Packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do
 

I know this has been discussed, but I want to know sure about the meaning of Packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do

Stevie was upset with this quote. Dreams was positive but GYOW no, she said, and this quote offended her. Though she did sing it anyway, during the gigs.

But what does it mean? (remember I'm spanish speaking). I heard it means like she only wanted to have fun and didn't take seriously the relationship, is that correct?

I always thought that it meant all Stevie wanted to do was sleep around :shrug:

not sure how the "packing up" part fits in, but "shacking up" pretty much means living together and having intimate relations, but not married

maybe it's supposed to lead everyone to believe that Stevie didn't want to commit to Lindsey in some way

I remember her saying that every time she had to sing that line she just wanted to leg it across the stage and throttle him.

Ah, love. :angel:

I always took it to mean that he was 'packing up' and leaving because all she wanted to do was live together and not get serious/get married. ??

-Lis

I think the "packin' up" is directed at Stevie as well as "shackin' up" because of the meaning someone else mentioned above - she doesn't want to commit. She always wants to "pack up" when things get bad and when they're good, all she wants to do is "shack up" without real commitment. Makes you wonder if Lindsey proposed and got turned down. Stevie did say once that he was upset because she didn't want to be his wife.

Wasn't the original line 'crackin' up, shackin' ups all you wanna do?

I've seen an interview in which Stevie says the whole sentiment of the song was 'mean' because he was telling her to go away. She went on to say "And I never shacked up with anyone while I was with him" which suggests she took it as a reference to sleeping around.

Yeah! I rembember reading 'crackin' up once! But the lyrics I found on web says packing up

I believe Stevie is re-characterizing his words as accusations of infidelity so she can come out as the sweet innocent falsely-maligned victim, when he never actually intended it that way. Otherwise, she would have to say "Well, yeah, I did only want to shack up because Stevie Nicks is a free spirit and no man can possess Rhiannon! She must be able to take to the sky at will!" Doesn't come off as sympathetic that way.

anyone ever heard the expression "pack your nose?"

A very interesting question, & one that fans don't ask often. Deep down in my bones & from my great distance, I believe he did ask her to marry him & she said nope.


another question: how does everyone read the chorus? As a plain imperative with the explicit subject? "You can go your own way" grammatically as in "Go sit in the corner until I tell you you can get up"?

or as an indicative statement with a hint of the conditional to follow? "You can go your own way" grammatically as in "You can run, but you can't hide"?

The grammatical differences would seriously alter one's interpretation of meaning. Is the speaker telling the girl to get out? or is he merely indicating that, although she's about to up & leave, it won't be permanent?

If that line were directed at you, I imagine you'd take it as an insult just like Stevie did. I know I sure would!
"Shacking up is all I wanted to do?!? You s.o.b. -- I used to fold your underwear and pick up after you and your friends!"

Interesting. When do you think he asked her?

I see it as indicative, but without a conditional inference. I think he's just doing the age-old "Fine, you can leave, it doesn't matter to me!" In other words, I interpret "You can go your own way" as a variation of "You can go jump off a bridge, for all I care!"

Oh, no doubt it was an insult! But it wasn't a false accusation, was it, if she didn't want to be with him for good? What did Lindsey call it - "emotionally honest"?

I'm sure Lindsey absolutely wrote that line from an honest place. He was expressing the way he saw things. And I'm sure Stevie was also being very honest when she bristled over that viewpoint, because she was expressing the way she saw things.

I think they both often said and did things to rile one another, or to spark jealousy, or to make the other think that they'd never get by without them. I don't think either was truly a saint in that relationship, and I don't think it was a healthy relationship at all, for either of them. Yet, they both needed each other emotionally.

or that theyd never forget

i follow you down 'till the sound
of my voice will haunt you

yes, Stevie wins.

Not sure, if you're talking about this quote, but I thought I'd post it. I'm sure many of you have read it, but it is from the Rolling Stone (02/07/1980), Five Not So Easy Pieces article, probably one of my favorites that I've read. It's just so raw, like many acounts of the Tusk period.

Stevie Nicks comes over during a short break.

"That song!" She is talking about "Go Your Own Way," Buckingham's song.

"The harmony part is too high and I have to hurt and strain every time I sing it." She is upset, a little tipsy. She leans forward and whispers something to me in a voice that seems to silly to be serious.

"Now, I want you to know-that line about 'shacking up'? I never shacked up with anybody when I was with him! People will hear the song and think that! I was the one who broke up with him."

She smiles conspiratorially.

