Lou Christie – "The Gypsy Cried" (1962)

I had some trouble with my baby

So I had my fortune read

In 1958, a 15-year-old Pittsburgh-area high schooler named Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco met Twyla Herbert, a 37-year-old, red-haired former concert pianist.  The odd couple wrote hundreds of pop songs over the next 30 years, including five top-40 hit singles.

When Lugee approached local record producer/distributor Nick Cenci in 1962 with a demo of one of those songs, “The Gypsy Cried,” Cenci agreed to release it if Sacco would change his name.

Lou Christie’s eponymous debut album 

Presto, change-o, Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco became Lou Christie.  His father liked his son’s new moniker because it had “Christ” in it.

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It should come as no surprise that “The Gypsy Cried” is about a visit to a fortuneteller.  After all, Twyla Herbert claimed to be a clairvoyant who could predict which of Lou Christie’s  records would be hits.

I wonder if she predicted that “The Gypsy Cried” would sell a million copies and make it all the way to #24 on the Billboard “Hot 100.” 

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If you’re a loyal 2 or 3 lines fan, February is probably your favorite month.  

That’s because we celebrate the shortest month of the year by giving you a 2 or 3 lines post every single day during February.

Lou Christie and Twyla Herbert in 1963

Yes, it’s a daunting task to produce so much content with compromising our quality standards.  But we love our fans, and we want to reward you for viewing 2 or 3 lines almost one million times to date.

We’d love to give each and every one of you a big wet kiss to show our appreciation – and who knows where that kiss would lead?

But our lawyers have said “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” each time we’ve suggested doing that, and I’ve learned the hard way that you have to listen to your lawyers!  (I’d explain, but we paid a lot of money to get ironclad nondisclosure agreements from a number of women, and it would be pretty foolish not to take advantage of them.) 

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We call our special February series “28 Songs in 28 Days” because you get 28 songs in 28 days.  (D'oh!)

The Sunday, February 3 post – Super Bowl Sunday – will feature a song by this year’s Super Bowl halftime performer, Maroon 5.

But the songs featured in all the other 27 February posts have something in common.  Let’s see how quickly you can figure out what this year’s theme is – it’s really not that hard.

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Click here to listen to “The Gypsy Cried."

And click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon.