Thanks for the compliments! Feel free to send an email if you have any writing you want to share.

I first heard the song from an interview with Pete Fornatele, so there were no chords. Today I bought the album and found out that the chorus has chords over it which kinda change the impression. I think I liked the guitar-voice version better. Perhaps I'll get used to the new version too.
It's a great song. When I listen to it, I think: "What a big happiness it would have been to be Suzanne's boyfriend and be gifted such a song!"

I picked up Solitude Standing in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and love te song Gypsy...Was it a single?..It says it was written in 1978, was Suzzanna a proffesional singer then or was it before she turned pro?...

Suzanne's first officially-acknowledged public performance was on 2 January 1977 (at "The Pit"), and she spent the summer of 1978 at Camp Che-Na-Wah using her folk music and disco dancing prowess to "encourage young women to explore the wonders of nature, experience the independence of group living, and excel beyond expectations."

Presumably she was hired on the basis of her musical and disco dancing abilities, and paid whatever meager pittance camp counselors normally receive, but whether she would be considered a "professional" singer at that point would depend on one's definition of the term -- her first paid gigs didn't really begin until two summers later.

Clearly, though, the endurance of Gypsy as one of the most beloved and requested songs in Suzanne's repertoire demonstrates that she was remarkably talented even as a teen.

Was it Ringo?...

Why would a listener get 'obssessed' with Gypsy?...it's a song, it touches something in your heart, you feel a wistful innonence, and you smile.

-Erin
I did that too! I re wrote the lyrics to Gypsy to fit with a....person....and I'm going to give it to him for his birthday. I think it'll go down well. Very beautiful song :D

I'm new here so forgive me for gushing. Music is important to me - two iPods and thousands of songs. "Gypsy" is without a doubt the prettiest song I have ever heard, ever. SV is special - a singer-songwriter-poet - looking at all her work, maybe the female Bob Dylan (except, of course, she can sing). I am amazed to learn here that a teenager could write like that.

Well OK maybe I'm a little disappointed and jealous that the "real guy" knows who he is and that he "owns" that song for a summer love and a bandana. So then more questions: story of the "bump upon his head", and in what way was he distracted by dimples and curls (the cad)?

}

I just bought a new computer, specifically because of SV. When her website informed me she had been the first superstar to do a live concert on SecondLife, I HAD to go there in hopes of repeat performances, other concerts, and music/book discussions. BUT my previously monster PC couldn't handle the graphics and memory requirements - so I got a new one the next day.

PLEASE DO IT AGAIN. I am totally in love with Laurie Anderson also.

Stephen wrote:

"When her website informed me she had been the first superstar to do a live concert on SecondLife..."

That's a funny coincidence. Only today I saw that performance, and a few hours later there's someone writing about it.

By the way, welcome to the Tow. I hope you enjoy it here.

j.c.

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JC -
Can you tell me how to see it also?

It took me a while to find the link again, but here it is: http://blip.tv/file/57262

That's the full performance, if you have troubles to see it, maybe you can see the individual segments sliced on the Second Mind blog: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/08/nwntv_the_secon.h tml

Just scroll down and find Suzanne.

Have fun!
j.c.

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OK this is going to be embarrassing so I apologize in advance. If you read above, you know I think "Gypsy" is the prettiest song I have ever heard, and I have heard a lot. BUT I actually was disappointed to learn that SV says the song is just ABOUT one of her summer loves. I have to disagree (with SV????!!!!) - I think it was INSPIRED by a summer romance, but that's not necessarily what it's ABOUT. She isn't a balladeer, she's a poet, and she can't help herself - she puts more meaning into what she writes than just a story.

As talented as she is, SV seems to have an even more special talent for writing very beautiful songs about very strange, sad or even ugly topics, such as child abuse and war. I said above that she is a poet - to me meaning that often she doesn't just slap you in the face with the meaning, but lets you figure out what it says to YOU. "Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins is another example of a very pretty song, but it's not quite as poetic as SV's tend to be. And there have of course been lots of songs about war - I like "Eve of Destruction" and "With God on Our Side", but those aren't really very poetic or PRETTY. And there are other songs about social problems, such as "Blowin' In the Wind", but again not particularly pretty or poetic. And songs about ugly personal bitterness, such as "Positively 4th Street", too obvious to be poetic and not particularly pretty. And there are interesting poetic songs such as "Like a Rolling Stone", but not pretty. And another one that strikes me as interesting, bitter and poetic - "Broadway", by the Goo-Goo Dolls - but it's a rock song, not PRETTY. Lots of Bob Dylan songs thrown into all that, one reason that I compared her to him above. BUT ANYWAY, the point of all that rambling is just that NOBODY combines beauty, poetry, and sad or unpleasant topics like SV does.

