Well, this is pretty depressing....
 

Re. Street Angel

Up Close with Stevie Nicks - 1994
"Street Angel is not about how to help the homeless. It's a story about a girl that is homeless and a man that has alot of money that falls in love with her and the fact is that no matter how much she cares about him she really can't give up her life on the street and her friends and her family and all the people that she hangs with. She really can't change that and finally at the end in order to send him back to his life she basically makes him think that she has committed suicide...that she's dead because she knows that he won't leave her any other way and she knows she can't be with him."

***
Funny, never in million years would I have thought that this is what this song was about. But now that I read the lyrics, her description makes perfect sense. Stevie definitely has a way of writing songs that may not be very effective on their face (to me anyway..I've always disliked this song), but once you know the true meaning behind them, they become much more interesting. Wish she would write a book with a description behind all her songs! (as if!) Pretty depressing though, don't ya think?? I guess she committed suicide by 'throwing herself down the stairs like a broken rag doll.' How sad.

I've been walking under rainbows too long to tell
You keep walking down mean streets
my street angel
I try to bring you in out of the cold
But street angels live on the street
And they always will

Street angels aren't like anyone you know
They do what they want and they go where they go
They may tell you
that you hold the world in your hands
But they always give it back
They always give it back

No amount of crying changes your mind
No amount of praying brings you inside
I know that you love me
and that you always will
You just stand outside and call to me
My sweet street angel

A Charles Dickens character,
with your top hat and your scarf
When you pull me through the rainbow
I thought you'd stop
But you didn't you turned around
You went back to the children and your music
And the people that you love

I can't help but wonder if
Every one in a while you remember the girl
When you were a homeless angel
that drove you wild
Strange and elusive

No amount of crying changes your mind
No amount of praying brings you inside
I know that you love me and that you always will
You just stand outside and call to me
My sweet street angel

So I ended it all for the both of us
I fell down the stairs a broken rag doll
But you never knew you just thought I went away
With nothing more to hope for
But you don't hear voices anymore
No my sweet street angel

That is on the depressing side. I never cared much for the song; I never could get past that "street angels live on the street" line.

I like that song. inexplicably :laugh: At first, of course, i thought it was cheesy. But now, I really like it. I like the rainbow parts, and the girl that drove you wild, strange and illusive part. It doesn't depress me much, either, though the whole album is a rainy day foggy kind of toned album... :wavey:
Amber

very good!!!~

brightest stevie blessings~
jill

Really interesting! I kinda like the song, mainly for David Crosby's presence and the part:

A Charles Dickens character,
with your top hat and your scarf
When you pull me through the rainbow...
I thought you'd stop
But you didn't...you turned around...
You went back to the children...and your music...
And the people that you love

Romy

Wow. I always sorta thought this song might be about Tom Petty. That's just my own guess based on nothing factual. Just my own weird assumptions. Guess I was WAY OFF base on that one. D'OH! :o

Why'd you think that? did something bad happen to petty?

The song makes a little more sense to me now! Just a little. I can see why she would think of something like this - it kinda mirrors her life - when she talks about how she cannot give up the things she loves to do for a relationship. Although I don't think she's got the to the point where she would throw herself down the stairs....

Well....it's just what she says in 2 of the verses: the thing about Dickens, with the top hat & scarf, and going back "to the children and the music and the people that you love". And also about wondering if "every once in a while you remember the girl when you were a homeless angel that drove you wild...strange and elusive". I have a personal theory based on nothing factual: I like to think Stevie & Tom had an affair sometime in the 80s-maybe when he was having trouble at home during his "Southern Accents" LP (or maybe even sooner during the Bella Donna era). While I'm here speculating irresponsibly, I might as well also add that I think TP's song "Runaway Trains" is about Stevie. I don't know why, these are just the impressions I got while listening to these songs. I base these on nothing except my own weird vibes. I'm probably WAY OFF BASE here: I'm just guessing!! :confused: :o

No, I have that same impression, i just don't understand how the title of this thread would make you think that. Street Angel, maybe...But seriously, I have Stevie/Tom speculations, so that's cool.... :nod: :thumbsup:
AMber

She's also said she was inspired to write it after seeing a news broadcast about homeless people, so who the hell knows what it's about.

But I do know that I love it and think it's her most heartfelt song from that time period. Very vivid.

Yea - she said this in the SA press kit:

During all of that time, Stevie recalls, "l was thinking about 'STREET ANGEL.' l already had the title song in mind, for instance; l wanted it to be about people whose dreams have gone bad. l had an idea of a Charles Dickens style character, a homeless woman who doesn't want to leave the streets, and the rich man who loves her."

http://www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com/artic...reetangel.html (KUDOS to the site ;) )

and in "Angel of the Turntable" The Island Ear, David J. Criblez, August 22 - September 4, 1994.

