Track #21 - “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac (1982)

From the album Mirage

Music and lyrics by Stevie Nicks

Performed by:

Stevie Nicks – lead vocals

Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, backing vocals

Christine McVie – piano, Hammond organ, backing vocals

John McVie – bass

Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

US Billboard Hot 100 - #12; US Billboard Adult Contemporary - #9; US Billboard Rock Top Tracks - #4

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

To the gypsy that I was

And it all comes down to you

Well, you know that it does and

Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice

Oh and it lights up the night

And you see your gypsy

You see your gypsy

I tried to write a song once. It did not go well. When my wife and I first started dating I sat down with a pen and paper and tried to write her a song. It was more of a poem really, since I can barely read or write music; I even attempted to hum the possible tune these words might fit into. But sadly, the rhymes just kept sounding like a silly limerick, and worse, it sounded cliché, the words typical and overly sappy, and that was the last thing I wanted to present to someone that I was looking to impress with a romantic gesture. So, that was the end of my songwriting career. I’ve given a lot of thought over the decades of being a music fan to what kind of talent it takes to write good songs on a consistent basis and make a career out of it. As someone who can barely read, let alone write music, to write a unique melody that sounds pleasurable to the ear is something I can’t get my head around. I realize there are different musical keys, time signatures and tempos to make a song sound the way it does, but there are only so many notes to work with. And to get the exact right words to fit within those melodies the exact right way to turn them into song lyrics, and to convey a message or a story with those lyrics, is a talent I think you need to be born with; you can either do it or you can’t. A great fiction writer might need 300-400 pages to tell a story; a good songwriter can often tell a story in 3-4 minutes. If you’re a regular reader of these posts, you know I open each one with some of the lyrics from the song we’ll be discussing. They’re usually the lyrics I feel most connected to, or maybe the ones that made me love that particular song. Of course, the music itself is important, but the lyrics are what I used to write on my notebooks back in high school or college, or what I’ve dared to quote in greeting cards, love letters and Facebook posts. I’ve been fascinated with song lyrics since I was five years old, when I opened that lyric booklet in Captain Fantastic and read along while Elton John sang. Nowadays, there is no shortage of online resources if you need to decipher the lyrics from your favorite song, and you can read along on your phone when you’re listening to Spotify. Believe it or not, there are songs I grew up with where I see the lyrics now and think, “So, that’s what that line was…I’ve been singing it wrong.” Admit it, you’ve done it too! And all those songs we love have a story behind them, an origin or experience, a seed or simple phrase in the songwriter’s head that grew into a complete thought. There is always a message or something more behind those lyrics. Sometimes, if we’re fortunate, we’ll get to hear those origin stories from the artists themselves. We’ve all heard artists take over radio stations for a few hours and play songs by the artists that influenced them, but they’ll also throw in their own songs, and tell you how that song was born, and what it means to them. However, there’s probably no better experience than hearing the stories in the middle of a live performance. You know what I’m talking about…the guitarist is switching out his or her instrument, maybe the drummer is taking a breather, and the singer steps up to the mic, and says something like, “This next one…”, and launches into the when, where, and why the next song was written…and then he or she and the band perform it. I’ve seen my share of artists live; probably not as many as I would have liked over the years, but still enough to say I’ve heard a lot of artists tell their stories about their songs. I’ve also seen bands on MTV’s Unplugged and Storytellers and in those intimate settings heard them go behind the scenes of one track after another before they performed the song. I’ve always been appreciative of an artist that is willing to pull the curtain back on their creative process and reveal the source of their inspiration to write a particular song. A lot of the best art comes from pain and heartbreak; for an artist to bring up a painful period or incident in their lives and the song that came from it must take a lot, I would think. The songs themselves are supposed to be about the incidents or the journeys they’ve taken; why should they have to explain it further? Let the listener form their own opinions and impressions. The funny thing is though, it took me years to realize that and understand we’re lucky as music fans to have the songs in the first place, let alone hear the why, when, and where. And it was one story about one song at one concert by a band that had been part of my life since my parents played their records in the 1970s, that crystallized it for me. It also solidified my thoughts on songwriting in general…you can either write good songs or you can’t.

