Monday Music "Gypsies, Tramp and Thieves" by Cher

I mentioned last week while I did a writeup for Cher on her song "If I could hold back time" and I had mentioned about her earlier song called "Gypsies, Tramp and Thieves", that song was on my Dad's reel to reel recorder that he listened to on a regular basis so I heard the song all the time and it was imprinted on me at my young age I guess.  I have done the same thing with my son and my 80's music :)  I do hear this song on my Sirius/XM when I switch to the 70's channel for a bit of a break on on the 80's channel.  It don't last long, I will roll back to the music of "my" decade

"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the first single from Cher's 1971 eponymous album Cher with instrumental backing by L.A session musicians from the Wrecking Crew. The album was subsequently renamed and re-released as Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves after the success of the single. The song was written by songwriter Bob Stone as a story-song called "Gypsys, Tramps and White Trash". Producer Snuff Garrett advised that the title be changed and Stone then changed it to "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". The album of the same name got very positive reviews.
Released four years after her last top ten hit "You Better Sit Down Kids", this song was a comeback single for Cher—it was her first single in four years to chart higher than #84—not only returning her to the top ten of the charts but also giving her two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1971. It knocked off "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart which had spent the previous month at number one. The single also reached #1 in Canada and #4 in the United Kingdom. It became Cher's best-selling single at that point, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide. As of November 2011, Billboard reported the digital sales of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" to be 212,000 in the US.^[4]
The song describes the life of a girl, the narrator of the song, who was "born in the wagon of a traveling show". Her mother "used to dance for the money they'd throw", while her father would do "whatever he could; preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good". Although the people of the town insulted them with such terms suggested in the title of the song, the men paid them well "every night" for their services.
When a young man is picked up in Mobile, the narrator is 16, while he is 21. Her family took care of him for a while and allowed him to travel with them to Memphis, although her father "would have shot him if he knew what he'd done", implying that he had sex with the narrator. Three months later, the narrator describes herself as a "gal in trouble", and her young man has disappeared.
Echoing the beginning of the song, the narrator's own daughter was "born in the wagon of a traveling show", while the narrator now dances "for the money they throw" and "Grandpa" — the narrator's own father — supported them in just the same way as before.
The title of this song has also been shown with the alternative spelling "Gypsies", this being a correct spelling of this word.

The album was originally released in 1971. In 1992 it was released on CD for the first time. In August 1999, the US version of the album was re-issued on Universal Records and in the UK in 1993 the original album and Cher's next studio album Foxy Lady were re-issued together on one CD called Cher/Foxy Lady, which features all of the tracks from both albums.
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", the album's first single release, reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the UK Singles Chart. "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was her first number one in US as a solo artist on both Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Adult Contemporary chart, it also reached number one in Canada and in Japan. The song was performed live on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, featuring Cher dressed as a gypsy wearing a huge wig singing in front of a wagon. The second and last single was the opening track "The Way of Love". It peaked at #7 in US, #2 in the Adult Contemporary chart and #5 in Canada. The song's melody sounds very similar to the melody of the 1970 hit "It's Impossible" by Perry Como. Both tracks were performed on numerous Cher's tours