What's meaner: Wrong or GYOW

CarneVaca · #1 03-01-2004, 04:42 PM

I listened to "Wrong" last week for the first time in a long time. It struck me as one of Lindsey's meanest songs. The "piggy in the middle," "another piece of glitz" and "rockcock" references are so pointedly directed at the individual that it had to hurt to hear them. "Advance was spent sometime ago." Ouch.

Did Mick deserve it?

To me this song seems more laden with invective than "Go Your Own Way." Gee, who hasn't uttered a nasty word or two about a former lover?

strandinthewind · #2 03-01-2004, 04:57 PM

Wrong.

I think GYOW while hateful, still has a little bit of "I still love her" in it. He is almost yearningly hurt. I mean usually when people lash out at a very recent ex, they are still in love with them ect. Wrong on the other hand is just an explosion of "screw you" IMO

shackin'up · #3 03-01-2004, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by strandinthewind
Wrong.

I think GYOW while hateful, still has a little bit of "I still love her" in it. He is almost yearningly hurt. I mean usually when people lash out at a very recent ex, they are still in love with them ect. Wrong on the other hand is just an explosion of "screw you" IMO

Well, that's the reason exactly why I would choose GYOW. Because of the "i love you still" underneath the classic it's more painful. Wrong is more of a rude ( and very funny imo ) finger pointing up. No not the index

gerald

**jbrownsjr** · #4 03-01-2004, 08:31 PM

I'm gonna say there was more venom in Wrong.

Sugar · #5 03-01-2004, 08:37 PM

Wrong, easily.

I actually don't think GYOW is all that mean. Always sounded a bit more like sour grapes to me. Even whiney.

Now if you asked me to choose between WMYTYTO and Wrong, hmmmmm, that I'd have to think about a bit more.

Merf · #6 03-01-2004, 09:09 PM

Wrong, without a doubt.

I think you still get the sense of love in GYOW, I mean you see that on stage, still, 25+ years later. The words in GYOW were the words of a man who didn't want his lover to leave. The words in Wrong were without a doubt more venomous.

CarneVaca · #7 03-02-2004, 01:17 PM

I've always loved "Wrong." Great lines. And in typical Lindsey fashion, he gives the song a somewhat playful arrangement, almost taunting. That sort of backslapping country beat, the relentelss acoustic riff, the mean lead at the end. And especially the siren. Love it, love it.

But what about the Ledge. Pretty mean too, nyet?

dissention · #8 03-02-2004, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CarneVaca
But what about the Ledge. Pretty mean too, nyet?

I always thought that was a *vicious* song. That's probably why it's one of my favorites.

That song runs the whole gamut, man. And I think it's the only song where he mentions "hate" at such an extreme.

As for the question, Wrong is meaner than GYOW, but it also has a wicked sense of humor. It's very witty and funny. Mick didn't find it funny on Lindsey's BTM episode, though.

CarneVaca · #9 03-02-2004, 01:50 PM

I know. You could feel the tension when the "rockcock" reference came up. Priceless. For everything else, there's Master Card.

shackin'up · #10 03-02-2004, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dissention
I always thought that was a *vicious* song. That's probably why it's one of my favorites. That song runs the whole gamut, man. And I think it's the only song where he mentions "hate" at such an extreme.

Maybe I'm missing things here because of the "not-mothertongue" it's written in for me. I sense a lot of bitterness, but where's the hate?

gerald

CarneVaca · #11 03-02-2004, 04:09 PM

Gerald, that's a reference to the lines, "Do you ever wonder/do you ever hate" in The Ledge.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I am leaning toward concluding The Ledge is the most vicious song of them all. Lindsey is saying bluntly, "You're never gonna make it, baby." As if he's saying: "Hey, foggheddaboutit if you think you can go solo and be successful without me." Ouch. Even I have to admit that's pretty mean. But, hey, it's a great song to my ears nonetheless.

"What Makes You Think You're the One" pales in comparison. It's more of a sardonic, "Hey, just who the hell do you think you are? Some kind of star?" Seems to be pointing to the perceived hubris of the target subject.

Great, powerful stuff.

wondergirl9847 · #12 03-02-2004, 04:23 PM

Wrong, to me, is funny. LOL Young Mister Rock*bleep*...funny stuff!

Perhaps if GYOW was directed at me, I would read it as hateful, but I see it as melancholy. There's some anger there, but overall, eh, I don't see it as mean. His hurt comes through.

The Ledge is mean. I can see that:

You can love me baby but you can't walk out
Someone oughta tell you what it's really all about
Do you ever wonder
Do you ever hate
Six feet under
Someone who can wait
You can love me baby but you can't walk out
Someone oughta tell you
Oughta tell you what it's really all about
You're never gonna make it baby

and

Buy another fixture
Tell another lie
Paint another picture
See who's surprised

That first line is probably directed towards Stevie buying extravagant things perhaps. Telling lies, I guess about their relationship and being with Mick? Paint another picture, we all know she paints and see who's surprised...meaning, you are always the same, you don't take chances? I dunno.

WMYTYTO is mean. Not in a hateful way, but in a taunting way. Like "na na na na na". LOL

Johnny Stew · #13 03-02-2004, 04:32 PM

I've often thought that if "The Ledge" and "What Makes You Think You're The One" are indeed about Stevie, then she's gotten the last laugh.

"You're never gonna make it, baby"... Well, she definitely did make it... though with varying levels of success. But making it is making it, after all.

"Everything you do has been done, and this won't last forever"... 25 years after that song was released, it definitely looks like Stevie's place in the rock music pantheon will last forever.

Anyway... most vicious song?
Probably "What Makes You Think You're The One"... which is pretty accusatory, aggressive and venomous, in that oh-so-delicious kind of way.

David · #14 03-02-2004, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Johnny Stew
I've often thought that if "The Ledge" and "What Makes You Think You're The One" are indeed about Stevie, then she's gotten the last laugh.

"You're never gonna make it, baby"... Well, she definitely did make it... though with varying levels of success. But making it is making it, after all.

Not always. I think Lindsey means that this woman in the song is oblivious to her lover's needs, or is unwilling to engage him in the mutually beneficial give-and-take of a mature relationship. I suppose we can lend credence to any number of interpretations of this caustic little song "The Ledge."

I hate to speak of a song's voice as necessarily identical to that of the author (for all we know, the voice in the song might be Stevie Nicks grumbling about Lindsey Buckingham -- or two or more entirely unrelated people). When Lindsey was working out the words to "The Ledge," in 1978 or 1979, Stevie was already popular -- more popular than she or anyone else in that group has ever been since. That would be odd for Lindsey to say to the most famous female in rock, "You're never gonna make it in this business."

David · #15 03-02-2004, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wondergirl9847
Perhaps if GYOW was directed at me, I would read it as hateful, but I see it as melancholy. There's some anger there, but overall, eh, I don't see it as mean. His hurt comes through.

I feel that, too, Christy. GYOW is loaded with disappointment & the wish that things were better.

Quote:

Buy another fixture
Tell another lie
Paint another picture
See who's surprised

Paint another picture, we all know she paints and see who's surprised...

Lindsey & Stevie & Christine all paint. Maybe the song is actually about Christine & John!