Goodbye Baby Interpretation

[WednesdaysChild]

Here we go...here's the lyrics, feel free to add your opinions!

Goodbye Baby
music and lyrics by Stevie Nicks

Don't take me to the tower
And take my child away
It was I who was the hourglass
And the sands of time like shattering glass went past me
Like a tunnel to the sea
And I who went to sleep as two
Woke up as one now only you remain
You'll close your eyes and travel back
To the time when the light went fading fast
And the words you'll never, never forget, oh no
As you slipped away

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

And I who went to sleep in tears
Woke up in tears
For all of the years
And I who never, never said goodbye
As I slipped away

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

Yes I'll be with you one day

[WednesdaysChild]

It's been rumoured that this song was written by Stevie about an abortion. Some people think it's about Lindsey, or perhaps another lover. I think it's about an abortion--and I would love to debate over that (if it is or isn't)--but I'm going to ask before we start that everyone uses sensitivity and precaution when posting. Thanks :)

Here's some questions to get us started...

Who is "baby"? We know that it's a favorite appellation of Stevie's, especially in "When I See You Again" from Tango, as well as "Imperial Hotel" from Rock a Little. Is she just using it because she says it a lot, or is there a deeper meaning?

Is Stevie singing to someone OR could someone be talking to HER in certain parts of the song? If you are confused, let me know, and I'll show you where I see it.

Why do you think she repeated the chorus so many times? As a sort of trance-like song?

What is with the "as YOU slipped away" and the "as I slipped away"? Why the change of lyrics?

Imagery to discuss (now I sound like an English teacher):
~tower
~beach/water things
~glass

We know it's a sad song, but is it optimistic or pessimistic?

Have fun! :wavey:

[Bella Figura]

this song has much personal meaning to me so I'm not going to do a full interp but just add some thoughts and feelings

the first couplet seems to about losing a child. It could be about an abortion but it also could be just as easily about miscarriage or SIDS or any way one loses a child to death. The tower represents the inability to control and prevent this loss, the parent feels unable to stop the loss...

the lyrics which follow are a retrace of the path ones life has taken to reach this sad point...Grief always has an element of reliving over each step that led up to the loss...

It was I who was the hourglass
And the sands of time like shattering glass went past me
Like a tunnel to the sea...Stevie has used this lyric many times in many forms. Somehow, I think this snippet of words is a core definition of who she is and her perception of her place in this world...it is how she sees her life's journey...

And I who went to sleep as two...here Stevie has deliberately changed the lyrics to create some sort of love-loss song, a torch song, a couple thing for the average listener. The song turns from grief over the loss of a child to grief over loss in general, not just of a lover but the loss of life's dreams. It is the lifepath change that occurs in your 20's or 30's when you veer from the hopes & dreams of youth to the reality of this world...

The repetitiveness of "Goodbye Baby" really reminds me of When I See you Again, it does evoke a music box dream quality which both Stevie and Lindsey have used numerous times in their music. but again Stevie changes the lyrics from a simple plaintive wail of goodbye baby to:

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

The refrain has changed with additional words of wisdom that Stevie feels she has gained throughout the years. The knowledge that pain is part of living, the knowledge and acceptance of self, and the neverending hope (which even age cannot dim) that you can never really lose someone you love even in death...

this becomes the final positive message of the song which is through loss, you gain wisdom and that helps you go on...

And when you hold yourself and know that
There were two...
Now only you remain... as a final note, this lyric is from the Tower demo but Stevie completely tossed out it out in the final version of Goodbye Baby. but it really shows how The Tower is a raw emotional song about grief and pain. Whereas Goodbye Baby becomes a reflective introspective song about overcoming grief, loss and finally letting go.

[WednesdaysChild]

Thanks Bella for getting the ball rolling! :)

[DownOnRodeo]

Just some thoughts ..



Don't take me to the tower
And take my child away

--> Abortion abortion abortion.

It was I who was the hourglass
And the sands of time like shattering glass went past me
Like a tunnel to the sea

---> What Bella Figura said :laugh:

And I who went to sleep as two
Woke up as one

--->abortion... but,

now only you remain

---> This is where the pronouns become will-o-wisps and it's anyone's guess on the 'correct' interpretation. So I'll have a punt and say that although the baby was the one taken away, at least it was taken away to 'a quiet place' of peace and rest (I understand Stevie believes in heaven), whereas she was left with life but a life tainted now by guilt and loneliness and regret. So in many ways she woke up from the procedure feeling she had 'died' to let the baby get peace.
Sounds strange, but oh well, that's what you get when the pronouns are confusing :)

You'll close your eyes and travel back
To the time when the light went fading fast
And the words you'll never, never forget, oh no
As you slipped away

---> So yeah, the focus is again on Stevie now, or the listener who has lost a love, recounting how in one moment of darkness when someone was leaving, there was one last, albeit brief farewell. It can be so painful to lose someone w/out the chance to say goodbye - perhaps this song is about getting that closure ... especially since communication means so much to Stevie.

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken

---> Outspoken? Hmm ... this is maybe just Stevie admitting the reason for the abortion - her 'outspoken' character being the driving force behind her stellar career, which was pretty much why she didn't settle down and have a family.

You were with me all the time

----> "Sara, you're the poet in my heart" anyone?

I'll be with you one day

---> "When you build your house, I'll come by."

