Song Lyric Sunday: Muddy Waters, “Gypsy Woman”

Song Lyric Sunday, Song of the Day 1 Minute

Jim’s prompt for today is "Fate, Fortune, Luck," and he spent a little time talking about gypsy women, and that was the approach I took here. Okay, actually I had already decided to use this song…

Anyway, "Gypsy Woman" was issued on the 1966 album The Real Folk Blues, which was a collection of singles that Muddy Waters had issued between 1947 and 1964. Looking at Discogs, it was written by McKinley Morganfield (i.e. Muddy) and recorded in 1948 with Sunnyland Slim on piano and Big Crawford on bass.

The lyrics were provided by the person who posted it, elena77gem…

You know the gypsy woman told me that you your mother’s bad-luck child
You know the gypsy woman told me that you your mother’s bad-luck child
Well, you’re having a good time now, but that’ll be trouble after while

Well, you know I went to a gypsy woman to have my fortune told
She say, “You better go back home son and peep through your, your key hole”
You know the gypsy woman told me that you your mother’s bad-luck child
Well, you’re having a good time now, but that’ll be trouble after while

Well, now, you know I went back home, I took the gypsy woman as she said
I peeped through my key hole and there was another man laying in my bed
You know the gypsy woman told me that you your mother’s bad-luck child
Well, you’re having a good time now, but that’ll be trouble after while

He re-recorded it in 1973, with slightly different lyrics, as "Mother’s Bad Luck Child" for the album Can’t Get No Grindin’, with his band from the ’70’s: Jerry Portnoy, harmonica; Bob Margolin and Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, guitars; Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, piano; Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, bass; and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, drums. As always, Muddy plays slide guitar and sings this one.

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for August 8, 2021.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

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11 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Muddy Waters, “Gypsy Woman””

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