Gypsy

"Gypsy" is a song by 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. 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 duo called Buckingham Nicks. They barely got by with the income from Nicks' work as a waitress and cleaning lady. They could not afford a bed frame, so they slept on a 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." On 31 March 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.