"All he wanted to do was fall asleep with that guitar."

http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.ph...v2&id=534&c=18

In that Stevie quote Shackin'up means having affairs inside of a relationship. That's how I've always read it. By the way, I've never been discussed more as in this thread. :lol: :thumbsup:

You have affairs? :shocked:


btw, enjoying your new place, already?

Heh. Oh, she won, all right. GYOW has been the band's high-energy encore for thirty years! I'm sure she's just thrilled to no end! :laugh:

she has come to the realization that what lindsey wrote was true no matter how it hurt...cant you all tell shes accepted it for what it was worth...a real treasure...you can see it all over her face on soundstage. and fyi she was more ticked on the packing up part...thats why she can only make reference to shaking up when she does. she knew the true meaning on those words.

true. but what I was saying is that in the end, looking at all the songs that they both wrote about each other with the most intense, real, impact...Stevie wins

at least to me

i love that they wrote a 'book' about it...
so very interesting and set to stone...
im going to go with a TIE

Ah, love. :angel:[/QUOTE]

You can't start it like a car, you can't stop it with a gun ;)

I M O!

Re-reading that it sounds like I know! :o http://i1.tinypic.com/zkkew3.gif :sorry:

A little late to this party, but here's how I see it. 'Shackin' up' is definitely in reference to the fact that they lived together without being married. I don't know if they themselves saw it as shacking up, but I am sure there are others around them that have mentioned that to them a time or two. I think both thought they were committed to each other, and that's why that phrase hurts Stevie so much, I really don't think she thought they were doing anything wrong. And neither did Lindsey, he was just really, really pissed when he wrote that song, and he knew that would get to her.

He was so pissed that he told himself, and her, "Fine, I won't help you anymore, won't support you, won't love you, you can go your own way already!"

Adios!

I think that GYOW is one of my favorite songs ever. For being so angry, or aloof, or however you see it, it has so much energy (especially live) that it gets me pumped up & happy & excited.

OK, so the line? I've always heard "shackin' up" in reference to people living together & in a sexual/emotional relationship but not being married. That being said, I think Lindsey meant to imply that Stevie slept around.

That's how I always interpreted it, especially with Stevie's tipsy "I never shacked up with anybody" quote in response.

However, what you've all suggested about her not wanting to marry him and only wanking to "shack up" also makes sense. Her quote would also fit in that context.

Honestly, I think the guy was f*cking angry one night (wasn't it written in some hotel room while they were touring) and the line came out. Who knows how based in fact it is, and how much it actually has to do with the fact that shacking rhymes with packing.

Affairs? Hmm.

I love my new place. It's a great big house with lots of space and still cosy. My son is constantly playing outside with his new friends and mum and dad fight creatively over the colors and interior design of the new home. Does that sound like a guy who sleeps around?:laugh:

Does that sound like a guy who sleeps at all? :p
Decorating a new house is so much fun, I can forgive your recent absentness (um, is that a word?) (edit..geez woman, just say 'absence') for that:woohoo:

That's how I always interpreted it too. Otherwise why would Stevie be upset about the line?

Boy this is a toughie! That line "packin' up, shackin' up's all you wanna do" can be interpreted so many ways. It's really an ambiguous little sentiment that I think was fully intended by Lindsey. I think Lindsey wanted more from Stevie and those of you who said he wanted marriage may not be that far off. Take for instance: "If I could, baby I'd give you my world/ how can I when you won't take it from me?" By giving Stevie his "whole world" it's like Lindsey's saying, I'd give you everything, every part of me, but you don't want it, you just want to go. That line definitely gives further credence to the notion that Lindsey wanted a more serious, committed relationship than Stevie could or wanted to reciprocate at the time. When Stevie broke up with Linds, he was angry, hurt, resentful you name it. So in order to "get back at her" I think he wrote "shackin up is all you wanna do" ambiguously, making it seem to her and to all of us like all she wants to do is shack up with other men, but in reality I think he was really referring to their relationship and her lack of interest in committing to him. I think Lindsey intended for this line to remain ambiguous so as to further piss Stevie off at the time :shrug:

That's just Lindsey being macho and not allowing Stevie to help him put on the spare when they got a flat tire on the way to the studio.

Moi too :nod:

Warren Zevon: RIP :angel:

Very interesting question! I always thought that it was pretty much as stated. Stevie was moving out and leaving Lindsey, so that is the "packing up" part. Packing up her stuff to leave their home together. As for the "shacking up's all you want to do" part, I believe that Lindsey felt he was taking the relationship more seriously than Stevie. Lindsey wanted more from the relationship, maybe something more permanent like marriage, engagement,etc., and Stevie was content to leave things as they were: them living together, aka shacking up. :shrug:

Warren Zevon was great, his last album (the wind) was beautiful.