Weirdest Stevie Song or Lyric

[ricohv]

So all these polls are about everyone's favorites, but I wanna know what you think are her weirdest songs because I think even die hard fans have moments where we go: What was going on in her head!?!?
My list:
1)Goldfish & Ladybug (...fell in love with each other!?)
2)Welcome to the Room Sara (for Scarlett?Tara?/clunky Gone With The Wind-drug treatment references)
3) When I see You Again ("what's the matter baby?" ...how many times can you ask that question in a row...with a different tone for each one?)
4)Rooms on Fire("somewhere out in the back of your mind..somewhere...comes your real life and the life that you know"...a catchy/romantic/sexy song with a head-scratcher of an opening line)
5)Docklands-she didn't write it but I could never figure why she picked it..that bit about "sister says let's go down to the laundromat"!! that song is just too cracked out and to me it's weirder than anything she could write herself!
6)Jane-I know this was in a recent post...that bit about the "children of the world...forgotten chimpanzee" I'm sure it's sentimental and sweet but I'm too used to hearing about dreams, ghosts and rain to hear her sing the word chimpanzee in a song! *cringe*

Those are just some examples..don't get me wrong...I LOVE STEVIE!!...but you gotta have a sense of humor too!

[wondergirl9847]

When I See You Again is my LEAST favorite FM song. The absolute ONLY one I skip EVERY SINGLE TIME I listen to Tango. If it weren't on Tango, it would be a perfect album, IMO. It is my fave FM album, still. Stevie does write some wierd lyrics for sure, although I do not own nor have ever listened to all of the Street Angel album, so I don't know about some songs from that era. She's very cryptic in her lyric writing. Just look at the whole song, Edge of 17!! Everyone tries to figure THAT one out, but it's just all over the map. It's my fave SN solo song, well, that and Stand Back, I can't seem to choose.

Goldfish and Ladybug is a cutesy kind of song, childlike, kind of, and I can see what that one means, two people who live opposite kinds of lives, cannnot be together.

WTTRS is wierd, I agree, but it's okay. Not one of my faves, but I listen to it.

Cathouse Blues is wierd because Stevie's singing about being a *gasp* call-girl!! LOL Wha?? And, to think, she has said she writes from experience!!!

Space Needle is another song that's hard to figure out, but I love that song!

I agree with Rooms on Fire, wierd opening, but GREAT song!!

[estranged4life]

"Cathouse Blues" I automatically thought of Mae West for some reason...Maybe Stevie was in a Mae mood then...LOL...

"Docklands"-If I remember right, Trevor Horn was the singer of Yes (For a few albums after Jon Anderson left) & the Buggles, ("Video Killed The Radio Star")...The lyrics seem very much like his type of writing...

Brian

[sulamith]

Well for me it's got to be those lines in Nightbird about

Sometimes the real color of my skin
My eyes without any shadow


When I first heard this I was about 18, and being the vain teenage girl I was, I was sure she she was saying something about not looking good with out make up!

Now I know better, but I that line still wierds me out!
Those pics in the Enchanted booklet of her in the bathroom behind that camera on the tripod and in the tub with her boot on the edge make those lines start playing on an endless loop in my head because, man, she looks bad there! LOL!

A close second is that "undercover music lover" line from OMBTR&RS. What the hell is that? Her voice is creepy and zogged out on that one. I really hate that song. I skip it every time!

[AliP]

I agree about "Jane." Before I knew what it was about, I was going why is she saying the "forgotten Chimpanzee?" What the hell is that? I thought maybe she was referring to a child or something. I was totally lost on that one. Even now, I still kinda get embarassed when I hear it cause I know if I'm with someone who doesn't know the story of the song, they're going to be going "what the hell" too and probably make fun of Stevie grrr.

Another one is from Street Angel. I think she sings "Street Angel's live on the street" or something like that. Well, duh. But I hate that song anyway.



And Goldfish and the Ladybug is the silliest song I've ever heard. I don't think it even has a melody. I think thats what Christine meant when she said "Stevie can write some pretty silly stuff that doesn't make any sense" or something to that effect.

[ERigby818]

...with the bizarre picks you have all posted. Sulamith, I totally understand what you're saying about the Nightbird makeup thing. Goldfish and Ladybug, and the whole Chimpanzee thing.. That is pretty "weed."

I've got one to add that makes me cringe...
"cause the whole thing's phony" that line in Bella Donna made me burst out laughing when I first heard it.
How about, uh, ALL the lyrics to Operation Desert Angel?
I admit, I really don't care for that song.

