I love this song, and so do you.
I've always been a big fan of 90's House music and this whole 90's electro music scene, and of those songs this is the one that appears to have had the most staying power. every couple of years it's resurrected into a new meme or tiktok trend we have to resurrect the controversial name.
But I don't want to talk about that because this song is based on a true story and it always stuck out to me as an example of the dark and grotesque inequities at the heart of this song.
I'm going to add some context I got from Wikipedia and extrapolate from there,
She is a Business and comp-sci major for a well connect somewhat prestigious family that got a job as fed making arrest warrants. Remember that now.
When asked about the inspiration for the song Crystal has given this story,
"When it comes to the song itself, the lyrics came straight out of reality. It's about a woman who stood in front of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Connecticut Avenue. My sister worked in the hotel and I'd walk past this woman around once a week, and she looked fine. She didn't look like she was homeless. She always had a full face of makeup and black clothes and she'd be singing these gospel songs. I used think, "Well, why don't you go and get a job instead of asking me for money?" Then there was an article on her in the paper! It said she'd just lost her job in retail, and she said that she thought if she was going to ask people for money then she should at least look presentable. And that changed my idea of homelessness. It could happen to anyone. Before that, I just had the hook down. Then I read that and the lyrics came to me. Like she was singing it."
When it comes to the song itself, the lyrics came straight out of reality. It's about a woman who stood in front of the Mayflower hotel in Washington, DC, on Connecticut Avenue. My sister worked in the hotel and I'd walk past this woman around once a week, and she looked fine. She didn't look like she was homeless. She always had a full face of makeup and black clothes and she'd be singing these gospel songs. I used think, "Well, why don't you go and get a job instead of asking me for money?"
I want to thank Ms. Waters for her honestly in this, It's a cruel but common sentiment that people have towards the unhoused and poverty in general, especially when you are coming up in an environment that is so far removed from the conditions of poverty that cause housing insecurity.
Now that I've gotten the formalities of etiquette completed I commence dragging her.
This song is so fucked up lyrically and shiftily pretentious and embarrassing yo.
The song can be best described as:
The Singer having an emotional breakdown at the prospect of acknowledging the humanity of the homeless. She is pleading and crying and desperately negotiating her own guilt, because she realized, "HOLY SHIT THAT COULD'VE BEEN ME"
You know that scene in Avatar the Last Airbender when Zuko is out cold for 3 days because he showed a modicum humanity to children.
Image description for the visually sociology-econically impaired: Rich bitch performs a single helpful act and immediately has a personal crisis and dies.
It's all very suspect when you consider the success and longevity of the song and the fact that outside of this mention Crystal gives in her interviews, the story of the "G*psy Woman" basically ends there. There does not appear to be any conversation about royalties or even if she had gone and spoke to the woman she based her song off of, the story basically concludes with this homeless persons strength inspiring Crystal and then she and her producer friends recorded it and some other songs, it started taking off and then a few years later Crystal quit hr job to pursue music full time.
I want to drag her more but reading about how she didn't feel comfortable quitting her job until atleast 2 years after the song started getting big, kind of makes me question just how much money she could have made from it. Blaming, Crystal for the naming and framing of the song is irresponsible, the techno/electro scene was filled with so many shadowing producers making quick in studio decisions in order to maximize marketability that it's a surprise Crystal sincerity was able to make through the corporate refining process of music scene.
Regardless, I consider that to a good reason for the erasure of the woman and her exploitation, let's get this straight: The woman who is being sung about is not of Romaji descent. It would be worse if she was, but clearly not Crystal nor the music producers or the marketers ever really bothered to check on the background of the titular Homeless woman.
Her background is not mentioned, I am unable to find the article that Crystal mentions, and thus I am only go off of her accounts. It is depressing that even in a song about a homeless person, (which very few exist despite it becoming a larger and larger problem) they are marginalized and exploited for the enjoyment of housing secure people. Crystal was able to quit her job as a Warrant Officer in most times today the controversy of the song does not go beyond the mere use of the slur in it's title, not much care is given to the subject beyond Crystal's personal experience with it.
It's gross to it's core and has always upset me.
But damn if I don't love that jam.
Lyrics
She wakes up early every morning
Just to do her hair now
Because she cares, yeah
Her day, oh, wouldn't be right
Without her makeup
She's never without her makeup
She's just like you and me
But she's homeless
She's homeless
As she stands there singing for money
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
In my sleep, I see her begging
Reaching, please
Although her body is not mine
I ask her why
God, why
She's just like you and me
But she's homeless
She's homeless
As she stands there singing for money
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
She's just like you and me
As she stands there singing for money
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
Ooh-ah
Ooh-ah
Ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah
Ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
Ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah
Ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
La da dee la dee dow
Hello
We
Don't you know, don't you know
We
Don't you know
Ooh-ah ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah
Ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah, ooh-ah