Everybody Finds Out
 

I think it's a pretty amazing song myself. I was surprised when I gave Say You Will a proper listen to because it was near the end of the album, but Stevie delivers an absolute KILLER vocal on that "Don't you know" part. I love it. :blob2:

I remember reading a really interesting theory somewhere that the song's about an affair between Christine and Lindsey, which I thought was a really interesting way of looking at it. Not sure how accurate that theory is, but eh, it's fun to think that way sometimes. :lol:

It's a freaking kickass song, is what it is. I had a similar experience to yours, I hadn't really given Say You Will much time and then one day, I was listening and this song just jumped out at me. I was on the subway and I almost missed my stop because I was so enthralled by what was going on. I think I actually busted out laughing at one point, probably when those synths kick in. It's just ridiculously awesome, basically. I'm obsessed with it now, it's one of my most listened to FM songs on my ipod.

The last minute or so of this song is a slice of genius.

Yes, one of my 3 favorite songs on the album. Some people thought it was about the Lewinsky/Clinton affair.

I don't necessarily think it's about anyone.

I just love the way it's written, produced and performed. It's a surprise, because it doesn't sound like a FM song to me. It's dance and rock, some say disco. Whatever, even if the sound might be outdated for the radio, I still think it would go over great in concert. This is not a song that the fans would have to know before the concert. It doesn't have to sink in. You can get into it right away. Ithink it would have people on their feet almost immediately.

Of course, I'm a sucker for lyrics. I love the bragging and false bravado in the words. I love Lindsey's background vocals and the way they contribute attitude with just a whisper. "Anywhere we can, baby. Anytime he can . . ." I like the "get away" finishes the sentence (anytime he can get away), but also issues a demand: Get away from us!

I love the line that affairs of the heart that start out in the dark usually stay with the night. The narrator or protagonist is smarter than the woman in the song. The narrator (and we listeners) knows the relationship has no hope of surviving and that the woman's tough words won't protect her from pain in the end.

I like the self-congratulatory words, "what can I say." That show of ego is amusing and fun.

I love the way there's a prologue. We learn about this woman in the beginning and she's discussed almost the way a doctor discusses a patient and her prognosis, with clinical detachment. They are watching her decline. But there's little hope for improvement. So, we know from the beginning that she is fooling herself. She's never going to get the man permanently. And when she tells the other woman, "I do have him," we know she is deluding herself.

Michele

I think it's about Stevie and Lindsey and their secret affair they had while on tour for The Dance. I loved this song from the second I heard it!

It was originally referred to as "Monica" as in Lewinsky. She refers to it as Monica in the Destiny Rules doc. It was one of the songs Chris Lord Alge was going to mix but Lindsey didn't sign the deal memo. So that was the underlying theme. But as always with Stevie it's about her too. We always speculated about the midnight plane being the jet Henley used to send to pick her up. They called him "Lear 'em and leave 'em" back in the day.

I agree that this is really a good attempt at cracking the charts from SYW,

I think it would have had the ability to be a single if most occasional fans didn't get tired of the album half way through.

In short i thought the album could have been shorter i felt that some of both stevie and lindsey's songs should have been solo efforts and then this album would have been really strong.

It's definitely really catchy, one of the only really danceable fleetwood mac songs since Tango.

I agree, this really should have been a single. I heard something about this song having been performed on the first couple of dates of the Say You Will tour, is this true? If so does anyone have a copy of it? I bet it would be GREAT live! I love it.

I love this song. It's my favorite Stevie song from SYW along with Running Through The Garden, and Destiny Rules. I too agree they should have put it out as a single, and make a video for it. I believe this song had the potential to climb up the charts. Unfortunately it was never performed live. RTTG and DR were performed on the opening night in Columbus, and were instantly dropped, which was also a mistake in my opinion. RTTG was great live, and of all the new songs from SYW it got the best reactions from the crowd.

I absolutely hate, hate, hate this song. This song is as bad as Family Man to me. It sounds like a bad disco song. I could puke just thinking about it. (When did FM become a dance band????) In fact, how can anybody trash Family Man yet love EFO????!!!!

And the lyrics... don't get me started... I can't believe these words were written by the same person who wrote the lyrics to songs like Landslide or Gypsy or Storms or Silver Springs, etc.

You asked.

agreed! I love this song...the ending is absolutely the best part.

it's pure magic...the lyrics, the production (good job Linds), and the vocal. My fav Stevie track on SYW and probably one of my all time FM favs, too. The energy in this song is amazing! It's Fleetwood Mac greatness!

