christine's lyrics
 

More or less, we all have at least a vague idea about the meaning of both stevie and lindsey's songs.
Often, Christine songs have revealed themselves as hard to relate to someone, although the lyrics are not as tricky as stevie's.
For example, I may be wrong, but still I haven't found any lyrics related to D.W's death.
Who she wrote "Ask anybody" for (it's one of my favourite songs of her...so delicate)?
Or "Little Lies"? Or "Ricky"? Or "Isn't it midnight"?
OOHHH! christine you're the real mystery. I have tooo many questions!


P.S: I really really really miss Christine. It's like when you have toothache. you never remember about your tooth until it begins to hurt or you have to have it removed. Maybe she wasn't as stagey as Lindsey or Stevie, but she has left a huge void in the group.

"Ask Anybody" was written about Dennis Wilson. "Ricky" was about Richard Dashut. "Isn't It Midnight" was about some unnamed guy she'd met years before. "Little Lies" was loosely about Lindsey.

Mmmm... I think that it could have had more sense if it had been Lindsey singing that song to Christine: Althought I'm not making plans, I hope that you understand there's a reason why. No more broken hearts, we better off apart, let's give it a try...
And then he leaves...it would have had a lot of sense IMO. :o

Anyway, I never really believed in that "rumours" about Chris getting involved with Lindsey, althought some details have surprised me.
For example, in CAH's book she says Lindsey has to go to Switzerland for some weeks, but doesn't say why, what sounds really strange for me. It was 1983 I think, when he went to Europe to help Christine produce her album.
Why didn't CAH said the reason why he was travelling?

I'd never heard that Little Lies was in any way about Lindsey. Interesting.

I suppose obviously there's SYLM, Why and OMH being about John, and YMLF being about the lighting guy she was seeing during the making of Rumours.

Most of Christine's songs are general love songs, not directed at any particular person.

But in a 1979 interview, Stevie says Christine's voice is better than ever "because she's in love," so maybe some of those Tusk songs are about Denis. Hold Me and Only Over You are both about Denis, as is, apparently Ask Anybody.

I remember Christine also saying Temporary One was a love letter to her family back in England while she was still in LA.

And many of the ITM songs were written for a mystery man...

She said:

The video of that song is almost ghostly to me. I know it's just a bunch of people in a barn, but it seems almost mystical when I watch it. I guess because the pastoral look, and slow, almost slumber-like movements, is such a contrast to who they really are and it's surreal.

At any rate, the fact that it is goodbye for that incarnation of the band really comes through in the video for me, when I look at it now.

Michele

I posted on Tracy Garner's old board that I was really feeling weird & poignant & bittersweet (as opposed to just sweet) when MTV premiered this video because it was like the very week that Lindsey's departure had been announced, so the video took on a greater emotional weight than it was probably at first meant to have. Lindsey is by himself in so many of the shots & cuts, while Stevie & Chris are arm in arm. He looks like the odd man out most of the time in LITTLE LIES.

I thought the same thing. I got chills every time I saw that video. Aaron Spelling couldn't have come up with a better plot.

so was it the last video Lindsey made before leaving? I thought it was Seven Wonders.

I remember the first time I saw Little Lies on TV. It was like 15 years ago (I was 6) and I thought: What are my aunts Mary and Maty doing in there? (Actually, one of my best friends confessed me one day she was afraid of TITN cover and their videos. She cried everytime she saw them hahaha).

So my first impression of the video was very funny...God, my twin aunts looked like Stevie and Chris at that time: 80's curly blonde hair.
Well, in fact, they haven't changed their looks hahahahaha.
80's (and all that hair spray) destroyed the ozone layer.

Oh, but what a way to go...

Little Lies is one of my favorite Mac videos - it just worked so well, even if it is just people in a barn.

I think it's important to remember that songs are fiction. Although actual feelings and incidents contribute to a songwriter's ideas, the final product (the song) doesn't necessarily relate to any actual person, place, or thing.

I think it is a classic mistake, made often by pop music fans, to assume that a song is about something (or someone) specific and that you can "figure it out" if you have enough information. A song is about whatever the listener thinks it's about.

More rhyme than reason .. and videos often get in the way
 

Exactamundo Joanne! I can't speak for any of the videos mentioned since I've never seen them (I'm definitely not a MTV aficionado; videos just get in the way of my own interpretations which I generally prefer), but I can say that song composition is often more complex in its inspiration and framing than what first meets the eye. I've read lots of accounts and interviews from various songsmiths over the years, and the surprisingly large realm of possibilities mosaic is a common thread found within. Two of my favorites are Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, and Gordon Lightfoot, the great Canadian folk balladeer.

