Lady Gypsy

Album: Life on the Road (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • This pastoral folk tale is sung by comedian Ricky Gervais as his character David Brent from the UK comedy TV series The Office. It was recorded for the mockumentary movie David Brent: Life on the Road in which the sales rep takes a holiday to tour with his band Foregone Conclusion.
  • Brent recalls here an incident in his teenage years when he negotiated with a traveling temptress for the price of his virginity. Gervais explained to Q magazine:

    "A song about how David Brent first lost his fragility, but I think there must be a slightly fantasy element to it, cos I don't think he walked through some woods when he was 18 and fell into a Flake advert.

    A really affectionate parody of folk, even down to the fact that he can't say, 'When I was 18,' he has to say, 'When I had known only 18 summers.'

    I realized I must have unconsciously nearly based it on one of my favorite songs when I was a kid, a Cat Stevens song called 'The Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head.' It always someone going through the woods by themselves and finding their lover."

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