The Nightmare appreciation thread
 

Does ANYONE out there love this song as much as I do???!!!!

Yes. I do. I rediscovered it a few months ago & I am in love with it. I still wish the music were a bit more haunting/dark to fit with the lyrics a bit better, but I can overlook it. I adore "so about the moon and her sisters, how dare he take them prisoner!"

1.) Yes

2.) Why in the hell does Chris Nicks have a writing credit?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song! I don't understand how people can't like it.

I now must put it on.

I love it!!! I just made a mix CD called "The Nightmare" with all of Stevie's rockin' songs, including this one...

I think this song is Stevie at her most brilliant. This song and Mirror Mirror are insane masterpieces.

One of my faves... especially the "special remix" from the "I Can't Wait" maxi-single.

"She walks through the night, and then she tries to just get through the day...."

"The Nightmare" is a very summer song to me... it just has that carefree, cool, cruising down the highway feel to it.... not my favorite on RAL, but still a great song...

Love it. What other Stevie release has so many metaphors and images?
As I've said before, the only think I would change is all the repetition of the last several seconds.

- Jake

This song is one of my favorites and I think she outdid herself with the lyrics. The imagery is unbelievable and the incorporating of her other songs (lyrics) into this one was brilliant. I also wish the music was a little or a lot more haunting because when I listen to the words, I imagine Stevie waking up on her first day totally clean and recovered and having flashbacks on her life and her music and all of it coming together in her mind. The Nightmare is what I picture that would sound like. Like her life flashing before her eyes. The lyrics are in my top 3 of the best she's ever written, the idea was genius and I do wish the music matched it more. Thanks for posting this thread. I know others dislike this song, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who really feels something when I listen to it.

Put me down for appreciation.... I absolutely love this song, it's so great. The remixes are quite fantastic as well, I love at the end of the alternate take when Stevie is repeatedly singing "Well this is not the world, not the world not the REALL world...." It's just so awesome. :D

I think the lyrics are what people imagine when they picture Stevie at her airy-fairiest:
So about the moon and her sisters
How dare he take them prisoner
Well, if she had flung out her heart against him in all of her wisdom
Oooh, that was a mystery

Love it, but the last line there says it all.

- Jake

I thought the album version was ok, but I love one of the other versions that runs 6:34. Brilliant song.

what do you guys have against the music? The music is perfect! Relatively sophisticated, too, compared with the usual chords.

I just think that the lyrics are kind of dark/sad & the music is more happy/peppy. I personally don't hate the music, I just don't think it's a perfect fit.

I really like this song, too - but then I love most of Rock a Little!! This is one that I'd say I love the words just a touch more than the music - and you guys have picked all my favourite lines, too. I've also always loved the sort of chanting of "this is not the world, this is not the world..."

I like the alternate version so much better. There is less emphasis on the synths and it's more guitar based. To me, the production is more eerie and seems to suit the song better. "THIS IS NOT THE WORLD...THIS IS THE EDGE OF IT."

I LOVE this song beyond words and I am so thrilled someone wrote an appreciation thread for it. It more than deserves it. I was shocked when I came on The Ledge and found out how many people despise this song. It is probably one of my top 5 Stevie songs. The lyrics are whimsical, magical, and haunting. The music has so much energy and I literally feel like endorphins are being released every time I hear it! I think the production is great. I love blasting it in my car and playing it over and over and singing along. I would love to sing this song live. I also adore the alternate "this is not the world, not the world, not the real world" version. I cannot get enough of this song!! Who would die to see this live? (not that it will ever happen). I don't think she has ever done it live. What a shame.

I love all three versions of The Nightmare!!
 

The Nightmare is acually one of my all time favorite songs!! I have three versions: The Rock A Little album version, the remix version, and the extended mix version, and all of them are a little different from each other, but are all great in their own way! Although, i do like the remix version the best because i like the part when she goes "The Nightmare! This is not the world, this is not the world..." and was surprised that she cut out that verse in the album version, because i got the remix version before i got the album version.

I mean, I like it. That's all I can say about this song. :shrug:

Mark my words, Curt... one of these days this song is going to hit you like a ton of bricks, and you'll love it forevermore. :nod:

I'll be counting the days. :rolleyes:


DA hit me a few weeks ago, so anything is possible. :eek: But again, I do enjoy Nightmare. I don't skip it. It's just not one of my favorites.

:laugh:

I just think that you're one of those fans (like myself) who might simply "like" a song for a while, but at some point it hits you differently than it had before, and then it becomes a favorite.

The Nightmare
 

I love this song. It's been a favorite of mine for as long as I've been a fan of Stevie. I have always been curious about what Chris Nicks contributed to the song....

This song, along with No Spoken Word really sets the whole mood of RAL for me. I like all the different versions, but my favorite one of all is the dual piano demo... Stevie plays it on the piano, and then when she finishes, she starts playing it again, only slightly differently. Love it! :nod: Her voice is is raspy and worn, similar to the Gypsy Beggar demo.

Favorite lines:

"Somewhere in her ancient ways, she walks through the night"

"Some will never know or share any kind of dream"

All kidding aside, you are absolutely right. Sometimes a Stevie song comes on and BAM, a different feeling comes over me like never before.

That's why I love the SA album so much. I shelved it for years. I got bored with Bella Donna and Wild Heart one day and put it on. The album has never been the same. I dunno what it is. It could have hit a nerve....the nerve that was making me sad. It just struck me and I can't get over that feeling. Never will. :o

I think anybody who has been a fan for over two years knows what you're talking about.

- Jake

I like the song up unto the point where she says "well I stood with you against the storm, and I tried once again...." after that, the song take a down turn for me.

2 awesome version of The Nightmare here. Hurry though I think there about to be gone. I've never heard the master real until just now. It f*ckin kicks ass! Thanks so much to Krrby for posting these.

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showth...t=20660&page=6

I love it too!

haunting, very personal
 

i listen to it the piano version a lot . and it makes me cry , really. and Jill, Goddess , rememeber that one night we chatted and how freaky i must have been.... its really like too personal for me . like it makes me feel pain. and it makes me like yell it out . but it gives like a cartharsis. the piano is just so haunting to me . like if you close your eyes... like being in a long dark room with the music . and you HAVE to listen to it only. like she really wants you to feel the intense sorrow.

I like the 12' single version over the album version.

Good! Was it the piano? I love the piano.

That happens with this one!

Not that most of Stevie's songs don't have extremely challenging vocals, but have you ever tried to sing this one along with the instrumental version?! It is just shy of impossible! She is so instinctual when she sings!

"...whoa!"


(I LOVE that bit!!!)

:]

I love this song but for some reason the end repetition reminds me of Prince.

i have ALWAYS LUVED this song & glad to see that other do too :nod: :blob1: ~

Wow, that's really intense but that's what's so great about her music - that it can affect us like this. Thanks for sharing. And what's this piano version you are talking about? I must have it! I made a Nightmare mix cd this morning with 4 different versions (The album, the remix, the master real, and and unidentified shorter version) and I'm loving every minute!

That's beautiful. I mean, I'm not happy it makes you cry, but I am happy that it touches you so deeply. I love that Stevie's songs do this for so many people, myself included.

And welcome to the board! :)