Like or Dislike: Blue Denim
 

To me, this song is just OK. Nothing spectacular, lyrically, musically or vocally. Until the ending:

"So I'm going away for a little while
To remember how to feel
And if I find the answer...
I promise you...I'll come back and get you
I'll come back and get you
I'll come back and get you"

Her vocal delivery of that verse, most notabley the last line makes the song a favorite for me. Live - even better. She tore this one up on tour in '94. LOVE the HOB version, it's fab despite her hoarse bronchitis voice.

Never realized she cowrote it with Mike Campbell until recently. :shrug:

I love it - I like the box set version better though. It was great live as well, esp. the YEYYYEEEAAAAAAAA a the end. I also think the lyrics are amngst the best she has ever written in the context of her failed relationship with LB.

I, however, am not wild about the chrous "run with the sight" - I have never gotten that one :laugh:

Meh. The end is great, but the rest is as bland as wet soda crackers. The great ending just serves to underscore how pedestrian and unmoving everything that came before it is.

JMO.

As do I....it has a longer guitar intro. <333


:sigh: What can I say about the opener to my favorite album? IT RAWKS! The up tempo music makes the feel of the song like a happy one...but the lyrics are sooooo deep and personal....some of her saddest, IMO. I think the balance of the two makes the song so damn good. This is the type of number you find yourself belting out, with your fist in the air as you drive down the road. It makes you so pissed at her that she goes away from the one she loves....

....but she gives us hope with "I'LL COME BACK AND GET YOU!"


Very underrated song. Glad it was done live and included on Enchanted. It's definately a song that needs to resurface. Her more husky voice could do it justice....would sound great right after Dreams.

I was never a big fan of Blue Denim when I would listen to SA. It was one of those "just ok" songs, nothing great. Would never go out of my way to listen to it. Then I decided to go back and listen to some shows from '94 and she blows it out of the water. It's really really great live so it has earned some major brownie points from me.
Then I heard the Mark and Brain radio interview where she sings along with it and I fell in love with that!
So for those 2 reasons BD has gone from just ok to I really like it. Not love it though.
I agree with Paula about the end of the song. That's definitely the best part.

I went back and read the lyrics. Not a fan of them at all and I don't like the whole theme of blue denim and singing about it none the less.

Love it!!! One of my favorite "underdog" songs by Stevie.

It seems like it's going to be crap, the lyrics are horrible, the harmonies on the chorus are great, the bridge is "eh"- and then the end is just pissed off to the max. So much conviction and such a great song because of that impact.

LOVE IT!!!!!

"Blue Denim" is the quintessential 'Stevie of 1994' song.. i don't love it, because i personally hate that year and everything that represents it.. for me, Stevie Nicks of 1994 was not really the Stevie Nicks that I had grown to love up until that point or since then.. she just seemed completely different than at any other point in her career; her voice, her looks, her performances, her songs..

looking back, i really like "Blue Denim", but i still equate it with that time period, so i can never really "love it"..

I said it was OK. I used to like this one a lot more when I was younger, but it has faded on me for some reason.

I like it. :nod:

I don't love it, but it has excellent moments. The guitar riff - thank you Mike -
is very catchy to me, and distracts me from the atrocious metaphor and lame assed lyrics. Blue Denim ? Good God, might as well be Tupperware. One of the worst musical and lyrical bridges of any Stevie song too. But, the guitar line out of the bridge is brilliant, and leads into that ball buster of an ending. I love the last minute or so of the song. Without Mike's guitar and that fantastic vocal overdub, the song would be a royal stinker, but those two things elevate it miraculously and I am always kind of elated after it fades out. Which, of course, makes me bitter that the only time I ever feel that way again on the record is when Mike once again riffs the hell out of Kick It.
Ah, what could have been.

I like it. It's what Gate and Garden and Sable on Blond should have been like. :laugh:
Seriously, the tempo is just fast enough, and the vocal dynamic enough for me to really like it. Also, good notes. Nice minor notes. Of course the ending is great, my favorite part. I like all the lyrics, though, they make sense to me. Although Denim isn't the best thing to compare blue to, but it reminds me of a man, so it works.
In my head the song evokes the same kind of feeling as watching someone from far away running on a cloudy beach, in black and white. (the sky is cloudy, not the beach.)
Even though the song is warm, there's a distance and detachment to it.

Now THAT was a fabulous post. Please comment on more songs. I love your thorough analysis and the Tupperware analogy is right on!

For me it evokes an image of an old smelly pair of raggedy blue jeans. She should stick to what she does best - fairies, angels, birds, etc.

:xoxo:

And I was feeling out of practice.

:wavey:

Is he your new best friend?

I KNEW you were going to say something about my new best friend so I hesitated to post that but then I said to myself, aaah screw it. It's only Amber :xoxo:.

Amber, Amber, there is plenty of Sparky to go around. :lol:

I'm sure, but that's not why I said that. ;) Although I hear you might be occupied for awhile on that Tower-Bucket project.

Every day Miss Libra tells someone new that they are her "best friend", so I was teasing her.

Ah, I am away for awhile and I miss all the new in-jokes.

For the record, I think the Tower-Bucket project could theoretically keep me occupied for a looong time. Of course, it's only a theory. He is so N/A for Sparky's bucket help.

:nod: Theoretically, you bet your ass.

that's the only one you missed, really.
N/A? Not After? Not Asking? No A**?

Not available, dumbass.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Oh, I miss one (but come up with some fabulous alternatives! :woohoo: ) and suddenly I'm a dumbass??? SIUYA! :laugh: I know, it's a common ac, my mind just blanked.

Denim will do that!

I put OK. I agree the "understanding me/you" bridge is among her worst. I hate bridges as a rule anyway, but this is particularly bad. Totally unnecessary.

I like the "I'll come back and getchyoo" part, but it sounds as if he might not be receptive to her when she does come back. The whole song seems to be about how she lost her hold on him... so it's kinda weird that she'd be promising to come back and get(ch) him.

I am not generally a betting man. And I would rarely lay my ass on the line on a bet if I were. But under the right circumstances I might make an exception.

BTW, here my ass is again in a thread - through no fault of my own, let the record so indicate.

When I first got Street Angel I was blown away when I heard Blue Denim. I totally loved it then and still do now. It was also wonderful live.

I think it's an ok song. The ending, of course, is great. And I love the guitar riff. It's pretty much a mediocre song with a fab riff. It makes the song. I actually prefer the Street Angel version to the Enchanted version. I have an acapella version of this song. THe ending sounds freakin awsome acapella! The rest....meh.

I love the song - especially the lyrics. Considering the context of Stevies life when it was recorded, they probably did the best they could do with it. I wonder if she were to rerecord it one day, would it sound better or the same?

I love this one. The extended intro on the Enchanted version annoys the hell out of me though. I think I can relate to this song. I love the lyrics and the way she blasts through that last part of the song. Recently I realised that the end of the song would be nothing without the background vocals however. I'd love this to come back into her setlists.

It's the one song on Street Angel I like actually. A really good one. :nod:

Love it. It is a balls to the wall rocker. She holds nothing back, imo. Great lyrics, great music, great vocal. Underrated...for sure.