"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