It's a good song to jog to. I've always loved this track.

Love the song 'cause it's quite unusuall comparing with other Stevie songs...you know, it's like faster than other of her songs :) And I love it!

I too love this song.

I just wish we had any idea about what or who it is really about! I've heard most of the speculations, but what do you guys really think?

Ah I completely agree! RTTG and DR should have def stayed on the setlist. And I know in the Destiny Rules documentary they do Everybody Finds Out during rehearsal, so it seems like they thought about putting it in the set but decided not to. Mistake 3 FM! Damn them! Their SYW setlist could have been mind blowing.

I could see why they didn't do the song in concert. It's full of instances where the next line of the song starts before the current line ends, .e.g, "...she's done it a thousand times/When love starts out in the darkness..." I'll bet it sounds sloppy when you try to recreate it on stage- you either have to drop the last word of the sentence or start the next sentence midstream.

That's what the back up singers are for. :nod:

Absolutely. Good point. Plus, I get the feeling that Big Mama would be huffing & puffing trying to keep up with the tempo.

Yeah in rehearsal she had to skip over words. I can see why they didn't do it, but I still wish they had!

How do you know? Where's the recording?

It's on the Destiny Rules documentary.

:nod:i have nothing to say but i freaking LOVE this song
it's the best track on SYW....
and i think it would be #$*@ing FIERCE live!!!!!!

i dont know what this song is about
except a woman having an affair with a man she shouldnt
that's enough to leave me happy :D

wasnt there some spec or stevie said something about this song being written PRE the Dance?

Just like everybody else, I think this song is amazing, one of the Say You Will stand outs. And the end builds up with this manic energy from the synths that is nearly unmatched anywhere else on the album. The ONLY problem I have is the fact that it fades out at then end. Practically every Fleetwood Mac song does and sure they're much more comfortable with that type of ending, but the aforementioned manic energy shouldn't just peter out. It should continue building to an even more incredible climax! Which I'm sure is how it would have been done live, one of the many reasons it should have been done live.

^I love the song and don't have a problem with the way it ends at all, but you've just reminded me of the first time I heard it...there was this really intense build up at the end with

"When nobody sees them
At least, not together
She rarely goes out
She spends every day
Waiting for the day...
When everybody finds out"

I don't think it ruined the song at all by continuing on with that last bit, but I clearly remember being surprised that it went on after that climax. I don't know if those particular lyrics should have ended the song or not, but it would be fun to hear and alternate version where it ends with that same kind of intensity.

I always skip to the next song at that point. The "don't you knows" are just filler to me.

Great tune... great tempo... hate to admit it.. I love the ahh's...

Very cheesy synths...

It's a good song, but "Thrown Down" is better.

I do like this song.. it's different than the usual but I find myself singing along with it and enjoying it quite a bit. :D

One of the stand out songs on SYW for me. The rest... :shocked: :distress:

I love this song for several different reasons. For one thing I think it's brilliant musically. And it's very energetic and fast-moving and shows very well that Stevie can still rock. But I also love the mystery - i.m.o. the Lindsey/Stevie do they don't they love/hate thingy could have easily died down, but Stevie? She's like, "Hmmm - there's a tiny little spark here - so let's pour ROCKET FUEL all over it right next to a 2,000 pound BOMB and then take a BLOWTORCH to it - JUST for kicks and giggles (and because I'm Stevie Freaking Nicks and I can...) " It added mystery and drama to the album - which you KINDA-sorta expect from Fleetwood Mac.
So yeah, she "knew her job and she did it" - but still - VERY well-done, i.m.o.

Also, I simply love the line,
"When love starts out in the darkness
It doesn't do well in the light
Affairs of the heart
That start out in the dark
Usually stay with the night."
And as I recall, that's kinda more SCREAMED at the top of her LUNGS than sung. As in, "Ohmy GOD John call the cops, call the cops NOW!..." Definitely had stage potential, methinks, in the same way as Silver Springs... :eek:

Absolutely, there's a really wonderful sense of climax. The lyrics and how they're sung have a nice vicious quality to them ... great stuff, a definite highlight on SYW. What a great album, I need to listen to it all the way through again.

Or Lindsey. I loved his vocal parts on EFO and he could have taken those lines in a live version, like a duet. I think that might have added something extra to the drama of the song (as if any more was required!)

