Illume

[Greta Garbo]

So, I found myself listening to Illume off the "Say You Will" cd recently. I just wanted to get opinions about this song. I was searching the web and many folks said that the song was terrible. I persoanlly think it was great that Stevie decided to write a song about the tragic events which took place on 9/11; The melody of this song really coincides with the somber feeling of that day. I think it was great that so many songs popped up from various artists therefter reflecting on what happened that terrible day. Does anyone else really enjoy this song?

<img src="http://www.inherownwords.com/illume.jpg">

Here are Stevie's words from the website inherownwords.com....

One of my favorite songs on the record is called Illume. I wrote it about what happened on 9-11.
~Stevie Nicks, Ask Stevie, www.nicksfix.com, 2003

Illume is a very interesting song actually. I wrote it after September 11th, you know, so it was one of the first I wrote after those tragedies. It’s just about making it, you know. I was sitting there, thinking about those horrible tragedies in October of 2001, and I was sitting there with just me in the room, and the candle was lit. I love candles, you know. And my heart was still so heavy from everything, and I didn’t know quite what would happen, and we were all like that, confused.

I didn’t set out to write a September 11th song, it just happened. It goes “Illume, says the candle that I burn, a reflection in the window,” and that’s just about the inspiration for the song. And I tell you, my heart was so very heavy and full at this time, I was so confused. And then there are some other parts…( Pause)

“And I am alone with my thoughts, And how we could make it – And what we have been through, all of the trauma.” I also wrote one called “Get Back on the Plane,” and a song called “The Towers Touched the Sky,” but it was just too depressing.
~Stevie Nicks, Queen of Rock Interview, 2003

I was in New York on 9/11 during my tour. I've never been a political person, but suddenly I felt like I was in the middle of history. We were at the Waldorf with all these foreign diplomats. It was very scary. I watched people jumping (from the twin towers) on a Mexican TV channel. We put wet towels in the windows to keep out the burning iron smell. Illume is a poem about 9/11 and about getting through it and getting back home.

Part of me wanted to pack my bags and cancel the tour. But my parents and friends like Tom Petty and Don Henley kept saying, 'People paid to see your show, and if they're willing to go out in this frightening world, don't you dare come home.' It was hard to walk on stage and not burst into tears. I was almost hysterical. All my songs suddenly seemed to be about 9/11.
~Stevie Nicks, USA Today, April 28, 2003

[Katherine~]

I think that it's a great song... It really depicts the whole event and gives an insight about how horrible it must have been for the people who weren't physically injured but had to witness the whole ordeal. I think it was really brave of Stevie to get up and sing that song when so many other artists were criticised for 'cashing in' on the whole 911 tragedy.
i think that the music and the lyrics definately create the appropriate mood which was obviously was quite sombre given the experience.

[Musicman408]

I do like Illume. The ending when she is singing the chorus and she is singing higher, I love that. It's so intense, and whenever Stevie does that, it gives me goosebumps. :nod:

[jannieC]

I took me a long time to like this song. Someone on this board (I think) said something about playing it really loud in the car. I did that, and it kind of changed the whole song for me (for the better).

[danax6]

^Same thing for me. When I first heard it, my reaction was 'meh'. But I fell in love with it after listening to it a few times.

[MacMan]

I like the song.... The words are all right... but I like the music and the bass line..

[SuzeQuze]

I like it and I liked the fact that it was very different from what she normally does.

[louielouie2000]

It took me YEARS to appreciate that song. The first time I heard Illume I was like WTF is up with this hip hop/rap base line? I thought the way she sung the song was very monotone and almost tribal lol. I just didn't like anything about it.

But a few months ago it just clicked with me and I finally got it. I think I had to picture myself as Stevie sitting in her coastal home in California... and watching that candle flicker in the window and the smell of the Nag Champa totally transporting her back to 9/11 when she was burning scented candles to cover up the smell of burning death outside. Where she was basically trapped in NYC with wet blankets over her windows... not knowing what in the world is really happening outside, just a matter of blocks away from where you are. Because if y'all remember... we weren't really entirely sure who was attacking us at first, if it was an accident, if it was on purpose, etc. Once the song clicked in my mind... I've loved it ever since. It totally blows away those stupid ass country songs I've heard about 9/11. I think mainly because Stevie really was there... and it's not such a blantant 9/11 song either.

[eclipse]

List me as an Illume lover too- I just have to be in the right mood to listen to it...

[trackaghost]

It took me YEARS to appreciate that song. The first time I heard Illume I was like WTF is up with this hip hop/rap base line? I thought the way she sung the song was very monotone and almost tribal lol. I just didn't like anything about it.



