Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"The Gypsy" is a ballad composed in 1945 by Billy Reid, an English songwriter and bandleader. The song became a massive hit in 1946 when The Ink Spots took it to number one on the U.S. charts, making Reid the first British songwriter to top the American charts.

The tune follows a 32-bar AABA form, most commonly played in the key of C major. The melody unfolds gently through arpeggios and stepwise motion, complementing the narrative lyric in which a fortune teller is too kind to reveal the truth about the narrator's unfaithful lover. The harmony is relatively straightforward, but chromatic inner-voice movement in the A sections adds a wistful quality. It works best as a slow ballad, inviting expressive phrasing and rubato.

The definitive recording is The Ink Spots' 1946 version, featuring Bill Kenny's silky tenor and Hoppy Jones's trademark spoken-word interlude. Dinah Shore also scored a number one hit with her 1948 rendition, offering a more pop-oriented vocal approach.