Men in Stevie's song

[Villavic]

So.. lot of women names in Stevie's songs. Not much men names.

But... men referred in Stevie's songs, I think there are several. Adn actual men in her life (relatives, boyfriends, friends).

Of course Lindsey is referred in many Rumours songs..

Mick (according to his book) is "he was just a great dark wing.." in Sara

Edge of Seventeen was inspired by and written for Jimmy Iovine and others so I don't know if actually he is mentioned in the song or it's a generall reference (Well I hear you in the morning...).

What about Waddy, Don, etc? Does anybody know?

[paleshadow]

Edge of Seventeen was inspired by and written for Jimmy Iovine and others so I don't know if actually he is mentioned in the song or it's a generall reference (Well I hear you in the morning...).

What about Waddy, Don, etc? Does anybody know?

Actually, according to Stevie Edge of Seventeen is about the death of her Uncle John, as well as the murder of John Lennon.
The demo "Jimmy Come On Back" is the only song I can think of with a mans name in the lyrics or title.
I believe I read that Stevie was referring to Don Henley with the line "When you build your house, then call me home" in Sara.
Aside from being inspired by the movie, I remember something about Waddy in Beauty and the Beast. There may be a sprinkle of Mick in that one as well. I remember they show close ups of he and Stevie on the Red Rocks video during that song.

[Kelly]

I can think of only a couple of examples of Stevie using actual mens names in her songs. Jimmy in Jimmy Come On Back and Christian in Spinning Wheels. I have always wondered who the heck Christian was/is.

As far as songs about men, HAEWAFY was written for Joe Walsh. I always believed The Highwayman was about Don. Thousand Days was written about Prince. Ummm. Lets see. I cannot think of anymore off the top of my head. Blue Denim/ Lindsey. I guess we should not even include LB since there are quite a few songs about him. I think the Landslide revelation last fall was quite interesting. She has said so many different things about Landslide over the years. I remember during a TISL interview, I think it was TISL..might have been Enchanted, she said it was about a father daughter relationship. Wonder why she kept it a secret for so long? Considering she said that she wrote it "for him, about him" (Lindsey) there is really no question who the song is about. I guess her conversation with her father about giving up the music thing and going back to school is what motivated her to write the song but she "built her life around" Lindsey and their desire to succeed together. Sorry for getting slightly OT.
Anyone have any idea who Whole Lotta Trouble is "really" about? (I am not sure I buy the Timespace linear note)
Oh, thought of another one. Rooms on Fire/Rupert Hine

[Mari]

lindsey leaving the mac in '87.

[Pisces Queen]

Didn't Waddy Inspire "If Anyone Falls in Love"?

[skcin]

Didn't Waddy Inspire "If Anyone Falls in Love"?


Yes, I read somewhere it was basically about them being on the road together, and she thought she was starting to fall for him and how hard it was to see/hear him with other women in hotels, etc.

Paula

I recently thought Wild Heart might have some references to the whole Stevie & Kim/Robin Anderson deal, but I have nothing to back that up - "it's just a feeling..."

Paula

[darklinensuit]

Yes, I read somewhere it was basically about them being on the road together, and she thought she was starting to fall for him and how hard it was to see/hear him with other women in hotels, etc.

Paula

I recently thought Wild Heart might have some references to the whole Stevie & Kim/Robin Anderson deal, but I have nothing to back that up - "it's just a feeling..."

Paula

Well, Kim is definitely in Gypsy, as I understand it.

- Jake

[darklinensuit]

I always believed The Highwayman was about Don.

I know I read that she wrote it about "macho" men in rock like the Mac members and Eagles members. :laugh: Really, I'm not making this up.

- Jake

[darklinensuit]

Leather & Lace is about Waylon J. & Jesse C.

- Jake

[dissention]

Yes, I read somewhere it was basically about them being on the road together, and she thought she was starting to fall for him and how hard it was to see/hear him with other women in hotels, etc.

Eek. He looks like the night manager of a roach motel. :shocked:

[Sorcerer386]

The Waddy story about If Anyone Falls is in the Timespace booklet. Plus, don't forget the "mystery men" she's written about, the guy in Rooms on Fire (although I think some people know who this is), the guy in Long Way to Go (i WISH people knew who this was...interesting story behind it), etc. As for The Highwayman, I thought it was about a lot of the rock and roll men, as the beginning she states "And only the highwaywoman keeps up with the likes of THOSE." But I thought it was mostly about Lindsey because she brings up the whole competition thing that she always seemed to find so compelling during that time period. She makes other references to competition between her and Lindsey or even all the members of Fleetwood Mac in "Fireflies."