And here's one that I LOVE...but have always found strange...
"Well don't hide behind your hair, it's a bit of gold and braid..."


-Sonia

[wondergirl9847]

That is pretty "weed." Christine is greatness! LOL Have you heard her interview or any of the five, from the Best Buy CD from the Dance era? She says "really bloody marvelous" and many other funny British-type things, plus, it sounds like she's chewing gum during the interview! LOL

[Lori]

Hahahaha.

I think that, although the lyrics may be a bit odd, the harmony of Goldfish and Ladybug is very pretty. I always took it to be a sort of fable type of story, so the bug/fish thing never "bugged" me - no pun intended.

It's funny, though (and I've told this story before, so sorry for the repeat) - I'd never heard Goldfish and Ladybug until a few years ago when someone sent me a cd with that song on it...I happened to be pregnant at the time and was very hormonal and weepy and stuff (you Mommies out there know what I mean ), and I was cooking supper and listening to that cd, and started bawling my eyes out over Goldfish and Ladybug. Of course, my husband chooses that moment to enter the kitchen and see me crying into my frying pan. He was SO concerned, thought something was REALLY wrong with me, and I was like, "It's this SONG! It's SO SAD! waaaaaa!!!" Mike listened a bit, gave me that one-eyebrow-cocked-up look, and said, "LOR, it's about a BUG and a FISH!" Of course, he just DIDN'T understand!

Lori

[BellaDonnaGypsy]

I love Goldfish and Ladybug! How can you say it doesn't have a melody?! It's a cute song... very outdated but still adorable. And I definitely understand the message behind that song.

I don't really have a hard time finding the message behind the words in Stevie's songs... except for Sharon's example, "undercover music lover", unless that refers to finding a man whose life doesn't entirely revolve around music... The lyrics to the whole of the song Bella Donna are obscure too; they really make you think, but it's still one of my favorite Stevie songs of all time.

Laura.

[celestenadia]

"Oooh baby, ooh, said ooh"
What is up with the "said ooh"

[ricohv]

in regards to edge of 17...I remember reading an interview where Stevie said Tom Petty's wife was talking about something (can't remember what) and said..."the age of 17" but because of her southern drawl Stevie thought she said "edge of 17". Some comedic miscommunication ensued and Stevie said "...you know..one day Jane I'm gonna write a song called Edge of 17!". So this serious dark song about 2 people named John who were dying/or dead, and their spirits leaving as represented by the "white winged dove"..got it's title from a funny mix-up in conversation. So I thought well maybe someone in the story of Edge of 17 was actually around 17yrs old so she was able to be ironic and use that title after all (and still give a tongue in cheek nod to Jane Petty). However, from everything I've ever heard...everyone involved in the story behind the song were well over 17. Hmmm....foiled again!!!!!!

(and I wonder why my friends think I'm weird spending so much time thinking and writing about a 20 year old rock song,and if you're reading this somehow I think you understand...mhmm )

[sulamith]

I totally understand!

I can't believe the mental energy I devote to this stuff either.

Shoot, I'm sure I could figuring out how to solve the terrorist problems, or how to balance the national budget, or finding a cure for cancer or something, but HELL NAW!!

I want to know why Stevie says:

Well I talked to my famous friend last night
My third day up....well his second nighter
He says.."I don't know how you do what you do
How do you let the world in?"
Well I say, "Well there's no way out..."
then I just play out the game
Well the two of us...Widow and a dove

SOOOOO cryptic...and a little wierd

[DrummerDeanna]

Well, Edge of 17 was written partially about John Lennon...his death...and there is one line about the moment when I first laid...eyes on him...all alone on the edge of 17...well, when Beatle Mania hit...Stevie was probably like 16, or on the edge of 17....hehe..that's always the way I saw that one....

[Livia]

"Come around tonight, indecent" has always been one of my least faves.

There are white wing doves in Texas, and they really do say "ooh-ooh-ooh." They make the cutest noise, like owls. And contrary to popular belief, they are not completely white. They are brownish gray, with white strips on their wings, hence the name. They also eat a lot! I keep a bird feeder in my back yard and those little suckers are pigs!

[estranged4life]

Livia said "There are white wing doves in Texas, and they really do say "ooh-ooh-ooh." They make the cutest noise, like owls. And contrary to popular belief, they are not completely white. They are brownish gray, with white strips on their wings, hence the name."

The same goes for here in Oklahoma. I'm always seeing doves in all the areas where I travel, Plus I hear them outside the house all summer long, It's definately interesting...Brian