I can't believe I've been neglecting "Beautiful Child" all these years - Page 2

CADreaming · #16 06-15-2011, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

You've been neglecting Beautiful Child for years?

I oughta get Child Services on your ass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by On Ice

Beautiful Child is a stunning song with probably the best Buckingham Nicks harmony interplay ever recorded.

Absolutely.

chriskisn · #17 06-15-2011, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jondalar

I love the melody to this song, but lyrically its too flaky

Sadly if we used that to determine which songs to listen to, we wouldn't be listening to Stevie Nicks

Dodfather · #18 06-15-2011, 10:10 AM

I didn't "get" this song for a while, it was nice but nothing special... and then then stunning performance on Live In Boston changed my mind. Wow.

WildHearted · #19 06-15-2011, 10:22 AM

I love everything about this song. Definitely one of my favorites. The melody, the lyrics, the instrumentation, everything. It's one of Stevie's best imo.

AnthonyMI · #20 06-15-2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodfather

I didn't "get" this song for a while, it was nice but nothing special... and then then stunning performance on Live In Boston changed my mind. Wow.

Most people don't get stevie till they have either been in love, heartbroken, or been dumped.

michelej1 · #21 06-15-2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tabruns

Do you have a source for this? I know that Nicks argued against Say You Will being a double album, but I've not seen where Nicks said anything about Tusk (other than that she hated the term "tusk").

In 1982 Stevie said,

Quote:

"Well Tusk wasn't my album. Tusk was maily Lindsey's conception, dream, everything he wanted to do. Everybody just figured that for whatever his reasons were, it was important that he do that and we just sort of sat back and let him do it. I don't mean to sound blase or anything. I was there. I just didn't have very much to do with it. Because if I had much to do with it, it wouldn't have been a double album and it wouldn't -- it wouldn't have been crazy."

louielouie2000 · #22 06-15-2011, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnystorms

one of the most stunning lyrics Stevie has ever written! not to mention the amazingly powerful vocal and the intricate production of LB. easily in my top 5 of her songs!!!

Agreed, the entire song is just sublime. Some of the best lyrics of her career. Some of the best singing of her career. One of the best produced songs of her career. This one is truly a diamond.

tabruns · #23 06-15-2011, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1

In 1982 Stevie said,

Most interesting. You'd think that she'd be in favor of a double album if only because it gets more of her songs out there.

fairydust75 · #24 06-18-2011, 01:33 AM

Has anybody every heard Stevie mention what this song is about? Any ideas? I love this song. I thought they did a great job with it on the SYW tour, simply beautiful...

sleepless child · #25 06-18-2011, 07:58 AM

I've always loved this song and I always wondered what it was about. I tend to think it was for Mick. All the songs from that era was about her relationship with him. Sara, Storms and I think Carol Harris said in her book that Angel was written for Mick. Beauty and the Beast was also recorded for Tusk in a blues style that ended up not being on the album and it was written for Mick also. So I think Beautiful Child is also for Mick.

Villavic · #26 06-19-2011, 08:15 PM

Well I do believe you cause I don't like that song. Storms is far better. Just my opinion.

PenguinHead · #27 06-19-2011, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by On Ice

Beautiful Child is a stunning song with probably the best Buckingham Nicks harmony interplay ever recorded. It could have worked well in 79 as a concert staple if they had been in a 75 frame of mind. I think. The song just begs for a Stevie "Green Manalishi" live type ending, simply not possible in the Say You Will years.

Insightful statements! I can totally imagine a "Green Manalishi" ending, which would have had much more impact than the somewhat tepid ending from the Say You Will performances. Yet, I'm grateful that at least she decided to unearth and perform the song so many years after the fact.

louielouie2000 · #28 06-20-2011, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fairydust75

Has anybody every heard Stevie mention what this song is about? Any ideas? I love this song. I thought they did a great job with it on the SYW tour, simply beautiful...

The song is about that first really earth shattering love that every single person has. The one that when it's over, you're never the same again... you don't view the world through the same lenses, etc. The song is about losing innocence because a love affair ends.

As for which of Stevie's many partners this song was about? I have no idea. Keep in mind though that the song is not about Stevie being a literal child when she met this person. It's a metaphor for her being an innocent. It could be about Lindsey, but it seems even more possible it's about somebody like Mick. Because she was thrown under the bus by Mick, yet had to walk away with her head up & remain friends and bandmates with him. That kind of a situation requires instant maturity, in my opinion. The song could just as well be about Stevie's affair with Don Henley, & their alleged aborted child too. If that kind of a situation doesn't make you grow up, I don't know what would.