View Full Version : Get a room
Stevie's obsession with rooms, stairs and hallways was mentioned in the Christine forum, and I started thinking about it and good god, does this woman have a lot of songs about interior architecture. Here's my attempt at a list, please add more if I'm forgetting some:
"Affairs of the Heart" - "Well I wonder which set of rooms are mine / For in these rooms she would live and die"
"Angel" - "I still look up / When you walk in the room"
"Blue Lamp" - "Downstairs the big old house is mine"
"Destiny Rules" - "Sometimes I walk by and I look up to your balcony"
"Edge of Seventeen" - "Up the stairs...and down the hall"
"Fall From Grace" - "And now alone in my room / As it all begins again"
"Greta" - "Ooh...alone in her chambers she dreams of her home"
"Gypsy" - "To a room with some lace / and paper flowers"
"How Still My Love" - "Standing...in the doorway"
"If Anyone Falls" - "I hear a voice...in the room next to mine"
"I Miss You" - "She's back on that staircase"
"Leather and Lace" - "But I carry this feeling / When you walked into my house / That you won't be walking out the door"
"Love Is" - "So she stood there in the hallway frozen"
"One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star" - "When it rains it pours / When there's no one at the door"
"Ooh My Love" - "Well he watched from the corridor..."
"Planets of the Universe" - "Haunted by that same closed door"
"Rooms on Fire" - Umm...
"Sisters of the Moon" - "She was dark at the top of the stairs"
"Street Angel" - "I fell down the stairs...a broken rag doll"
"Thousand Days" - "The closest you've ever come to me / Was to help me up the stairs"
"Touched by an Angel" - "And when she walked in the room / After so many years"
"Trouble in Shangri-La" - "You can consume all the beauty in the room, baby"
"Welcome to the Room...Sara" - Umm...
"When I See You Again" - "So she walks slowly / down the hall"
And I didn't even include references to walls, mirrors or windows! Or references to houses in general!
DashingDan
05-03-2006, 06:23 PM
"in the middle of my room I did NOT hear from you"
I've often thought about this very thing.
Stevie's obsession with rooms, stairs and hallways was mentioned in the Christine forum, and I started thinking about it and good god, does this woman have a lot of songs about interior architecture. Here's my attempt at a list, please add more if I'm forgetting some:
"Affairs of the Heart" - "Well I wonder which set of rooms are mine / For in these rooms she would live and die"
"Angel" - "I still look up / When you walk in the room"
"Blue Lamp" - "Downstairs the big old house is mine"
"Destiny Rules" - "Sometimes I walk by and I look up to your balcony"
"Edge of Seventeen" - "Up the stairs...and down the hall"
"Fall From Grace" - "And now alone in my room / As it all begins again"
"Greta" - "Ooh...alone in her chambers she dreams of her home"
"Gypsy" - "To a room with some lace / and paper flowers"
"How Still My Love" - "Standing...in the doorway"
"If Anyone Falls" - "I hear a voice...in the room next to mine"
"I Miss You" - "She's back on that staircase"
"Leather and Lace" - "But I carry this feeling / When you walked into my house / That you won't be walking out the door"
"Love Is" - "So she stood there in the hallway frozen"
"One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star" - "When it rains it pours / When there's no one at the door"
"Ooh My Love" - "Well he watched from the corridor..."
"Planets of the Universe" - "Haunted by that same closed door"
"Rooms on Fire" - Umm...
"Sisters of the Moon" - "She was dark at the top of the stairs"
"Street Angel" - "I fell down the stairs...a broken rag doll"
"Thousand Days" - "The closest you've ever come to me / Was to help me up the stairs"
"Touched by an Angel" - "And when she walked in the room / After so many years"
"Trouble in Shangri-La" - "You can consume all the beauty in the room, baby"
"Welcome to the Room...Sara" - Umm...
"When I See You Again" - "So she walks slowly / down the hall"
And I didn't even include references to walls, mirrors or windows! Or references to houses in general!
