Kick It meaning?

[twinmatrix]

Can someone please explain the song to me? I thought "kicking it" is doing drugs but from the lyrics it seems to be the opposite. I don't really get it! Thank you. X

[pattyfan]

My interpretation was that it was about a bad relationship and she was using drugs as a metaphor for love and that it's hard to "kick" (give up) the relationship just as it's hard to give up drugs. But that's just my interpretation.

Kevin

[SisterNightroad]

She just said that it was a Mike Campbell's song.
However I think that as written in the lyrics it's just "Kicking the habit" in the meaning of quitting something addictive, in this case overtly a not totally healthy love and possibly in a more covert meaning a real addiction.

[24karatstevie]

I agree with what others have said. I think it has a double meaning of getting out of a relationship that isn't working while also being a metaphor for drugs. I love this song. It's one of my absolute favorites from Street Angel. I especially love the "A strange kind of love affair. A declaration of war" part.

[twinmatrix]

So kicking actually means QUITTING?

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by twinmatrix

So kicking actually means QUITTING?

Among other things yes: http://www.wordreference.com/enit/kick%20the%20habit

[TheWildHeart67]

I've always thought this song was about kicking drugs. That's just my own interpretation though.

[SpyNote]

Here's an interpretation of "Kick It." I don't think Stevie's ever talked about it.

“Kick It” is partly inspired by Oscar Wilde’s 1888 story “The Happy Prince,” a “strange kind of love affair” between a swallow and a statue of a prince. Stevie adapted certain lines from Wilde’s story (a public domain work) for the song.

WILDE: “I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow
NICKS: I’ll stay with you for one more night

WILDE: “I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers.
NICKS: Well, I’m waited for in Egypt. It’s just something I must do.

WILDE: “For in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”
NICKS: Nothing like forevermore

In “The Happy Prince,” love and sacrifice are saving forces for the swallow and the prince. Stevie mirrors this sentiment in the lyric “I loved you more than life itself/But I’m prepared to kick it.” At the time of this recording, Stevie had just completed an intensive rehabilitation program for prescription medication addiction.

[ricohv]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

Here's an interpretation of "Kick It." I don't think Stevie's ever talked about it.

“Kick It” is partly inspired by Oscar Wilde’s 1888 story “The Happy Prince,” a “strange kind of love affair” between a swallow and a statue of a prince. Stevie adapted certain lines from Wilde’s story (a public domain work) for the song.

WILDE: “I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow
NICKS: I’ll stay with you for one more night

WILDE: “I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers.
NICKS: Well, I’m waited for in Egypt. It’s just something I must do.

WILDE: “For in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”
NICKS: Nothing like forevermore

In “The Happy Prince,” love and sacrifice are saving forces for the swallow and the prince. Stevie mirrors this sentiment in the lyric “I loved you more than life itself/But I’m prepared to kick it.” At the time of this recording, Stevie had just completed an intensive rehabilitation program for prescription medication addiction.

THANK YOU for that info SpyNote-I never knew all that! I always love when I see Stevie has been inspired by literature (in ways that I don't usually catch on my own). She's better read-and not the ding bat that many think she is!
Sometimes her literature references are sort of oblique though-I seem to remember seeing a long time ago that Rooms On Fire borrowed lines from... The Picture Of Dorian Gray maybe(?)>
Ricoh

[sleepless child]

My interpretation of this song, which is one of my favorites is her leaving Fleetwood Mac.
She could no longer do everything and it's time to move on.

[twinmatrix]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

Here's an interpretation of "Kick It." I don't think Stevie's ever talked about it.

“Kick It” is partly inspired by Oscar Wilde’s 1888 story “The Happy Prince,” a “strange kind of love affair” between a swallow and a statue of a prince. Stevie adapted certain lines from Wilde’s story (a public domain work) for the song.

WILDE: “I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow
NICKS: I’ll stay with you for one more night

WILDE: “I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers.
NICKS: Well, I’m waited for in Egypt. It’s just something I must do.

WILDE: “For in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”
NICKS: Nothing like forevermore

In “The Happy Prince,” love and sacrifice are saving forces for the swallow and the prince. Stevie mirrors this sentiment in the lyric “I loved you more than life itself/But I’m prepared to kick it.” At the time of this recording, Stevie had just completed an intensive rehabilitation program for prescription medication addiction.

So "you" is a person or a drug?

The way I see it she sings about wanting to quit drugs ("she prefers to kick it") for this "you" person in the song. I don't think it works with "you" being a drug? Because if you is the drug... She sings I would really rather die than make you stop, I think that is the meaning of love. Okay, so if you is a drug, it makes sense. She loves drugs and won't stop until she's dead. But then she songs "I prefer to kick it" which would mean she prefers to quit drugs, right? So it's contradiction because she just said she would rather die than quit.
But if "you" is a person it makes more sense, because being in a relationship might make them "stop". So kicking the relationship would actually help the person proceed.
I don't see it working on a level where "you" is the drug.
But it does make sense if you is a person and kick it is about a drug.

And thank you so much for posting that excerpt it's really cool.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by twinmatrix

So "you" is a person or a drug?

The way I see it she sings about wanting to quit drugs ("she prefers to kick it") for this "you" person in the song. I don't think it works with "you" being a drug? Because if you is the drug... She sings I would really rather die than make you stop, I think that is the meaning of love. Okay, so if you is a drug, it makes sense. She loves drugs and won't stop until she's dead. But then she songs "I prefer to kick it" which would mean she prefers to quit drugs, right? So it's contradiction because she just said she would rather die than quit.
But if "you" is a person it makes more sense, because being in a relationship might make them "stop". So kicking the relationship would actually help the person proceed.
I don't see it working on a level where "you" is the drug.
But it does make sense if you is a person and kick it is about a drug.

And thank you so much for posting that excerpt it's really cool.

Yes, I think the song is mainly about her quitting drugs and her "relationship" with drugs.

Stevie's use of literary references can be oblique, as ricohv wrote. I think she's read a lot of Oscar Wilde's work and is just a fan of his words. His writing style is very unique. For this song, I think she just identified with the moral of the story, which is simply the worst things in life can be overcome by love. Stevie basically got over drugs because her love for life, singing, etc.

[TheWildHeart67]

I've always felt the subtext of drugs behind each verse of the song can literally mean drugs and addiction. Not that she meant it that way, but for me, I can see it in that context.

[BlueLight]

For me, "Kick It" always will mean the one and only song on Street Angel that I actually enjoy.

[TheWildHeart67]

[QUOTE]For me, "Kick It" always will mean the one and only song on Street Angel that I actually enjoy/QUOTE]

Ya, I like "Kick it."
I also liked "Blue Denim," "Destiny," "Rose Garden," and "Maybe love will change your mind." "Unconditional love," was ok. But the rest? Meh.
I really liked the "B" side of the "Maybe love" single, "Inspiration," too.
I still can't wrap my head around the inclusion of "Docklands." LoL. And the fact she played that wretched song on the tour.
That was a strange era.