Gypsy culture is synonymous with a free-spirited existence in equilibrium with the earth and wondrous feats of mysticism.
A surprising number of songs about gypsies replace the natural enchantment of a woman’s beauty with a literal fortune telling witch, blurring the lines between dream and reality while being swept away under a lady’s spell.
Our list collects only the best songs about gypsies to give a compelling insight into the unique culture of a travelling community, bestowed with the best and the worst of nature’s blessings.
Songs About Gypsies
1. Gypsy – Gypsy Queen Part One
Gypsy’s 1970 album-opener Gypsy Queen is a two-part prog rock masterpiece carrying a mystical message of witchcraft.
From its first echoing lyric, “Warning,” Gypsy foreshadow a woman harnessing the hypnotic powers of Mother Nature to lure and capture the hearts of men.
Metaphorising a seductress for a psychic, Gypsy weave their lyrics with fortune telling and a rich, earthly ambience, “She’ll have you in the palm of her hand, you’re left with nothing but still caught up in her trance.”
Gypsy Queen carries an aura of cleansing within its lush distortions, synths and grooves, crafting an irresistibly artistic track laced with a refreshing vintage vibe.
2. Cher – Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves
Cher’s dazzling 70s hit is written from the perspective of a traveler, detailing all the whimsical and ruthless ups and downs of gypsy life.
While the title appears doused in the harsh, stereotypical opinions of her era, Cher uses her striking title and chorus lyric ironically, exposing the nonsensical, hypocritical discrimination felt by the community;
“Gypsies, tramps and thieves, we’d hear it from the people of the town… but every night, all the men would come around and lay their money down.”
She draws upon the essence of family and strength through hardship; elements woven into the fabric of gypsy culture; “I was born in the wagon of a travelling show, my mama used to dance for the money they’d throw.”
3. Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)
Crystal Water’s 1991 house anthem harbours an unexpected message about homelessness, a captivating twist for a timeless song.
Her lyrical story fleshes out the colourful character of a gypsy lady, singing for money on the roadside in her make up; a performance which claws at the narrator, making them question how poverty can exist to decimate so many lives.
Water’s profound message is obscured within her intoxicating, iconic house rhythm, as she details the links that tie women of any race, culture or class together;
“Her day wouldn’t be right without her make up, she’s never out of make up, she’s just like you and me but she’s homeless… In my sleep, I see her beggin’, reachin’ please, although the fault is not mine, I ask God, ‘Why?’”
4. Steve Hillage – Electrick Gypsies
Electrick Gypsies is a captivating track, mixing the pure sound of prog rock with a cowboy riff, dusted with the atmosphere of travelling through the country.
Steve Hillage opens his track with ominous electric growling, as if cleansing the air with thick fog of incense, allowing his melody to rise like the bright dawn upon the horizon.
Studded with catchy riffs, psychedelic solos and futuristic ELO-style elements, Electrick Gypsy carries mysticism within its lyrics alongside soul-cleansing visions of nature.
This track tells a story of forming your own commune and building temples of the ‘Electric Age’ to heal the world; “The gypsy life returns again in a form that’s very new, with motor-vans, electric sounds, and the colours of the rainbow, we’ll open up the old straight tracks and fertilize the earth, rediscover the healing sound and ride the psychic surf.”
5. Fleetwood Mac – Gypsy
Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac is a catchy yet atmospheric track, its 80s sound highlighted by captivating vocal melodies which hold a scattered sense of nostalgic sadness compared to the track’s otherwise uplifting soundscape.
This is a song about returning to your free-spirited ways, its lyrics riddled with lightning strikes and the beautiful scenes of nature, “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.”
Gypsy’s echoing outro line, “It all comes down to you” exhibits the gleaming strength, support and perseverance inherent within the bonds of a vibrant community.
6. Cypress Hill – Band Of Gypsies
Cypress Hill embrace a landscape of Eastern sound within their compelling hip-hop track, Band Of Gypsies.
Carried by the striking harmonic ambiance of distant lands, Cypress Hill’s lyrics paint a gritty picture of being a gypsy, threading lines like, “I put the fear of God in people,” and “Run together, unbreakable bloodline,” to give a cut-throat insight into cultural hatred, stereotypes and strength, unlike any other on our list.
7. The Ink Spots – The Gypsy
The Ink Spots’ 1946 track, The Gypsy is lush with cosy, vintage fireside ambience, telling a heartbroken tale of a fortune teller within a caravan.
As the narrator calls upon her mystical powers, he soon believes her untruthful prophecy, wrapping himself in a future that’s better than his melancholic reality;
“She looked at my hand and told me, my lover was always true, and yet in my heart I knew dear, somebody else was kissing you, but I’ll go there again ‘cause I want to believe the gypsy, that my love is true and will come back to me someday.”
This track is soothingly slow, calm and harnessing a beautiful, unique energy that’s been shamefully lost to the modern age.
8. Black Sabbath – Gypsy
Black Sabbath’s track Gypsy is loaded with a magnificent stadium-rock feel, studded with melodic basslines, Beatles-style vocal harmonies and satin guitar tones, whilst favouring strange, compelling structural movements which overthrow all expectations.
Their lyrics capture the ambience of crystal balls, dreams, ghosts and gloom, woven into a tale of meeting a fortune teller who prophesies misfortune and terror in days ahead, “With eyes of fire that were burning my soul, she looked into her crystal ball, she read my fortune then she read my mind, she didn’t like my thoughts at all, she showed me shadows, a spectre of life, my soul just wanted to scream.”
Black Sabbath illustrate their fortune teller as having indomitable power over men, as she embraces the ancient force of femininity to keep souls trapped beneath her spell, “You are the queen of all hell, you took my body, now you’re wasting my soul, you’ve got me under your spell.”