JazmenFlowers
05-03-2006, 06:26 PM
Stevie's obsession with rooms, stairs and hallways...walls, mirrors or windows! Or references to houses in general!
one of my favorite things about Stevie's writing. for me, it seems like it's a connection between every song. similar to the way Gwen Stefani used Harajuku Girls as a thread through many of her songs...a bad example, I know, but I thought about that earlier.
Janis_no1
05-03-2006, 06:28 PM
:lol: its funny, i'd nevr thought of it... boy she does mention houses etc a lot!!
DashingDan
05-03-2006, 06:30 PM
Pet theory:
She moved around a lot during her childhood/teenage years. There were probably homes that she loved and hated leaving and there were probably ones that she was happy to leave. Her adult life has been spent in many different homes, both owned and rented, not to mention the hotels, busses and jets that she's spent nights in. She's been in a LOT of rooms... Um, I forgot where I was going with this *blush*. Can someone help me out here?
one of my favorite things about Stevie's writing. for me, it seems like it's a connection between every song. similar to the way Gwen Stefani used Harajuku Girls as a thread through many of her songs...a bad example, I know, but I thought about that earlier.
The connections and motifs are really nice for creating a common aesthetic in a lot of her work - especially when she brings over a line or two, like "upstairs where the stars laugh and shine" or "when he was good, he was very good," which kind of stops you in your tracks and forces you to listen to one song in direct relation to another - but there's a point for me where the weight of the same imagery over and over again becomes a little overwhelming, and you start to wonder if she's actually capable of writing anything else or coming up with something new. We know she can, and a lot of the times her best songs are the ones that completely eschew her usual bag of tricks, but there are definitely times when it seems she was just feeling lazy and uninspired, and pulled a card out of a hat filled with stereotypical Stevie vocabulary.
goldustsongbird
05-03-2006, 06:46 PM
I know Sheryl wrote it, but this was the first thing i thought of:
Somebody Stand By Me: stood at the door / and watched while you drove away
Pet theory:
She moved around a lot during her childhood/teenage years. There were probably homes that she loved and hated leaving and there were probably ones that she was happy to leave. Her adult life has been spent in many different homes, both owned and rented, not to mention the hotels, busses and jets that she's spent nights in. She's been in a LOT of rooms... Um, I forgot where I was going with this *blush*. Can someone help me out here?
I'll push it in this direction: Rooms for Stevie are always intensely personal places - "my room" is at least as common as "the room" in her lyrics. They provide a specific location for her characters, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically. They're an outer representation of her characters' inner worlds, and as such they provide her with a simpler language that she can use to describe how each character's inner world is changed or affected by different people or events - people walk in and out of the room, they do different things in or to the room, doors are opened or closed, sounds are heard from inside or outside the room. It's a nice way of bringing a character's emotions and experiences outside the self; there's something physical to latch onto, plus a bit more space provided, instead of feeling trapped inside the character's head or heart. Of course sometimes the room metaphor can get pretty claustrophobic as well...
BirdInFlight
05-03-2006, 06:53 PM
"Open up the window...
And listen to the rain"
SapphireSister
05-03-2006, 07:01 PM
Pet theory:
She moved around a lot during her childhood/teenage years. There were probably homes that she loved and hated leaving and there were probably ones that she was happy to leave. Her adult life has been spent in many different homes, both owned and rented, not to mention the hotels, busses and jets that she's spent nights in. She's been in a LOT of rooms... Um, I forgot where I was going with this *blush*. Can someone help me out here?