If this song was written after the dance, it could be about Kristen and Lindsey. Someone in another thread (sorry, I'm too lazy to look it up now) said that Kristen was married to a record exec at WB when she and Lindsey started seeing each other.

Stevie is a delicious bitch isn't she...if this is true :D

this song is my absolute fav on SYW. I love everything about it - the lyrics, the energy, the production, the melody, Stevie & Lindsey's vocals. I think it really should have been a single as it really demonstrates how the mac can still sound like the mac but also be incredibley current - the whole SYW album for me was fantastic because it was still sounded like FM but wasn't and hasn't dated at all. The "ah...ah...ah" in the background on the chorus is classic mac and the harmonies between Liddy B and Stevie are lush. All in all, my favourite SYW track. I can't get enough of it :)

Or, still sound like the mac, but also be incredibly eighties!

I do think the song sounds dated, but that doesn't keep me from loving it. Plus, what's dated on an album still comes alive in concert, where you just respond to the live sound and aren't worried about categorizing it.

Michele

My absolute favorite song on the cd is EFO. I was passionate about it when it was released, did everything I could do to help get it noticed, including using old contacts
to get to 'the two Lizzes'-- ha- Liz Rosenberg, and Liz Smith, which I did. Ms. Smith may seem an unlikely or unneccessary person to go to, but, she'd been one of the very few helpful columnists or helpful anyones in the year 2000 when I was hired to help do damage control (unsuccessfully) over an impossibly heartbreaking, high profile, media disaster*.
My most 'gothic' attempt to get EFO it's due was to leave a message for SN herself through Liz Rosenberg- I was warned to 'be brief'-- not my strongsuit (!) so I said: (and yes, this is brief, for me!)--
"Congratulations on the entire cd, but especially for the triumphant track 15- it's time 'Everybody Finds Out' that you have found your new "Rhiannon," your new "Stand Back,' like those two classics, "Everybody Finds Out" will become a signature, career song. It's great!"
(Gosh, I hope I worded it better than that, but it's close. I recall 'keep it under 50 words' as being a directive when I relayed I'd been told to 'be brief')**.
I hadn't been this excited about any new song by anyone, in years, and wanted to try to help the 'Say You Will' cd rebound, and to relay to the band that they outdid themselves with a musical setting so able to cross multi-radio-airplay formats, and that it was ripe for remixes ala Stevie's solo 'Planets' success.
In a followup phone call, I asked that should LR sometime soon have SN's ear, to explain that the song; vocally, musically, and with the most intricate, amazing lyrics, was a masterpiece that could bring Fleetwood Mac an entire new generation of fans.
I'm told SN got the messages.
Flattery, I found, will get you nowhere :)
______________________________________
* this refers to 'Return To Love'- a brilliant concert tour, completely misunderstood, which lasted just 12 dates (out of 40) before it was cancelled. The career of the headliner of the tour, Diana Ross, has never really recovered, here in the States. The best word I can use to describe her is "gentle", which surprises many. Last month, she performed 2 nights before an audience of 23,000 each night, the same week Fleetwood Mac had begun their UK leg, they were in very close proximity of each other, I believe. I want to say Norway, but need to look it up.

** the 'contacts' I refer to date back to late 1998, during which time I'd been hired to assist with promotion (with them) for a Warner Brothers Records release, that would eventually become the #1 selling single of the year, for 1999, which is why I still had any remaining "cache" at all in 2003, as it was the most unlikely hit, maybe ever, to go on to make a zillion, trillion dollars for Warner Bros., with worldwide sales of more than 12 million copies sold. OY!
(Talk about 2 polar opposites of public relations, 'Believe' and 'Return To Love').

I still think 'Everybody Finds Out' would have been huge. It's "a zillion, trillion" times better than 'Believe' ever was, and I felt Stevie Nicks (and Fleetwood Mac) could have followed a very similar success story via that song. Wasn't meant to be, too bad. There were other Ledgies, too, screaming at the top of their lungs to get the song released, and more Ledgies, who felt it was dated and should have been a SN solo song. I thought it was a great track for Fleetwood Mac. Also love the 'center channel' mix of Lindsey singing without SN "I know he loves me, every day he calls me, he says he adores me, what can I say?"-- he sounds incredible! (That version, for sure, could have been on a maxi-cd single and gotten tons of play in gay clubs!) Ha- I think I just heard the sound of LB fans gathering up a lynch mob for me!