Sunday, February 5, 2017

"She told me more about me than I knew myself"



Singer-actor Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California in 1946. Her father was of Armenian descent; her mother claims Irish, English, German and Cherokee ancestry.

My first memory of Cher was when she and her former husband Sonny Bono had the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which ran on the CBS network from 1971 to 1974. Before that, Sonny & Cher were voices on the radio, singers of duets like "I Got You, Babe" (1965) and "The Beat Goes On" (1967), the only one-chord song to become at Top 10 hit.


As the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour progressed (it went off the air at the height of its popularity, when the couple divorced), so too did Cher's solo career. With each song she sang she was someone new. In 1971 she was a gypsy; in 1973, an indigenous woman; and in 1974 -- a gypsy killer!



GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES
(Bob Stone)

I was born in the wagon of a travellin' show
My mama used to dance for the money they'd throw
Papa would do whatever he could
Preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good

Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us gypsys, tramps, and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down

Picked up a boy just south of Mobile
Gave him a ride, filled him with a hot meal
I was sixteen, he was twenty-one
Rode with us to Memphis
And papa woulda shot him if he knew what he'd done

Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us gypsys, tramps, and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down

I never had no schooling but he taught me well
With his smooth Southern style
Three months later I’m a gal in trouble
And I haven’t seen him for a while, uh huh
I haven’t seen him for a while, uh huh

She was born in the wagon of a travellin’ show
Her momma had to dance for the money they’d throw
Grandpa’d do whatever he could
Preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good


HALF-BREED
(Al Capps, Mary Dean)

My father married a pure Cherokee
My mother's people were ashamed of me
The Indians said I was white by law
The White Man always called me "Indian Squaw"

Half-breed, that's all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, she's no good they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born

We never settled, went from town to town
When you're not welcome you don't hang around
The other children always laughed at me
"Give her a feather, she's a Cherokee"

Half-breed, that's all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, she's no good they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born

We weren't accepted and I felt ashamed
Nineteen I left them, tell me who's to blame
My life since then has been from man to man
But I can't run away from what I am

Half-breed, that's all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, she's no good they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born

Half-breed, that's all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, she's no good they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born


DARK LADY
(John Robert Durrill)

Dark lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one
Danced to her gypsy music till her brew was done
Dark lady played back magic till the clock struck on the twelve
She told me more about me than I knew myself

She dealt two cards, a queen and a three
And mumbled some words that were so strange to me
Then she turned up a two-eyed jack,
My eyes saw red but the card still stayed black

She said the man you love is secretly true
To someone else who is very close to you
My advice is that you leave this place,
Never come back and forget you ever saw my face

Dark lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one
Danced to her gypsy music till her brew was done
Dark lady played back magic till the clock struck on the twelve
She told me more about me than I knew myself

So I ran home and crawled in my bed,
I couldn't sleep because of all the things she said
Then I remembered her strange perfume,
And how I smelled it was in my own room!

So I sneaked back and caught her with my man,
Laughing and kissing till they saw the gun in my hand
The next thing I knew they were dead on the floor,
Dark lady would never turn a card up anymore

Dark lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one
Danced to her gypsy music till her brew was done
Dark lady played back magic till the clock struck on the twelve
She told me more about me than I knew myself

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