Ok I'll continue...As a child Stevie moved around quite frequently and never really had a stable home and as an adult that trend continued so I think the whole notion of a "home" is a huge part of who Stevie is. She has been touring non-stop since 1975 (even before) and although she's always had a base in Phoenix and LA she's lived in many different homes throughout the years. I don't think she has spent a significant amount of time in any of her homes since she is on the road so much. That being said Stevie is always very inspired by her surroundings and often uses them as metaphors in her songs. This includes not only the natural surroundings (the sea, the desert, etc.) but her physical surroundings as well. I'm sure she has been inspired in some way by each place she has lived and has specific memories, therefore they become writing material for her journals/songs. This also includes places she has traveled (vacation spots, rehabs, etc). Any place Stevie has ever been, any person she has ever met, they are all sources of inspiration for her writing. She is also a very visual person so that could be part of the obsession with architecture. She uses her surroundings specifically to represent different aspects of herself and her life in order to tell a story and is amazingly talented at incorporating them into her writing.
Eh I could do better, I'm tired today...
amber
05-03-2006, 07:01 PM
well, since all she seems to write about is her own personal interior architecture, it makes sense. :D
(by that I mean her thoughts and feelings and personality and whatever makes up someone's personal interior architecture).
DashingDan
05-03-2006, 07:05 PM
This is such an interesting thread!
well, since all she seems to write about is her own personal interior architecture, it makes sense. :D
(by that I mean her thoughts and feelings and personality and whatever makes up someone's personal interior architecture).
This sounds like a great concept for a really bad group therapy program.
Group therapy leader: "JoAnn, why don't you tell us about your personal interior architecture."
JoAnn: "Sometimes it just feels like my walls are crumbling, you know? I spend all day scrubbing my emotional counter top and Dustbusting the couch of my loneliness and despair, but he comes home and all he cares about is whether he can take a peek behind the drapes!"
Group therapy leader: "Bob, is this true? Do you only care about getting inside JoAnn's drapes?"
Bob: "Uhh... err... wait, are we talkin' about my wife's pussy?"
amber
05-03-2006, 07:21 PM
This sounds like a great concept for a really bad group therapy program.
Group therapy leader: "JoAnn, why don't you tell us about your personal interior architecture."
JoAnn: "Sometimes it just feels like my walls are crumbling, you know? I spend all day scrubbing my emotional counter top and Dustbusting the couch of my loneliness and despair, but he comes home and all he cares about is whether he can take a peek behind the drapes!"
Group therapy leader: "Bob, is this true? Do you only care about getting inside JoAnn's drapes?"
Bob: "Uhh... err... wait, are we talkin' about my wife's pussy?"
:laugh:
"I just wish I wouldn't come home every day to find my wife staring at the stairs."
but that is a real thing, isn't it? People use the phrase "interior architecture" when describing personal feelings and such, right?
SapphireSister
05-03-2006, 07:33 PM
This sounds like a great concept for a really bad group therapy program.
Group therapy leader: "JoAnn, why don't you tell us about your personal interior architecture."
JoAnn: "Sometimes it just feels like my walls are crumbling..."
Don't you mean "Sometimes is just feels like my walls are flaming"? :lol:
Johnny Stew
05-03-2006, 09:29 PM
With my agoraphobic tendencies, my life is lived inside rooms. I guess it's just one more thing that I can relate to in Stevie's lyrics.
"For in these rooms, she would live and die...."
Johnny Stew
05-03-2006, 10:07 PM
....but there's a point for me where the weight of the same imagery over and over again becomes a little overwhelming, and you start to wonder if she's actually capable of writing anything else or coming up with something new. We know she can, and a lot of the times her best songs are the ones that completely eschew her usual bag of tricks, but there are definitely times when it seems she was just feeling lazy and uninspired, and pulled a card out of a hat filled with stereotypical Stevie vocabulary.This is a topic I find interesting... I suppose because there's no right or wrong viewpoint. But I've noticed others criticize Stevie for what they consider "overuse" of certain imagery... rooms (including walls & windows), mirrors, water (rain, rivers, oceans), and so forth.
Myself, it's something I enjoy... that thematic connection. Rather than seeming like random vignettes, each song is like a chapter in a book (forgive me for using Stevie's own simile), as a larger story is being chronicled.