The story of Fleetwood Mac is long and arduous, dating all the way back to the 1960s in the UK, when the band was formed from the remnants of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Guitarist Peter Green named the new trio after their rhythm section: drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the two men who would turn out to be the only constants in a band that would continue to evolve for decades. By the time Fleetwood and McVie met guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stevie Nicks in late 1974, they had added popular UK pianist and vocalist Christine Perfect (who would marry John McVie), switched out numerous members, had legal battles over who owned the band name, cancelled tours, and released nine studio albums with modest success in the UK and the US. A change was needed, and when Fleetwood was in Los Angeles in the fall of 1974, and he heard a song from the album Buckingham Nicks he immediately asked Lindsey Buckingham to join the band. He agreed and brought along his girlfriend and musical partner Stevie Nicks. Now Fleetwood Mac had two experienced songwriters with the charisma to front the band, plus Buckingham was a master at the pop/rock arrangements that they needed to gain mainstream popularity. In 1975, they released their eponymous debut, Fleetwood Mac, with this lineup, and by 1976, the album had reached #1 and to date has sold 7 million copies. The album contains three Top 20 singles: “Over My Head”, “Rhiannon”, and “Say You Love Me”, and includes the album cuts “Monday Morning” and one of my favorite songs of all time, “Landslide”. It was a huge breakthrough for Fleetwood Mac, especially in the US where mainstream success had eluded them for many years. But by the end of 1976, the strain of their popularity and new wealth was beginning to show. The marriage of John and Christine McVie, which had begun to strain in years prior finally ended, as did the long-term relationship between Buckingham and Nicks. And drummer Mick Fleetwood, who was going through a divorce from his wife Jenny, was carrying on an affair with Nicks. Interesting aside here: Mick Fleetwood’s ex-wife Jenny Boyd is the sister of Pattie Boyd, who was married to Beatle George Harrison. Harrison’s friend, guitarist Eric Clapton, formed the band Derek and the Dominos and in 1970, wrote the song “Layla”, and recorded an entire album for Pattie Boyd, who he was in love with; Pattie would eventually leave George Harrison and marry Eric Clapton. (Seriously, who the f**k dumps a Beatle, even if it is for Eric Clapton). Anyway, Jenny Boyd had an affair with Bob Weston in 1973, Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist at the time. When Mick Fleetwood found out, he fired Weston, and was so devastated, he dropped out of the tour the band was on; therefore, the divorce, and Fleetwood eventually taking up with Nicks. You have to give it to those Boyd sisters; they really knew how to shake things up. Needless to say, when the band reconvened to record the follow up to Fleetwood Mac, there was some tension in the air between the five members; the addition of copious amounts of drugs and alcohol only added to the tension. However, in between the anger, strife, heartbreak and pain, Fleetwood Mac managed to write and record Rumours, released in February 1977. The album was an immediate commercial success, hitting #1 in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. To date, Rumours has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, 20 million of those in the US alone, making it the 11th highest selling US album of all time. It also captured the Album of the Year award at the 1978 Grammys. The list of singles reads like a greatest hits collection: “Dreams”, “Don’t Stop”, “Go Your Own Way”, and “You Make Loving Fun”. Throw in album tracks “Second Hand News”, “The Chain” and “Gold Dust Woman”, and it’s obvious why Rumours is considered one of the greatest pop/rock albums of all time and why it’s still revered today. I remember very vividly hearing Rumours for the first time in our apartment in Brooklyn, in 1977. My parents also had Fleetwood Mac, and there were times it felt like those were the only two albums my parents owned; they were played constantly. I also have recollections of my parents’ friends coming over for wine and charades on Saturday nights, and them literally fawning over how good Rumours was. My parents were only 27 years old at the time, so hanging out and listening to music and drinking was still sort of important, despite having my brother and I sleeping a couple of rooms down the hall. The equivalent would probably be my friends and I listening to Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape back in 1997 and gushing about how great it was when we were around the same age. The point is that Fleetwood Mac was everywhere, and one of those bands I heard a lot growing up; their songs are permanently grooved in my brain.