That's quite funny that you think the bassline is a hip hop/rap-style because it's actually a little more than similar to a bassline on a rock song by Richard Ashcroft:

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=25776&

[SpyNote]

The first part of the song is very rough. Her vocal doesn't hold up in the production, and just gets buried. The phrasing of the song could be better; it sounds like she's rambling. But she finishes strong at the end. Kind of how most of the American Idol contestants fared with their songs.

[goldie]

I've loved this song from the first time I heard it.

[GarboSpeaks!]

Honestly...and I feel like a heel for saying this. When I first heard it on the aol preview, I thought it was lifted off a warped record. That song and RTG. I thought what in the name of God is up w/ her vocal? After getting the album, I liked it. I don't consider it a 9/11 song, though I guess it is. And GG mentioning that you liked all the artists that came out w/ songs remembering 9/11...for me it just seemed a commercial gravy train after a while. "Oh man...lets do a song about 9/11...everyone else is." Stevie's, though late in realease (so long after 9/11 I mean) & seemingly a part of that commercial gravy train from outsiders that called it aweful; instead for me reflects her poet side, and came off rather tactful. If I thought of it as a 9/11 song always, I'd prolly not like it so much. As a Stevie song, it endures.

[BombaySapphire3]

I liked it upon hearing..it is different than anything she had done and I was hoping it might signal a new willingness to experiment and push the envelope a bit..but considering how she now considers the SYW sessions I guess it will never be.

[SpyNote]

I liked it upon hearing..it is different than anything she had done and I was hoping it might signal a new willingness to experiment and push the envelope a bit..but considering how she now considers the SYW sessions I guess it will never be.

I think Stevie's envelope is best left on the table, that same glass table. :laugh:

[Hawkeye]

I really like this song, but unlike most I actually prefer the first half of the song. I must also say its hard for me not to consider this a 9/11 song, since the title of hte song is Illume 9/11 :shrug: :laugh:

[Richard B]

I've always liked Illume. It's so weird, just like the when 9/11 happened. I can only imagine what it was like in NY at the time, but I will never know as I was not there, but the music and lyrics work well together for a song written about the events on the day and days after 9/11. It works.

[JazmenFlowers]

I have to put aside the production of all Stevie's songs on SYW, with the exception of Everybody Finds out, to really appreciate them. Illume is gorgeously haunting and sad, to me. the lyrics and the way the song kind of strums along just really make it so intense.

[gldstwmn]

If you search back in The Ledge archives, I seem to remember we had a pretty good debate about this song including some great and long departed members. The notorious (illustrious?) Carne was involved and took the song very personally since he lived in NYC at the time.
I love John's bass line on the song. I love the song really. The melody is very, very much like Richard Ashcroft's New York. As I remember, we debated that as well.:laugh:

[BombaySapphire3]

If you search back in The Ledge archives, I seem to remember we had a pretty good debate about this song including some great and long departed members. The notorious (illustrious?) Carne was involved and took the song very personally :

He didn't depart by choice.Rescind the Strikes!!!

[gldstwmn]

He didn't depart by choice.Rescind the Strikes!!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I was thinking that dissention was in the debate also. These threads are older than the one Sharon posted. I'm thinking they go back to 2003-04.

[BombaySapphire3]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I was thinking that dissention was in the debate also. These threads are older than the one Sharon posted. I'm thinking they go back to 2003-04.

There's another one that added alot of spice to this board although I know he left on his own accord..whatever happened to David btw? ..another incredibly interesting character.

[gldstwmn]

There's another one that added alot of spice to this board although I know he left on his own accord..whatever happened to David btw? ..another incredibly interesting character.

Don't know. I know that some folks tried to track him down to no avail. I hope he's alright.

[BombaySapphire3]

Don't know. I know that some folks tried to track him down to no avail. I hope he's alright.

Yeah I hope so too ..I know that he was getting on in years ..not that I'm a spring chicken myself.

[Greta Garbo]

I really enjoy how Stevie repeated the same lyrics as in Destiny Rules. These are by far my favorite lyrics in both of the songs (below). And, I love Stevie's voice towards the end of the song.. kind of sounds like she is singing through a megaphone... just very eerie and fantastic at the same time. :)

"I like the coastal cities
I like the lights...
I like the way the ocean blends
Into the city at night
Like living on a working river
This coastline is glittering
Like a diamond snake
In a black sky."