So I guess I don't tend to view it as laziness, because I simply see it as her artistic voice. Much like Hemingway or Steinbeck had their recurring themes.
So I guess I don't tend to view it as laziness, because I simply see it as her artistic voice. Much like Hemingway or Steinbeck had their recurring themes.
As I said, I like the recurring themes - and when Stevie's at her best, she'll grab one of her usual metaphors and use it in an interesting way that allows you to connect it to her other work - but she's certainly got plenty of songs where her use of the same old tropes is uninspired and heavy-handed.
Look at "Thousand Days": "The closest you've ever come to me / Was to help me up the stairs / You stood in the middle of the stairway / You nearly dragged me up the stairs." Thanks, dear, you can stop beating me over the head with that stick now, we all get it.
seekerj
05-04-2006, 05:10 AM
I'll push it in this direction: Rooms for Stevie are always intensely personal places - "my room" is at least as common as "the room" in her lyrics. They provide a specific location for her characters, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically. They're an outer representation of her characters' inner worlds, and as such they provide her with a simpler language that she can use to describe how each character's inner world is changed or affected by different people or events - people walk in and out of the room, they do different things in or to the room, doors are opened or closed, sounds are heard from inside or outside the room. It's a nice way of bringing a character's emotions and experiences outside the self; there's something physical to latch onto, plus a bit more space provided, instead of feeling trapped inside the character's head or heart. Of course sometimes the room metaphor can get pretty claustrophobic as well...
In psychology and dream interpretation, "house" and "room" are symbols for the "self".
- Jim
Johnny Stew
05-04-2006, 01:37 PM
Look at "Thousand Days": "The closest you've ever come to me / Was to help me up the stairs / You stood in the middle of the stairway / You nearly dragged me up the stairs." Thanks, dear, you can stop beating me over the head with that stick now, we all get it.I definitely agree with you on the heavy-handedness there (though I do love the way her voice sounds on those lines).
It always tends to bug me when a word is repeated several times in the same sentence... whether it be in songs, poems, books, wherever. It took me a long time to not cringe while listening to "Blue Denim," with all of the "hes," "hims" and "ways."
I knew him another way
I knew him another day
In some ways he'd forgotten me
In many ways he got to me
I turned away so he couldn't see
I turned away...it could never be
I never thought he could walk away
But I lost him again...yesterday
It always tends to bug me when a word is repeated several times in the same sentence... whether it be in songs, poems, books, wherever. It took me a long time to not cringe while listening to "Blue Denim," with all of the "hes," "hims" and "ways."
It's a technique that I actually really like, because when it's done well (and part of "well" includes "sparingly"), the effect can be either intensely disconcerting or very soothing. But yeah, a lot of the times that Stevie does it, I just want to hand her a stack of vocabulary cards.
Janis_no1
05-04-2006, 08:47 PM
Look at "Thousand Days": "The closest you've ever come to me / Was to help me up the stairs / You stood in the middle of the stairway / You nearly dragged me up the stairs." Thanks, dear, you can stop beating me over the head with that stick now, we all get it.
:eek: i absolutely hate those lyrics in thousand days!! :mad: Would have to be the only lyrics i really feel that way about!
Janis_no1
05-04-2006, 08:48 PM
I definitely agree with you on the heavy-handedness there (though I do love the way her voice sounds on those lines).
It always tends to bug me when a word is repeated several times in the same sentence... whether it be in songs, poems, books, wherever. It took me a long time to not cringe while listening to "Blue Denim," with all of the "hes," "hims" and "ways."
I knew him another way
I knew him another day
In some ways he'd forgotten me
In many ways he got to me
I turned away so he couldn't see
I turned away...it could never be
I never thought he could walk away
But I lost him again...yesterday
yes i find this a little irritating at times.... if im singing along i can stomach it, but i cannot let myself pay too much attention as it does bother me a little... not as much as it does you but to some extent yes:nod:
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