 So, fast forward to 1982, specifically that nervous summer before 7th grade. If you remember a few tracks ago, when we talked about AC/DC, my musical tastes were in a bit of an awkward phase. There was some Journey and Loverboy, some Asia and Genesis, and there were the power chords of Def Leppard and AC/DC, daring me to grow a mullet and buy a denim jacket before junior high. When Fleetwood Mac released Mirage in June of 1982, of course it ended up in my house. Somehow John and Carol Serino had missed the follow up to Rumours, the experimental double album Tusk, in 1979, but there was no way they were missing out on Fleetwood Mac’s latest. By now MTV was how I received most of my music, so the first single from Mirage, “Hold Me” and its accompanying video were on heavy rotation that summer. I remember thinking it was just OK; while Fleetwood Mac was a big presence only a few years before, I was now exploring other types of music outside my parents’ influential orbit. However, when MTV announced the world premiere of Fleetwood Mac’s new video for “Gypsy”, the next single from Mirage, I made sure I tuned in. At the time, the video was the most expensive ever made. Shot in sepia tones, then black and white, then in what I can only describe as something out of a Thomas Kinkade painting, it’s like a mini movie with Stevie Nicks dancing and singing through every frame, at one point in the pouring rain.  And the song itself…well, I thought it was beautiful the first time I heard it. There was something about it that drew me in right away. Nicks was clearly singing about herself; the words sounded like something she had maybe wanted to say for a long time. The video was played almost every hour late that summer, and I remember seeing it dozens of times well into the fall of that year; I would also hear it when my mom put Mirage on the stereo. But as junior high began and wore on, and the 80s really got going, Fleetwood Mac, and “Gypsy” sort of faded into the background. Aside from picking up their Greatest Hits collection in 1988 and listening to it on repeat for a few months, I hardly played any of their music for many years. But in 2009, I finally had the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac play live, and their music, and "Gypsy”, re-entered my life.

 The thing about Fleetwood Mac is you can hear them without specifically listening to them. Of course I heard Fleetwood Mac all the time during those intervening years; on the radio in the car, and when I was working at the mall and Martin played classic rock radio in the store. Fleetwood Mac released new albums, including the highly successful Tango in the Night in 1987, part of that banner year for music, and they went on tours. Some members recorded successful solo albums, some not so successful. They broke up and then reunited in 1997, and released the live album The Dance, which would sell 5 million copies and keep them on tour for almost a year. And still, I heard the songs in the background, but didn’t buy any of the records. When I met Christine in 2005, we both discovered we liked a lot of the same music, and we talked about the bands we grew up on in the 80s and 90s. After we started dating a few years later and the conversations about family history became more frequent, she mentioned what a big Fleetwood Mac fan her late father was; I replied how their music was on all the time because of my parents. And just like that, we were streaming Fleetwood Mac from iTunes and I was digging out my old Greatest Hits CD. Then in March of 2009, our friend Nick announced he had four tickets to the Fleetwood Mac show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, as part of their “Unleashed” tour, and would we want to go with him and his girlfriend Cherie. Finally, I would get to see this iconic band live playing all their hits, and although they would be touring without keyboardist and singer Christine McVie, I was still looking forward to hearing all those amazing songs I grew up with. I can still remember that night and all the anticipation and arriving early (at my insistence) so we could be in our seats way before the show started; I didn’t want to miss a note. Finally, they took the stage, and before we knew it, they were playing the opening notes of “Monday Morning”. “The Chain” soon followed, then “Dreams”, and the crowd sang every word of that one. Then they played a song I wasn’t too familiar with, “I Know I’m Not Wrong”, from Tusk. There was a break coming, I could feel it, and then sure enough Stevie Nicks began to address the crowd of about 11,000 fans and introduced the next song. I talked about this moment before, when the singer or artist will take the opportunity to talk about the origin, or idea behind the next song, and that’s exactly what Stevie Nicks was going to do. And I’m paraphrasing, but this is what she said:

I wrote this song about the times when we had nothing…when it was just me and Lindsey and we had this big mattress on the floor, decorated with lace and paper flowers. Those were great times, when all we had was each other, and we were like gypsies, sleeping there on the floor.

The whole time she’s telling this story, she’s looking over at Lindsey Buckingham, and he just has this sheepish grin on his face; he’s practically blushing and staring down at his shoes, but you can tell he’s remembering that time. And even though Stevie Nicks had probably told that story onstage a hundred times, and they’d performed “Gypsy” even more, I can guarantee he got that look on his face every time. Here were two people who shared a romantic relationship for many years, then had to continue their musical partnership after they broke up, and by all accounts, hated being around each other. Then she goes off and has an affair with the band’s drummer, right under his nose. Now here they are, all these years later, sharing a stage and looking wistfully at each other, putting all that heartache behind them, and maybe just for a minute, remembering what they shared together. And I’m pretty sure for a second, they were remembering what happened on that mattress on the floor. That’s when it hit me, after decades of listening to music and taking those thousands of songs I’d heard for granted: putting yourself and your thoughts and feelings out there in any form is brave; setting those feelings and experiences to music and allowing everyone to hear it on the radio or performing it in front of thousands of people is something far braver. I felt lucky in that moment that Stevie Nicks was sharing the experience she had with the man across the stage from her with the audience. It made me think of all the songs I’d heard before, and how lucky we all were that songwriters share those experiences with the world, and that they’re talented enough to set those experiences to music and make them stories that we’ll never forget.  It may sound corny in a way, but that’s how it hit me in that moment, and I will never forget it. I’ve haven’t listened to music the same way since I heard Stevie Nicks tell that story before they played “Gypsy” that night. And since then, “Gypsy” and the rest of Fleetwood Mac’s music has become a huge part of my life again. The rest of the show was great of course, but that’s the moment and the song that remains with me from that night at Nassau Coliseum. I wish I was that talented, to capture a moment in so few words, and elicit an emotion from an audience. That story about “Gypsy” made me wish more than ever that I could write a song! Maybe someday I’ll try again; for now, I’ll stick with writing about songs, because you can either write songs, or you can’t…and right now, I can’t. 😊