Both have stated that their songs can be both directly inspired by people and places seen in their lives, but equally so by indirect sources, those being more abstract and universal by implication. These are inspirations based on the kinds of feelings we all possess, generally rendered from the heart. It is not unusual that a song may start out focused on a real person or event, but soon metamorphose into a construct embracing (consciously) things far larger. This is why many great songwriters point to the fact that their songs are mostly meant to touch people in a personal or individual way, as opposed to portraying a specific or predefined picture. I find the imagery of promotional videos often ruins that very thing. Hayward once said that even if some of his songs paint a more specific picture for him (and even there, many do not), they're not really meant to conjure the exact same thing to others. He knows that's part of the "magic."

I know that when Bob Welch composed Hypnotized, his inspiration was basically threefold. First, it was based on a recent and well publicized UFO citing that occurred in Mississippi at that time. Second, of similar things based around that greater theme he could relate to in his own life, to include stories that had been told to him by others. Lastly, the influences of certain historical writings, with author Carlos Castaneda leading the way. All those diverse tangents were incorporated into the makeup of that song. OTOH, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald by Lightfoot is obviously a much more straight-forward accounting of a real life event, first brought to Gord's attention from a Newsweek article he read. In that case, what you see is what you get, with no guesswork required.

In the end, there is often more rhyme than reason behind the songs we hear. What we sometimes presume we're "seeing" from the perspective of the artist may not be in reality what is being cast or even implied. Like good radio from days now past, much of it should be left up to the individual to perceive as they see fit. That is why so many tunesmiths are reluctant to give up the inspirational "ghost" behind the drafts. Obviously when I hear a great love song, I relate more the woman(en) in my life than the one(s) who inspired the musician. And that's just how the artist prefers it!

I agree. It also makes his sneer at the very end (in the last fadeout, as its fading out) all the more prescient.

Still for me the saddest video is Seven Wonders...is it me or Lindsey does cry in some of the close up? It's so beautiful, he moves his head as he tries to get ride of the tears and his eyes look so blue...

Remember how films & videos are shot. Multiple takes, generally, require the actors or singers to go through their paces numerous times. A veneer of "presentation" covers the emotional core of the performer, especially in front of a camera.

What looks like emotional turmoil in someone's face may be simply irritable bowels or hunger.

This is true most of the time. Wimsatt & Beardsley coined the term "intentional fallacy" to describe the view that the intention of the author is unavailable, as it were, to the viewer or reader -- even when the author himself states his meaning (as Stevie Nicks often does).

I do see the moisture that you're talking about, but I don't think he's crying. I have never seen him look as lovely as he does in that video. And the head butt with Mick in the end is so sweet. Sigh.

In addition to the videos, the group did beautiful still photos to promote Tango as well, before he left.

As for interpretations, most of the time it is most helpful to give our own meanings to a piece and try to apply it to our own lives. But with this particular group, I think people like to ferret out interband meanings most. In this case, maybe I'd rather think a song is about John and Mick's love than my own fear of growing old, whereas when it comes to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards it's more useful to divine a more personal message.

Of course, when FM members know hundreds and thousands of individuals, it shows astounding tunnel vision to think that the songs they write are about only the 4 people that we know they know, rather than the many other people in their lives who are strangers to us. But it's a fun activity.

Michele

Intentional fallacy >> the intention of the author is unavailable. I like that. ;)

Here's another example. Think back on that great riddle in song that American Pie was. Though we know it largely referenced the death of Buddy Holly and much of the lost innocence of the 50's, who would have guessed this if one only had the refrain to go by as a pointer?

So bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing "This will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die."

Fortunately the song reveals itself - as best it can - with its verses.

Now to quote the author...

You will find many "interpretations" of my lyrics but none of them by me. Isn't this fun? Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence.

- Don McLean
Castine, Maine

Me thinks you're onto something here, as tunnel vision often limits the larger picture. And reality. Nobody said fantasies, and self delusion, weren't fun though. lol

Marty did used to have those on here, but I never saw you participating.

Michele

hahahahahahaha!!!!!

It was a case of not jumping in at the beginning, & then feeling too de trop at the thought of cutting in midway through.

(As you may have guessed, it wasn't really my thing.)

I would never guess anything about "The" David.... :D

"Nertz" to Mertz!

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