But, as I stated in another post, guys' names simply aren't as poetic (for lack of a better word) sounding as girls' names. Sure, there's songs like Johnny B. Goode, but that's not exactly the most challenging song lyrically. Guys' names just don't have the mystique that girls' names do, at least imo.

[Bella Figura]

don't quote me on this, but Long Way to Go is about Joe Walsh calling Stevie up to meet him somewhere during the breakup portion of their relationship.

and the girls, Lori and Sharon and whoever else was living with her at the time, trying to talk her out of it..."it's a long way to go to say goodbye"

and I'm pretty sure Rooms of Fire is about Rupert Hines, the story is in the Timespace booklet...

I think, any song with the word trouble in it like Whole Lotta Trouble and Trouble in Shagri-la are Lindsey references. Stevie sometimes refers to her songs as conversations from her journal and Lindsey's most successful solo song was Trouble.

That Made Me Stronger is about a conversation with Tom Petty but Love Changes and Love Is still have "mystery men"...

[chiliD]

Leather & Lace is about Waylon J. & Jesse C.

- Jake


I recall it wasn't really ABOUT Waylon and Jesse, more that she wrote it FOR Waylon & Jesse...but, by the time she'd finished the song, they'd gotten divorced or were in mid-divorce proceedings. She said that the only other people who could sing it besides Waylon & Jesse would be her & Henley.

[EveryHour]

lindsey leaving the mac in '87.

I completely agree and Stevie certainly implied at the time it was about this. "This could be a whole lotta trouble for you!" Look out Lindsey..... ;)

[Kelly]

Anyone care to speculate on who she is writing about in "Beautiful Child"? I have my own thoughts on this song but most days I am not sure how accurate they are!

Ok. another one. Stand Back. We have all heard the Prince speech fifty bajillion times but who is the MAN she is writing about...the man she is waiting to come to her? "No man came"...No way is it Kim Anderson. You do not write a song like that on a happy wedding night! It sounds like she is waiting for some specific man to come and prevent this disastrous event to me but I may be way off.

[gldstwmn]

I completely agree and Stevie certainly implied at the time it was about this. "This could be a whole lotta trouble for you!" Look out Lindsey..... ;)

I always thought she said it was about being on tour with Bob Dylan/Tom Petty in Australia? :confused:

[gldstwmn]

Ok. another one. Stand Back. We have all heard the Prince speech fifty bajillion times but who is the MAN she is writing about...the man she is waiting to come to her? "No man came"...No way is it Kim Anderson. You do not write a song like that on a happy wedding night! It sounds like she is waiting for some specific man to come and prevent this disastrous event to me but I may be way off.

Mick Fleetwood.

[Merf]

Mick Fleetwood.

I think she was talking about Lindsey. I think she honestly thought Lindsey was going to swoop in at the last minute and change her mind and make her not go through with the wedding. But obviously, their relationship was very strained at this time and that was probably only a pipe dream.

When we get this DVD, watch how she watches him during "Stand Back," I've noticed it at every show I've been to.

"I said 'no' to him again and again...."

Again, just one girl's opinion.

[Kelly]

The problem I see with Mick is he was at her wedding. He "did come" and she seems to be talking about someone who did not. Maybe I hear the lyrics differently. I guess Joe Walsh came after the wedding during the tour, so I dunno who it could be. I do not know if she was still that deeply in love with Mick five or six years later..I sort of doubt it. I think Stand Back is an interesting song lyrically and I think there is some reason she has never spoken about its meaning...only shallow mentions about how she made the song and who helped her.

That is the reason I asked about Whole Lotta Trouble..I am not sure I buy what she said in the linear notes. Unless something did happen in Australia that could be a "whole lotta trouble" between her and Petty or Dylan.

[Mari]

Whole Lotta Trouble & Lindsey: it's not just speculation, I'm pretty sure I read it *somewhere*

[Sorcerer386]

Honestly, I never felt Stand Back really related to very much of anything. It just sounds like a crazy argument-type of song, although I do admit a lot of the wedding relationships with the song make sense. But I just felt that if she recorded the song the night she was married, would she have had time to think of the lyrics, as personal as they would be if she meant them to be about the doomed wedding. Then again, she supposedly wrote HAEWAFY in "five minutes," so it is possible. But I just never made much out of Stand Back...I'd think that if it was that deeply involved, she wouldn't be so energized by the song. We'd see more of an angry Stevie a la Gold Dust Woman.

And by the way, any who CAN tell me what Whole Lotta Trouble is about, I'll give you a cookie. Not just what it's about, but sort of a line by line type of thing. This song baffles me more than any other I think.

[Les]

There are some good quotes on SaraRhiannon's site and the In Her Own Words site from Stevie about Stand Back (and lots of other songs).