Street Angel is a bit different, 'cause it's a fictional story about a girl who is a homless person who has been in the street, with her family, her whole life. They are just gypsies. Some rich guy falls in love with her and tries to lift her up by marrying her. She can't do it, 'cause she can't give up her other life in the street. It's not a political comment on how to save the homeless. It's simply about a girl who is homeless.

http://members.aol.com/WLDHRT69/nicksart2.html (KUDOS to the site :cool: )
BTW - this is a GREAT and candid interview with Stevie - read the whole thing and you will see what I mean!!!!!

You're right! Thanks for posting!


I also see a little bit of a similarity between 'Street Angel' and 'Rooms on Fire.'
Here is what Stevie has said about 'Rooms on Fire:'

Open House Party – 1989
“Rooms on Fire is about a girl, like me, who goes on with her life for a long time thinking that the only thing she ever is going to have is her music. And she meets somebody one night at a party and they get married and they have a baby and he dies very quickly, so she only has him for about five years. And then she waits for the rest of her life for him. It’s really a love story…and he comes back to get her and says basically ‘do you want to go?’ And she kind of turns around and looks at the world and says bye to them and steps into the doorway.”

***
It's a reacurring theme in Stevie's songs that I *think* relates back to her knowing that she is never going to find a man that can put up with her career. (ie. the homeless girl is too attached to her lifestyle to be with the rich man, the Rooms on Fire girl loses her man very quickly). She sacrificed love for rock and roll. And as much as she says that she made the right choice, I believe deep down in her heart that she feels she may have made the wrong choice or at least wonders what could have been.

Good analysis. And i totally didn't know that was what rooms on fire is about. (you can't tell ALL THAT from the lyrics :) )
Amber

I know, you can't. I know that she molded the video after this concept though, which after watching the video I couldn't figure out anyway. I think alot of times she just assumes that her audience will 'get' what she is talking about, when in fact we have no clue!

Yeah, but i don't think she totally cares, otherwise her lyrics would be more specific. I think she likes it that way. I didn't know that she assumed her audiences would get it :shrug: Maybe she just wants us to get the theme of the emotional content, which we do, I think
Amber

understand her lyrics??
 

I am positive that Christine said of Stevie's writings..."she writes rather vaugue, almost non-sensical words, but when all strung together...it works"
She was comparing the different writing styles of She, Lindsey and Stevie. Admitted that her's were more story and romantic based...wheras Stevie was "all over the palce" but when the song was completed, it sounded good and Stevie's instincts about her own songs were correct.

I can't imagine how it must have been for her in the early 70's when she was just settling in to this new band, she was the outsider and she must have been so passionate about her songs being heard...I am sure it wasn't an easy time to be Stevie...

Just my .o2 cents...
hugs,
~~~eclipse~~~

I think the quote about Rooms on Fire is actually only describing the video, not the actual song content.

Yeah, that's what I thought too, but during one interview I have she says something about how she made the video to reflect exactly what she wrote the song about. I'll have to find it and post it...

Oh, I'm not doubting that she made the video to reflect exactly what she wrote the song about...I'm just saying I think there's more to the story of the video than to the song. Doesn't make much sense, does it? :rolleyes: But I mean, there isn't even a hint that the guy dies and comes back to take her away in the song. And the only evidence of any baby is "she dreamed of her wanton luxury," which I'm even skeptical is about a baby. The only other thing I can think of is I think there was originally about two or three extra verses in the demo...I remember reading the lyrics on sararhiannon.com, something about a poison, can't remember at this moment though. Honestly, who really even knows with Stevie! But that's why we love her I guess.

Many Many kudos to this site - which is just GREAT!!!!!

http://www.sararhiannon.com/roomsonfiredemo.html

Rooms on Fire
Stevie Nicks
Early demo

Somewhere out of the back of your mind comes the real life
And the real life that you know

It seems like it was a creation of some of these things
Well, seems too, the only thing in your life
Was getting everything you want, and when you want it
It's no poison

Oooh, yes there is magic all around you
If I do say so myself
Every time that you walk in the room
And maybe I'm just feeling that the rooms are on fire
I have known this much longer than you

Once she trusted many, she was unfamiliar
To almost everyone
And then there'd be someone to enter the presence,
She could sense for miles
Dreaming of the wanton luxury,
She laughed and she tried to taunt him
He hated to be separated...

Now maybe, just knowing, that it is a curse to you
Somewhere out in the back of your mind
Comes the real life,
The real life and the way that we have known it
It seems like a creation of some of those things
It seems to be the only thing alive worth
Was getting everything that you want
Everything that you want...

Well, she trusted many
She was unfamiliar to almost everyone

Then there'd be someone
Who'd enter into her presence,
She could sense it for miles
Dreamed of a wanton luxury
Laughed and tried to taunt him
He hated to be separated
There is magic all around you
If I do say so myself

Every time... that you walk in the room
Maybe I'm just feeling
That the rooms are on fire
Maybe just knowing that this is a curse to you
Sleepless nights and all the treachery,
Long nets of white cloud my memory
Cloud my memory...

Yeah, I totally agree. I would have never thought that's what she wanted us to get from the song. I know that sometimes she definitely tries to hide the true meaning of her songs...but really her description as it relates to the lyrics is totally out of control (i.e. makes no sense! ;)