A Young Gypsy

Album: Where Are You Now, My Son? (1973)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Baez wrote this song about her son Gabriel; the giveaway is the last line, "For the gypsy is two years old."

    Joan Baez was born in New York in 1941, and met fellow antiwar activist David Harris after her October 1967 arrest for civil disobedience; they were both interned in the Santa Rita county jail, California. For a while the two lived together in his draft resistance commune; they married shortly, but Harris was arrested again while she was pregnant with their son, and her only child. Gabriel Harris was born in December 1969. Baez and Harris divorced amicably in 1973, and they shared custody. Although obviously intensely personal, this is a fairly light acoustic number in comparison with most of her political songs. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.