doubt changed since 1969. Besides, the song is not about the town. The song is about that time period in her life. The lines as Stevie points out are defined as follows:

"So I'm back to the velvet underground"- San Francisco
"Back to the floor that I love" - the bedroom where hers and Lindsey's mattress was on the floor because they couldn't afford any furniture
"To a room with some lace and paper flowers" - their little house in Los Gatos (which she has used interchangeably with San Jose), probably because more people have heard of SJ than LG.

Obviously, this song holds special meaning to Stevie and Lindsey. Lindsey has called it their greatest collaboration. And, it's highly sentimental. Because of that, it's definitely in my top 3 favorites. The acoustic version from AHI 2000 is fantastic - it really gives off the most intimate, personal feeling - which is truly the heart of this song.


*In all your deciphering - keep in mind this song was written in total and recorded before Robin Anderson died. This song has nothing to do with her, although because the song was a single (or had just been released as a single), at the time of Robin's death and they were on tour, Stevie may have very well thought of her dying friend when she sang it. Hence, Stevie's later interviews where she talks about the lyrics from that perspective. In reality though, Robin did not inspire the lyrics of the song.

All meaning about this song depends on which set of contradictory quotes you value. We know when the song was released. Only Stevie and LB know when it was written. The song was written years before Robin became ill, or it wasn't. Stevie and LB were never romantically involved before they moved to LA, or they lived together in this sentimentally meaningful little place in Los Gatos in earlier days. If the matress on the floor was the focal point of their lifestyle I'd venture a guess there was something more than a musical partnership going on there.

[nailatixela]

Originally Posted by mgikallaroundme

and LB were never romantically involved before they moved to LA.

They were romantically involved during Fritz.

Anyway, I love this song. always thought it was lindsey's greatest production work on a stevie song that started out with so little, except beautiful lyrics. And whatever this song was about changed with robin, and even though it wasn't written about her, it soon became very much about her, more than anything else imo.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by mgikallaroundme

If the matress on the floor was the focal point of their lifestyle I'd venture a guess there was something more than a musical partnership going on there.

That's pretty funny. Hey, it was like Gable, Colbert and the Wall of Jericho. Nothing sexual happened on that mattress. They just slept there counting the creases on the surrounding paper flowers until they drifted into slumber.

Michele

[michelej1]

My favorite line is lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice, as it describes how rare it is to have such a, ignite such a, spark with another person. Lightning is so intense and so ephemeral. The very fact that its brilliance is temporary is what makes it so blinding.

I like the way the song expresses the quality of losing something, even while you're still grasping it. Clutching it, trying to make it last or stay and knowing you'll fail. Can't catch lightning in a bottle, indeed.

Anyway, I would have liked to hear the introduction to Gypsy in Copenhagen, just to see how it's changed or hasn't changed.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

As an orchestrated track, Hold Me is mighty close to Gypsy. But the gain on the guitar solo during the instrumental break has a slightly wincing quality that I think may have been a misstep.

I'd say Hold Me's production is just about the best thing in the band's catalog. As I understand the distinction you've made, I'd be hard pressed to put the song or the track second to anything -- certainly not second to anything on Mirage.

Also, I never thought the Gypsy video was as good as the acclaim it received and its popularity eventually wore me out. So, that colored my view of the song. However, I will say for the Unleashed tour, looking up and seeing that video playing overhead, while the present Macsters perform -- it surely stirs the heart strings. Twenty-seven years pass and I'm suddenly cherishing annoyances.

Michele

[dnightshade]

I really really enjoy reading all the analyses. Really.