Gypsy

Song meaning of Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac, and what it is about

According to Nicks explanation, it was composed during the band's "very famous, very fast" rise to fame in 1978 or 1979. She was transported by the song to a previous era, a San Francisco flat where she had moved the mattress from her bed onto the floor.

The lyrics of "Gypsy" lyrically describe the narrator's early adulthood, including trips to a San Francisco clothes store, and nostalgically recall a carefree, earlier time. Stevie Nicks has indicated that "Gypsy" inspirations from yearning for her life prior to Fleetwood Mac. Nicks lived with Lindsey Buckingham before to joining the group; Buckingham would later join Fleetwood Mac. Though only their musical collaboration has endured, Nicks and Buckingham were romantically involved as well.

Nicks salary from her jobs as a server and cleaning lady barely covered their expenses.

They slept on a mattress right on the floor since they couldn't afford a bed frame. According to Nicks, the mattress had a flower and a vase on its side and was embellished with lace. She goes "back to her roots," removing her mattress from the frame and placing it "back to the floor," adorning it with "some lace, and paper flowers," whenever she senses that the spotlight is getting to her.

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.

Gypsy lyrics by Fleetwood Mac

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

To the gypsy... that I was

And it all comes down to you

Well, you know that it does

Well, lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice

Ah, and it lights up the night

And you see your gypsy

You see your gypsy

To the gypsy that remains faces freedom with a little fear

I have no fear, I have only love

And if I was a child

And the child was enough

Enough for me to love

Enough to love

She is dancing away from me now

She was just a wish

She was just a wish

And a memory is all that is left for you now

You see your gypsy

You see your gypsy

Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice

And it all comes down to you

And it all comes down to you

Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice

And it all comes down to you

I still see your bright eyes, bright eyes

And it all comes down to you

I still see your bright eyes, bright eyes

And it all comes down to you

I still see your bright eyes, bright eyes

(She was just a wish)

(She was just a wish)

And it all comes down to you

Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice

And it all comes down to you