Here's that expensive video for “Gypsy”; enjoy!

 Happy 2023! Thank you again for reading! Sign up for email updates to get weekly posts delivered to your inbox and if you’re enjoying the posts, please feel free to share the link with your friends!

Next time…a 70s band from the west coast and their tale about a creepy stop on the highway.

P.S.

 Stevie Nicks has also stated that the inspiration for “Gypsy” comes from her desire to occasionally pull her mattress off her bed and sleep on the floor whenever she feels the need to be grounded, and to remind herself she was not always famous. She has stated in interviews that she will also decorate it with the “lace and paper flowers” depicted in the song. Nicks has also dedicated “Gypsy” to her best friend, Robin Snyder, who died in 1982 of leukemia. Of the five members of the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup, Nicks has had the most successful solo career; her first solo album, Bella Donna, released in 1981, has sold over 4 million copies and contains the radio staples “Edge of Seventeen”, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, and “Leather and Lace”. Nicks is the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; with Fleetwood Mac in 1998, and as a solo artist in 2019.

Fleetwood Mac has sold over 120 million albums worldwide, and their music continues to be streamed and downloaded. Rumours even cracked the Top 10 on Billboard’s album chart in 2022. Not bad for an album that’s 45 years old. If you have never listened to Rumours, stop reading this and stream it; it’s as perfect an album as you’ll ever hear. I managed to find a copy of a first pressing on vinyl in 2020 at a used record store, and it looks exactly like the copy my parents had way back in 1977. The cover is somewhat faded, and the paper sleeve is dog-eared, but it still sounds like it did when I was seven years old. Another bit of Rumours trivia: “Silver Springs”, which the band has included in their live shows, was left off Rumours due to time constraints on the album (this was way before CD’s and digital music, kids). Stevie Nicks, who wrote the song, was not happy as you can probably imagine. It was eventually released as the B-side to “Go Your Own Way”, but if you listen to the remastered version of Rumours that’s available on streaming services, “Silver Springs” is included. There’s also a live version on 1997’s The Dance. I highly recommend listening to The Dance, especially if you’ve never had the opportunity to see the classic lineup of Fleetwood Mac perform live. Consistent with their evolution, Fleetwood Mac have had members leave and be fired, and replacements come in over the years. The only constant members remain drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, and my guess is that will be the case until one of them officially retires or dies. After performing a set at the MusiCares Person of the Year gala in 2018, Buckingham was dismissed from the band (or he left, it depends on the source); he was replaced by guitarists Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Neil Finn (Crowded House), and the band toured for part of 2018 and 2019. Christine McVie’s final performance with Fleetwood Mac would be in November of 2019, in San Francisco; she died on November 30, 2022. I was fortunate enough to see Fleetwood Mac, with Christine McVie, in July of 2017, when they headlined the Classic East concert at CitiField. I remember reading some criticisms of their performance, when compared to the other five acts on the bill, and maybe they weren’t at their best that night, but it was still Fleetwood Mac. No one probably knew it at the time, but that would be the final performance of that lineup for Fleetwood Mac, ever. And Stevie Nicks told her story of “Gypsy” before they performed it that night. They have had their share of ups and downs as a band for over 50+ years, but no one can argue that their classic lineup has produced some of the greatest music of my generation. Their music somehow seems to find its place, whether its “Don’t Stop” being the campaign theme for Bill Clinton in 1992 or a skateboarder lip syncing “Dreams” on TikTok in 2020, the songs have figured out a way to be timeless and work their way into the culture, no matter what year it is. “Gypsy” will always be that perfect story to me; a time captured so perfectly in so few words, with a brave storyteller behind it. I made a Spotify playlist of my top 15 Fleetwood Mac songs, and it was tougher than I thought! I included some of those album cuts I mentioned earlier, so it wasn’t a clone of their Greatest Hits collection from 1988, but there are also some you will certainly know. There are some solo tracks on there as well! 😊

See you next time…

 JS

1/16/2023