And I who went to sleep in tears
Woke up in tears
For all of the years
And I who never, never said goodbye
As I slipped away

---> So now she's coming to terms with the realty of it - she is still alive, but she still feels the sorrow, and must carry on. And finally that admission that she'd never really said a sufficient 'goodbye', feeling guilty about the lack of closure, as she slipped away from the wreckage of that doomed relationship.

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

Goodbye baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day

Yes I'll be with you one day


re: the beach imagery. Stevie sees the ocean as the 'constant in her life'. It is great and powerful, yet at the shoreline it can be deceptively calm and placid. It's tempting yet frightening. Sort of like a 'window to another world' in many ways, in terms of 'other lands' being over the horizon if only you could just see over a bit more. So maybe she uses the beach as an idea of a 'gateway' between places, times, moods, and in this case, spirits and loves.

Feel free to NOT use ANY of that in the interp, Jen! :laugh: :distress:

[WednesdaysChild]

Hahaha, Joe....you did a great job! Maybe I WILL use some of it ;), but I am waiting for more postings...I really thought more people would be into this.:distress:

[tommer]

welcome to my longest ever post, i'll do my best to make it an interesting one... :D

I think “Goodbye Baby” is the best song on SYW, and one of Stevie's most touching songs ever. In fact, this song is so good, and was so loved by so many fans for so long in it's demo form, that the first question which needs to be asked is, “Why did it take her so many years to get back to it, and finally allow it it's rightful place in the ‘Stevie canon’?”

Note how intimate this song is - Stevie showcases her soul's deepest wounds. Pay attention to how she's almost not singing it. Instead, she whispers it, like it wasn't us who were meant to hear it - it's a lullaby for her little unborn baby.

Like those above me, I also see the word "abortion" written all over it. My feeling is that when Stevie now comes back to this song, so many years after it was written, she sings it from a different perspective, when she had that abortion. She probably didn't guess that this child was so irreplaceable, now, when Stevie is in her 50's and childless, this unborn child gets a totally different meaning.

I see in this text many conflicts, some obvious, some subconscious, in Stevie's attitude and personality.

The song starts in future tense, and then dives immediately to the past and to the present back and forth. Time is a key element; could it be like an attempt to turn back the clock? A chance to reconciliate with her hard made decision?

Stevie speaks to her child as if he/she was alive, as if denying his/her death which was caused by his/her loving mother.

On some level, this song is a very therapeutic piece. The longing for this baby symbolizes the attempt for cleansing, which could be achieved by the mother's suffering; the punishment in the form of eternal sorrow for this baby. Yet on the other hand, one can see suppression, and even a total denial to the fact that this child had never really existed in reality.

The narrator of the song is Stevie's id, her words explode and reveal her emotional pulses, her revelation reveals her, it characterizes her. It’s as if she's sorry for the lack of pursuing her motherly impulses, now when it's already too late.

Like every one of Stevie's songs, this song is full of symbolism which are a vital part in trying to understand it's meaning;

“The Tower” - as mentioned on these boards before (can't recall by whom, sorry), might refer to the Cedars Sinai Towers. A tower also symbolizes loneliness and isolation (note Rapunzel).

The hourglass- an hourglass is a symbol to the perfection of a woman's figure, and it's also a symbol for life's sparseness, the sand means worthlessness, the sands of time turn into a breaking glass which shatters the transparency and harmony. The glass fragments wounds and cuts, as they pierce their way through her, into the sea; the eternal vessel of loss.

While the baby is being taken away, Stevie resembles herself to the tunnel - a tunnel represents the path between life and death; it is the tunnel which leads us out of our mothers' womb, and the tunnel of light which will eventually guide us to heaven. Stevie's baby's tunnel washes him/her to the sea.

"and I who went to sleep as two
woke up as one now only you remain"

Sad words indeed. If I may speculate, it might be possible that she did the abortion under anesthesia. She goes to sleep as two souls, but when awaken again, she's left as only a single soul. The amazing thing is, that she is not the survivor; it is the baby who remains! What causes this role replacement? It's the self hatred; the guilt argues that in fact, it is the mother who is the victim here.

Like some ancient human burnt offering, in certain aspects every victim resembles the end of hope, the end of continuity, the essence of life. Our baby here is a slaughter for Stevie's mental determinism.

Now, the baby's life's light rapidly diminishes; his/her mother cries out those painful farewell words- which are the song's chorus.

Stevie hopes that the baby's heart did not break despite the mother's betrayal, it's a cynic admission. She asks for forgiveness, and also that she/he will remember her, the reason: she was candid about it and the loss will be carried by her eternally. She confesses her inability to really put it all behind her.

Could it be that she's expecting some incarnation for her baby? Will his/her betrayed soul ever find peace? Stevie expects to meet her baby again once her day's gonna come too. When this re-acquaintance occurs, he/she will have Mommy back, like she carried his/her memory in her thoughts while her lifetime.

"and I who went to sleep in tears
woke up in tears for all of the years
and i who never said goodbye
as i slipped away"

Double meaning here - was Stevie's cry constant while all those years, or was it a crying BECAUSE of them? In both cases, it's a plea for forgiveness, and look at the parallelization here; earlier, it was the baby who slipped from existence, in this last sentence, the roles are being shifted again, and the end of the baby is now in fact his/her mother's ending.

(special thanks to Livia for the editing :cool: )

[WednesdaysChild]

Great job, Tommer! Thanks! :wavey:

[tommer]

Originally posted by WednesdaysChild
Great job, Tommer! Thanks! :wavey:
i'm honored. tho i think that the time this piece took me to write, marks the hopeless chances for me to attempt such an effort again anytime soon :laugh: