In 2026, the word “gypsy” carries so much negative connotation that DC Comics has to rename one of their characters and Mystery Science Theater 3000 changed their robot’s name to “GSP” to keep her familiar. True, the word has been used as a racial slur against the Romani people, but only in a part of Europe most of us have only heard of. If we were discussing the Cher song “Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves”, which frankly would make a good entry in this series, I’d dig into that more. For the purpose of this review, however, let’s use the way most of us did before our current culture of the easily offended, even when that particular person isn’t part of the group that should be offended.
For me growing up in the US, the “gypsy” was a traveller, possibly a travelling performer. The term usually refers to free spirits, which is how Stevie Nicks was using in the song “Gypsy”. Originally planned for one of her solo albums, it instead ended up on Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 “Mirage”, and became one of the singles from that album. Nicks would make her own music but still served as Fleetwood Mac’s lead singer at the same time, part of her up and down relationship with Lindsey Buckingham. We’re going to ignore the drama, but uncovering the story behind this song and what it’s about requires mentioning him because he’s part of it.
Sadly, there’s also a note of tragedy as one her friend’s is also an inspiration for the song…due to a terminal illness. The song is thus a reflection of her time with two important people in her life, though not necessarily about either of them. Check the lyrics and I’ll explain.
My information, by the way, comes from two of my favorite sites for music history for this article series, this article by American Songwriter and this post at Genius.com, if you want to check my sources. In the article Nicks goes over the main inspiration, part of her time with Buckingham, guitarist for the band and fellow songwriter, which seemed like a simpler time through the veil of nostalgia.
“Okay: In the old days, before Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey 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” (2009).
The Velvet Underground was a clothing store that Nicks used to shop at, and was also a favored haunt by Janis Joplin, one of her inspirations. It harkens back to a time when she was still chasing her career goals. It may not be a great life to some, but there’s something about such a memory that feels positive because of where her life led. They didn’t have much, but they had each other and their musical goals…which given how their relationship went may seem a lot better off. I’ll let you look up all of that on their own, but they seem to get along now, which is nice.
Remember that bit of tragedy? Genius has the longer explanation.
One of the biggest hits by the band, “Gypsy” is both a nostalgic reflection on Stevie Nicks’s free-spirited life before joining Fleetwood Mac and a tribute to her late friend, Robin Snyder Anderson.
Written between 1978 and 1979, the ballad was going to be on Stevie Nicks’s solo album, Bella Donna. When Nicks’s childhood friend Anderson, who was also pregnant at the time, told her she’d been diagnosed with terminal leukemia, Nicks saw the song in a new light. She then decided to save the song for Fleetwood Mac’s next album.
“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.”
So while the song goes back through her history, it’s filled with both happy memories and more recent tragedy. Anderson died a little after the song came out, hopefully with a healthy baby but neither source says. American Songwriter didn’t even mention the pregnancy in their article:
“Gypsy” holds an upbeat, bouncy tone that conveys the carefree nature of the song’s subject matter.Referencing all of Nicks’ favorite memories of simplicity, it encompasses the artistic freedom that comes with an early music career.Originally, Nicks dedicated the line “I still see your bright eyes” to one of her closest friends, Robin Anderson. Unfortunately, Robin suffered from leukemia and passed away shortly after the song was written, developing the song’s dual meanings of emotional tribute and self-liberation.
“So that’s what ‘Gypsy’ means: it’s just a search for before this all happened” (Nicks, 2009)
When I heard the song prior to this, I thought the gypsy was a woman that was a passing interest. One of the prompts on a Google search was whether or not this was a romantic song. You know, one of those songs about a passing romance as she didn’t stick around with her lover, and given her romance being part of the inspiration it’s easy to see, especially with the scenes from the music video conveys none of this, the reason I ignore them for this article series. However, it’s about better times through nostalgia and the pain of a friend’s upcoming passing triggering those memories, because those events might have been rough at the time but it brought two important people into her life: her boyfriend and fellow contributor, and her best friend, both of which she lost to differing circumstances. That’s why I’m glad Nicks and Birmingham reportedly are on good terms with each other even if the romance died back around the time of the song coming out. They’re happy memories not because the time were good but because of what she got out of those rough times. I very much appreciate that.
We’ll get to you another time, Cher. The term is worth exploring through a modern lens, but back then “gypsy” didn’t have as negative a connotation to the rest of us. It was about free spirited drifters that may or may not be crooks. Like how the hobo was romanticized at one point but must have been a terrible way to live. Words change over time, but remembering where they came from and meant in the past is important to remembering that past for good…and not so good. Memories and the past are important because they make us who we are. Why do you think amnesia makes for a good story trope?
