I finally get that "stiletto in their garter " line!!
 

This line in "Alice" has always bugged the crap out of me - and Im sure you all know, but I just found out that it means a small dagger - and here I was thinking Stevie was carrying a high heel shoe strapped to her thigh :laugh: :laugh:

Stiletto cuts quick....that line in "fireflies" is a better visual if it is a the high heel version.....

I thought she said "gelato"...."some carry some gelato in their garter/along with everything else/that they carry"

mmmm.....
http://www.winecountrycabins.com/cowlickfarm/gelato.jpg

when the song first came out on the flip side of Rooms on Fire (before I had the lyric sheet in front of me) -- I thought she was singing:
"some carry a stiletto in their car door, along with with everything else..." It made sense... just a little too practical sounding for stevie.

mmmmmm :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'm starting to wonder why someone of your intellect is at the point of boring me to disgust.... (though I have an idea that I'm on your Ignore List, so you couldn't possibly have any idea that I exist- blah, blah, blah...)

In any event...

"Alice" is one of Stevie's greates allegories. The pinnacle of which is the line-

"Each had their own charm...
Buried beneath a solid piece of armour...or a steel plated vest
Some carry a stiletto in their garter along with everything else --
that they carry...Oh, call my name..."

Which means IMO <--- which I had to list, otherwise be branded a Stevie hater/heretic/blaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sorry- got lost in it.

This line means:

All of the people around me, especially the ones in my band- had their own ability to entice and otherwise express their unique charisma to others within the rock world.

However- most had already been scarred by infidelity, encounters with boozers, druggies and the like to be able to allow themselves to show their true nature- in addition(!)-

If you f u c k with me, I still possess a physical weapon with which to hurt you and or stop you from ****ing with me- just in case.

However, if you would please- I'm am sitting here downtrodden and if you would ask for me- I would run to you at an instant.

One of the greatest aspects of Stevie is that she never cowered from anyone and she was completely unfraid of telling it like it is.

...... and she "don't like to lose" !!! :D

Great lyric interpretation.


Laura

.... A dagger?

Well .... that makes a hell of a lot more sense. :o

Towela - I agree.

I also think these words are La Nicks at her visual best. The image those lines provoke are stunning and intriguing to me. I sort of see her in a Riverboat dancehall at a card table when a fight breaks out and so forth and so and comes the stilleto.

yah...a stiletto is a very slim, straight-bladed double-edged dagger. they look like a small version of the "Arkansas Toothpick". It was a traditional tool for assassins, bit also was frequently carried by women for self defense. After the advent of switchblades and such, it also could mean a spring-loaded blade that telescopes straight out of the handle. some even were spring loaded to retract back in. some had sufficiant spring strength as to pierce into a person for its full blade length and stealthily retract back.
On this odd note, I came upon a very nasty, but graceful sabre pointed balisong knife made by Parker Cutlery with the title "gypsy" on the blade along with a feather pattern by the logo.

lol, so you thought it was a shoe as well then :laugh:

don't feel bad. you weren't alone.

My favorite line in Alice (for the lyrcial aspects) is "Like Alice through the Looking Glass, she used to know who she was". I like this the best because it totally fits with her. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice went to the OSOTM and she forgot who she was as her journey got longer and longer. This relates to Stevie because as she used drugs throughout the years, she totally lost who she was AKA RAL. I just think thats a great comparison to herself. Definitely great writing IMO.

Totally off topic - but I just sent you a PM over @ sevenwonders by the way :wavey:

Good stuff.

And yet another amazing sig pic. These are incredible, mate. :wavey:

I thought she was saying "dusty letter cuts quick ..." :laugh:

boy am I glad I read this thread today!

Slightly off topic, but my girlfriend's roommate in college dated the singer in a band called

Stevie Stiletto and the Switchblades

(no joke) - they were kind of a punky grunge band and Stevie was a boy.

I always got a kick out of that name though.

Here I was thinking it was just an efficient way to cart around a broken heel.

Wow, that sounds perfect. :shocked: Is the first part something Stevie actually said? I guess not.

Pretty darn insightful. I'm often shocked at what people's interpretations of Stevie lyrics are, not so with you. And a few others. I can rarely effectively express what I think some lyrics mean with such specificity.

Oh, and for the other, maybe familiarity has bred contempt? :shrug:

I think of Stevie as brave and forthright as well. But then, John also just told us a little while back that what he likes about her is that "you always know where you stand with Stevie".
Which is great, because she could seem different than that. I could see how people may have tried to walk on her.

Well, now I finally know why people have often said, "that stiletto line doesn't make sense!"
I didn't realize that there was a misunderstanding in regards to what kind of stiletto Stevie meant.

I know - I got it immediately. I envisioned that whole bad girl a la Matta Hari kind of thing. I think Alice could have been a huge song if it had been better produced because the lyrics are brilliant and IMO the song has a strange fascination to it because of that.

Lighten up, Francis....:D

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88...stripes127.jpg

stiletto
 

i personally think stevie meant by this that she is very protective of herself . she doesnt trust many, subconsciencely. which i can understand. Angelina Jolie used to say she always carried a knife like this effect. like in the movie Gia. and i tend to do the same thing with a pencil or pen all day. which all may seem weird. so i can totally relate . why when i hear this part of the song i tend to yell it . Jean-marie;)

interesting theory...

...but didn't Stevie say "too trusting? yes, but then women usually are"

oh wait, I forgot...we're talking about Stevie here.

Often times, people who start out being too trusting, develop a distrust after they've been burned a few times.

The woman who wrote "Alice" in the late '80s was, in many ways, very different from the woman who wrote "Beautiful Child" in the late '70s. However, I think she still wanted to trust people, but was having a hard time doing so.

I agree and I think she still maintains that trust in some ways, though certainly she has been burned before.

I also think the stilletto in the garter line realtes to that in that she seems to be saying about herself and perhaps others (I always thought Christine maybe) that they carried a hidden weapon that allowed them, and mostly La Nicks, to become the deadly weapon now. In other words, people often did not take them seriously or perhaps tried to treat them as silly women and then they's have to haul could the stilletto hidden in the garter and attack.