Quote:
Originally Posted by bwboy
If Stevie didn't write I Don't Want to Know, then how would Mick and Lindsey putting it on Rumours in lieu of Silver Springs have made her feel better? Putting a Lindsey-penned song on in place of one written by Stevie would have made her angrier, actually, even if Lindsey agreed to let Stevie get credit for writing it. Stevie wanted songs actually written by her on the album.
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Yeah, it's not foolproof at all as a theory (and DownOnRodeo made some great counter points, too) but if MF is telling the truth, then when he told her that Silver Springs wasn't going to be on the album he also told her that IDWK was ready and waiting for her to put vocals on. That would imply that someone (LB?) was tasked with finding a SN composition that was short AND finished. From BN, other than Sorceror, she only had You Won't Forget Me/Telephone in a post-demo state....and...IDWK, but that song's never circulated in any forms other than 1/29/75 in Alabama and with LB singing/working out the arrangement with/for FM (I think I've heard 2 Rumours-era versions, the that's just LB and another that's the two of them and it sounds more finished than the LB only one).
So it could possibly have been a situation where "the boss" was like "we don't have the time/money/length on the LP to work on another one of your songs" and/or it could mean that Dealer and Planets were ruled out/refused (and perhaps others from that period, too).
So I imagine the only concession would be a guarantee of any royalty money from that song, which we know has always been important to her (and would be for anyone who's only getting 3 chances for $ per record—and it also depends on whether they had limits overall; she wasn't going to give up songwriting royalties opportunities*. I also imagine that any FM album that had publishing limits ("filler" songs) LB would be the one 'stuck' with those—as he also had his producer's fee and liked to experiment so those might have even been a chance to try out stuff (and he's on record in Destiny Rules talking about giving up royalty opportunities to make SYW)...
It's conceivable that she really didn't have a choice. And it's just odd that MF says it was recorded and ready for her vs. the TV doc line of "I pulled out this old song to replace it" (which is the extent to which I've seen it discussed).
*As per SN and royalties....it was Silver Springs that she donated the royalties to her mother? Maybe? And did I read once that Beautiful Child's royalties were gifted elsewhere, too?
And after Prince died we found out that he get 50% of Stand Back but he's not listed as a songwriter on it.
And this one I feel sort of proves both points. Edge of Seventeen, which was essentially built on/off/written over/inspired by The Police's Bring On The Night, only exists in working in-studio versions. Stand Back is the same, which she's said from day one was written over Little Red Corvette. (And just to be clear that I'm not trying to say she plagiarizes; it seems that she, like plenty of other musicians, are inspired by songs they hear, as in, those songs spark another song in their head, sometimes/often similar at some point or the sound is "lifted" in some way because it's the "I'm gonna take this part and do something else with it"...)
So the only songs of hers that don't seem to exist in demo form (rambling piano version, rambling drum machine version, the half-dozen or so two-chord strummers) are ones she has spoken about being written differently than her usual process (this would include I Can't Wait, which she says she was given the track and sang her topline and they recorded it really fast, and any of her Campbell etc. co-writes).
And to add to that, there's the issue of her stealing the Petty/Campbell track and recording the early Ooh My Love with FM before they told her to give it back (as many have pointed out, it's Runaway Trains)... AND THE ISSUE OF SAY YOU WILL, which is tough to untangle. The words/lyrics for Illume were written within a few days of 9/11, but the finished version is almost identical to Richard Ashcroft's New York (which could have been one of the above-mentioned situations, like one can see her chanting her Illume lyrics over that song, and the place its about is the same, so the song could have sparked hers)...WHY IS IT PRODUCED/ARRANGED LIKE THAT THOUGH? One would think they'd want to hide the similarities rather than risk plagiarism accusations—SN would be sensitive about that vis a vis Sara, which she clearly did write and did so before the woman who sued her said it was written— the question has always lingered as to whether that was SN's doing or LB's (and Say You Will is nearly identical to another track on Ashcroft's album).
Lots of sort of random points, but they are to bolster that a "slipperiness" (for lack of a better word) exists around songwriting credit with these people, but most specifically Nicks. Perhaps the long history of SN and LB using songs against each other goes beyond lyrics? Maybe IDWK is one of the roots of that LOL.
It would look bad for her to admit this in any way, but the idea that the others prepared one of her songs behind her back is more damning. It could be as simple as never wanting to talk about it because it really was the shortest/sweetest/easiest of her existing songs (and the one LB could prep with the band quickly) and they just said "this is the one. Sing over it." and that was that. So they don't talk about it because it's a really artless, business-y story.
It's just weird that it's so peppy for her. She herself has said that Angel was (one of) the only "happy" songs she wrote and even that only worked for part of the song.
I'm totally rambling; I didn't know I thought about this that much—LOL! I am somewhat convinced of a more "Occam's Razor" situation with the point about the lyrics/sound skewing towards early Nicks writing, but...