From In Her Own Words site:

"I got married the day I wrote this song. We were driving to Santa Barbara and a new song by Prince came on, so we pulled over somewhere and got the tape. It just gave me an incredible idea, so I spent many hours that night writing a song about some kind of crazy argument, and it was to become one of the most important of my songs. I've been doing this song for years, Fleetwood Mac does it also, and I never get tired of it. 'Stand Back' has always been my favorite song onstage, because...when it starts, it has an energy that comes from somewhere unknown...and it seems to have no timespace. I've never quite understood this sound....but I have NEVER questioned it. I become a different person, and I like that, because usually I make up my OWN characters...but the lady in 'Stand Back' was not my idea."
-Timespace liner notes

From SaraRhiannon's site:

"'Stand Back' became a real anthem, a real 'I'm tired of listening to all your great advice, 'cause it's gotten me nowhere, so I'm listening to myself now' kind of anthem. So it came slightly out of strength, slightly out of being in love, slightly out of being married, and ever so slightly out of hearing the first three chords of "Little Red Corvette."
~Stevie Nicks, Wild Heart press release, 1983

[darklinensuit]

I recall it wasn't really ABOUT Waylon and Jesse, more that she wrote it FOR Waylon & Jesse...but, by the time she'd finished the song, they'd gotten divorced or were in mid-divorce proceedings. She said that the only other people who could sing it besides Waylon & Jesse would be her & Henley.

It was about two people working in the same business and trying to maintain a relationship, such as Waylon & Jessi and Lindsey and Stevie. She wrote it with them in mind and brought what was familiar to her to the song.
BTW, based on Stevie's comments about the meaning of the song Every Day, it seems to be akin to Leather and Lace even though she didn't write it.

- Jake

[darklinensuit]

RE: Whole Lotta Trouble - I say it's about Lindsey. As I recall, that book Rock Lives features an (original??) interview in which she talks about both the possibility that Lindsey might soon leave FM within days (1987) and the possibility of calling her next album Whole Lotta Trouble (TOSOTM), as if this song was foremost on her mind in those days.

I think Stevie had a blast with Bob & Tom, particularly Bob's meaningful bow to her. Her only hassles were her drugs, her Visa, and, eventually (and supposedly) her management's handling of Letterman's jokes.

RE: Stand Back - There was a great thread last year. I forget who gave a good argument it's Lindsey (though I wonder, could it be Jimmy?) and that the first line is about people not wanting to look at her as she came down the aisle because they hated the idea of the marriage.

- Jake

[EveryHour]

RE: Whole Lotta Trouble - I say it's about Lindsey. As I recall, that book Rock Lives features an (original??) interview in which she talks about both the possibility that Lindsey might soon leave FM within days (1987) and the possibility of calling her next album Whole Lotta Trouble (TOSOTM), as if this song was foremost on her mind in those days.



This was the exact interview (I also believe it to have been "original") I was thinking of when I said Stevie strongly implied this song is about LB. :nod:

[Kelly]

I think there is definately more to STand Back. I feel her energy is there because the emotional pain is long since over. The marriage ended and today she and Kim are friends, so the turmoil and confusion she felt at the time has faded. Its a bit different from a song like SS where the emotion is still "raw".
Do any of you guys have an opinion on Beautiful Child? I have long wondered if ATBW could be somehow connected to BC because of the line "beautiful childlike victim" in All the Beautiful Worlds. The "fell in love when I was only ten" line in BC confused me for a long time but I have since come to the conclusion that I think she means he fell in love with her when they were very young? Maybe? To keep it on topic, who is the man in BC? I looked at some of her quotes about BC and she said in 1979 that she wrote it "about three years ago" so that would be 76 or 77. Last summer when Stevie did that radio interview in Atlanta she said it was "about a relationship that could never be" and mentioned the year 1979. Confusing.
It is one of my favorite songs but I have no idea who or what she wrote it about.
As far as Whole lotta Trouble...it makes perfect sense that it would be about LB leaving the band. Her use of the word "trouble" is very clever.

[Sorcerer386]

YES! Now the lines of Whole Lotta Trouble are FINALLY starting to make sense to me! Thanks a lot everyone! :thumbsup:

[Merf]

YES! Now the lines of Whole Lotta Trouble are FINALLY starting to make sense to me! Thanks a lot everyone! :thumbsup:

The lines "You're not my friend/you're not my love/and this is something that we really don't discuss" lead me to believe that both "Whole Lotta Trouble" and "Thousand Days" are about Lindsey. (Though I believe the first verse in Thousand Days is about Prince.)

[EveryHour]

As far as Whole lotta Trouble...it makes perfect sense that it would be about LB leaving the band. Her use of the word "trouble" is very clever.

Interesting point. I wonder if she realized that as a "bonus jab" at LB. :confused: ;)