Ocean Gypsy
A Dunford and Thatcher ballad about the sun and the moon, and the most covered song in the Renaissance catalogue.
Renaissance, from Scheherazade and Other Stories (1975)
- Written by
- Michael Dunford, Betty Thatcher
- Released
- 1975
- Length
- 7:06
- Album
- Scheherazade and Other Stories
Ocean Gypsy is the third track on Scheherazade and Other Stories, recorded at Abbey Road in May 1975. Dunford wrote the music and Thatcher the words. Haslam has said it was one of the songs written specifically for her. Thatcher explained that she always thought of the sun as the man and the moon as the woman, and that "they're lovers and they never really meet." Ultimate Classic Rock calls it the signature Renaissance ballad.
It was never a charting single.
Live
The song opens side A of Live at Carnegie Hall, recorded with the New York Philharmonic over 20 to 22 June 1975, before the studio album was out. The BBC television programme Sight and Sound in Concert, first broadcast on 8 January 1977, included it. A BBC session version appears on BBC Sessions (1999), where a reviewer found it an absolutely stunning rendition. Setlist.fm logs it as one of the band's most played songs.
On stage
- 1975-06, Carnegie Hall, New York Three sold-out nights with the New York Philharmonic, issued as Live at Carnegie Hall in 1976.
Covers and versions
- Blackmore's Night (1997) Track 5 on Shadow of the Moon, 6:05, with a new mix on the 2023 anniversary edition.
More songs by Renaissance
Northern Lights, Trip to the Fair, Ashes Are Burning, Mother Russia, Can You Hear Me?
Sources
- Scheherazade and Other Stories, Wikipedia
- Betty Thatcher, Wikipedia
- 40 Years Ago: Renaissance Release Scheherazade and Other Stories, Ultimate Classic Rock
- Renaissance BBC Sessions review, Musical Discoveries
- Renaissance song statistics, setlist.fm
- Scheherazade And Other Stories (master), Discogs
- Renaissance (band), Wikipedia