Sorry - back to my original strange point, which is that even though SV thinks that "Gypsy" is just about a summer romance, she is possibly wrong, BECAUSE it is just too poetic to be confined to that story. Okay, she was INSPIRED by that time, but to people who hear and love the song, that's not necessarily what it is ABOUT. What I am asking for here is for people to post on what they thought the song was ABOUT to them before they found out it was inspired by an SV summer romance (one lucky guy, what?).

Here are some points (not all I have) that support my contention that "Gypsy" is way too poetic to be just about a summer romance. (At least to ME the meaning is not all that obvious, but maybe I'm just an idiot like the college professor who explains the book to the author).

The whole first verse, especially "coffee shops and morning streets", "night is the cathedral" and "we strangers know each other now as part of the whole design" makes me think of people in general who are lonely and alienated and seeking out like souls where they think they might be. It definitely implies something that is happening many times, not just once.

The second verse "jester of the courtyard" was obviously written by a girl (!!) so probably needs a girl or woman to interpret. Intellectual girls are sometimes bitter about unfair competition from girls who are prettier or more sexually direct? That's probably too simplistic, but I'm just a guy. And - in the "just a story" interpretation, does this mean she had to fight for the guy? Or wait in line while he got tired of the less interesting girls? (Idiot.)

The third verse maybe belies my contention here - maybe she really is just describing him. I'm definitely jealous of the guy and the wisdom she admires - and the "hands of raining water" - what does that mean? She doesn't seem to be sure why she likes him (even after fighting so hard to get him?): "tale of the fool", "simple rules", TWO uses of the word "strange". Maybe the guy had a real line for younger girls, you "arranger of disorder", you. (Is my own jealousy coming through at all?)

"Bump upon the head" - what does that mean? Both fan "brague" and I demand to know! Maybe he wasn't perfect, maybe he was a klutz and she is saying that women find imperfections endearing. Or maybe it was just something special that happened between them.

Last verse - don't ever come looking for me, buddy - does she just recognize that they don't fit, or that she's too young. OR, in the "lonely, alienated lifestyle" interpretation I suggested above, is the woman saying she prefers to go on being alienated and looking for kindred souls in bars and empty streets and coffee shops?

Okay here is my real problem - that I obviously don't fully understand the song, but there is somebody out there WHO DOES. I wish the "true story" explanation had never come out.

Anyway, what do other people think?

-- "It definitely implies something that is happening many times, not just once."

No, no, it's a one-time thing. It just happens a lot.

-- "Bump upon the head"

I think Suzanne has said this came from a bar fi

BobKing:

I like your comments, especially the references to other songs. My favorite part of what you say is "perversely romantic" and the comparison to "Before Sunrise". I read the lyrics of all the songs you mentioned and definitely see the connection.

That is exactly one of the things I was trying to say - there is a whole culture of people meeting in coffee shops, bars, and diners, having short relationships, fondly (or not) appreciating the good qualities in each other, and then moving on. To me the most memorable line in the song is "we strangers know each other now as part of the whole design". That's what tells you it's about more than just one encounter between just two people.

Also, the song says "now I've met me ANOTHER spinner...": I definitely took that to mean another guy. In the next verse you could even take that as ANOTHER, and she's telling each that she is fond of him, but doesn't want him as part of her life.

Maybe they are all perverse romantics or just victims of the "afraid to commit" cliche, or have seen so many bad relationships that they would rather have the memory than the change of lifestyle.

The girl in "Tom's Diner" is an observer and analyzer, not a participant. She probably picks up guys, experiences the pleasure and satisfaction of getting them to love her, then sends them on their way (as you said, a la TQATS). Kind of a bleak, sad lifestyle - that's what I meant about SV's ability to write beautiful songs about less-than-beautiful subjects.

Also thanks for the explanation of the bump on the head. I don't like it, but thanks. I don't like the "this is just a story" interpretation. I still like to think it means that women like men with quirky imperfections. I also don't like the fact that intelligent 17-year-old girls go out with guys who get into fights in bars. Who knows - I could be a father someday.