[Phoenix]

I LOVE ILLUME! Its such a MODERN sounding song. I also love "New York" by richard ashcroft as well, id LOVE a mash-up of the two. The whole song is just cool.
(and the candles ARE really great too just sayin)

Hey, does anybody have the other version? its like the "thunder" mix or something? :wavey:

[ELIUD]

When I heard she was going to do a 9-11 song on the new Fleetwood Mac album, I rolled my eyes while thoughts of the mega-awful "Desert Angel" came to mind. Then when SYW came out, I couldn't believe how beautiful the lyrics to "illume" actually were. Some of her most visual and poetic words of recent years are in that song which is what I love most about her song writing, her unique style in describing moments or feelings like nobody else does. The "diamond snake in a black sky", the flame dancing by the window, oceans blending into cities and vice-versa. The beat and the music is gorgeous as well, very different for her and very worldly. The song just feels like a total stream of consciousness as she sits alone contemplating those terrible events without one mention of planes, death or fire. It's really one of her best songs in my opinion.

[gldstwmn]

I LOVE ILLUME! Its such a MODERN sounding song. I also love "New York" by richard ashcroft as well, id LOVE a mash-up of the two. The whole song is just cool.
(and the candles ARE really great too just sayin)

Hey, does anybody have the other version? its like the "thunder" mix or something? :wavey:

Yes. I have that somewhere. I'll look and see if it's still on my hard drive.

[gretchen]

I love Illume. It has this wonderful kind of rising and falling quality to it, a fabulous piece in my opinion.

[crtrofthenight]

So glad the subject of Illume came up. Like many others, I didn't care for it at all but a friend of mine (John) from Florida sat me down in my car which has an excellent stereo and said, "you have to really listen to what goes through this song" and he sort of got reallly into it in the car and it was very real. I felt the meaning and the rhythm and the hauntedness of that song sooooo strongly and I've loved it ever since. .....I would not take you for granted, I would trade you for jade or for diamonds, not for anything....I needed to be there, Just REMEMBER when I'm Haunted, that I was just so scared....

And the harmonies that follow are just as haunting. I love haunted songs!
Thanks for letting me tell my story!
V~

[Musicman408]

So glad the subject of Illume came up. Like many others, I didn't care for it at all but a friend of mine (John) from Florida sat me down in my car which has an excellent stereo and said, "you have to really listen to what goes through this song" and he sort of got reallly into it in the car and it was very real. I felt the meaning and the rhythm and the hauntedness of that song sooooo strongly and I've loved it ever since. .....I would not take you for granted, I would trade you for jade or for diamonds, not for anything....I needed to be there, Just REMEMBER when I'm Haunted, that I was just so scared....

And the harmonies that follow are just as haunting. I love haunted songs!Thanks for letting me tell my story!
V~

I'm the same way. Haunted songs are the best. But yeah, like I said earlier, Illume is a very powerful song and I actually haven't listened to it in awhile, so I think I'll have to pop it in.:nod:

[Phoenix]

Yes. I have that somewhere. I'll look and see if it's still on my hard drive.

oh thank you thank you:) :wavey:

[Raeven Skye]

I love Illume....(and her others from SYW). They totally fit into my life's chaos at the time!

[gldstwmn]

oh thank you thank you:) :wavey:

You're welcome. Here ya go:

Illume Thunder Mix:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/49xdth

[Phoenix]

You're welcome. Here ya go:

Illume Thunder Mix:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/49xdth

ahhhh, THANK YOU! its soo cool. BUT VERY FAST. alittle TOO fast:lol:
but still really cool .

[belladonnadream]

I like it just for the fact she took a "Stevie Risk "and wrote about something other than her usual love affair memoirs~ Its not the best song in the world~ but I like it!
Jenni

[Liza]

I love that song. It is very dramatic in the true Stevie way, but she is not trying to be dramatic it was just the way she was felt and wo it must have been such a feeling to be in NYC at that time - no wonder she wrote about it - how could she not.. She writes about her experiences in life and this must have been a major event. It's a very moving song.

[kathy1]

i love this song also. kathy

[TheWILDheart]

I just listened to this song for the first time in ages and I really do love it. I think it would've made a great album opener for a Stevie solo album though as opposed to where it stands now.

[michaelD]

This is great song!!!
Very classic Stevie lyrics... I sing it everytime I light incense...

[wheart]

I like Illume very much. Certaintly one of her best tracks on SYW. I really like the melody. The production is OK but I always felt that more could have been done with the ending, something a bit more dramatic. Those weak "ay ay ay ay's at the end don't match the subtle power of the rest of the song. Otherwise, I think Lindsey did a pretty good job capturing Illume's spirit.