THE ALLUSIONS
Gypsy Woman
(Dorsey Burnette - Joe Osborn)
Australia 1966
#11 Sydney #18 Brisbane

Mersey influenced beat band from Sydney. See the Allusions page at Milesago and Chris Spencer's review at HowlSpace.

On CD: Sixties Downunder Vol. 3
Buy At Sanity.com.au

RICKY NELSON
Gypsy Woman
(Dorsey Burnette - Joe Osborn)
USA 1963
Original version
#14 Melbourne

Single on Decca label, B-side of String Along. Also on 1963 LP For Your Sweet Love.

Double-sided hit in Melbourne with String Along. (In Brisbane and Adelaide String Along alone charted.)

Co-writer Dorsey Burnette and his brother Johnny wrote several songs for Ricky Nelson. See the Official Dorsey Burnette Homepage.

Co-writer Joe Osborn is a legendary session bass player who was at this time a member of Ricky Nelson's band. His session credits are extensive, having been one of the "Wrecking Crew", nickname for an unofficial collection of first-call studio musicians in Los Angeles. See the Wikipedia entries on Joe Osborn and the Wrecking Crew.

Gypsy Woman was also recorded by 90s Washington State indie garage revivalists Mono Men.
THE IMPRESSIONS
Gypsy Woman
(Curtis Mayfield)
USA 1961
Red herring
#20 USA #17 Adelaide

Same title but not the same song as "Gypsy Woman" by The Allusions.

Also a 1970 hit for Brian Hyland (#3 USA, #45 UK, #35 Sydney, #4 Melbourne, #5 Brisbane, #11 Adelaide, #8 Perth).

MUDDY WATERS
Gypsy Woman
(Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield])
USA 1947
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as "Gypsy Woman" by The Allusions.

Also known as Gypsy Women. From Muddy Waters' first studio session, for the Aristocrat label in 1947, this became his first release, a 78 rpm single with Little Annie Mae. With Sunnyland Slim on piano.

Later versions:

THE SAINTS
Gypsy Woman
(Dorsey Burnette - Joe Osborn)
Australia 1981
Later version

B-side of single, Let's Pretend.

By this time, following the departure of Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay at the end of the 70s, only Chris Bailey remained from the line-up that produced the Saints' 1976 breakthrough single (I'm) Stranded.

Thanks to Aaron Curran for clarification.

References, further reading: 1. Saints history at Howlspce. 2. History and discography at Wikipedia. 3. Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (1999), pp. 546-548.

Corrections or comments? Contact the writer.