Street Angel... who is it about?
 

So I've always assumed Street Angel was about Lindsey. About his leaving Fleetwood Mac, and his and Stevie's lifelong frenemy-ship dissolving :lol:.

But listening to it recently I'm starting to really think it is about Mick. My first clue was the verse that went:

"A Charles Dickens character with your top hat and your scarf..."

That'd definitely be Mick, not Lindsey.

"When you pulled me through the rainbow, I thought you'd stop."

That could be about Mick pulling Stevie into Fleetwood Mac and stardom. Then there's the verse:

"when you were a homeless angel, that drove you wild... strange and elusive"

Mick was literally homeless for a period in the '80s. Then the song goes on:

"No amount of crying changes your mind, no amount of praying brings you inside. I know that you love me, and that you always will. You just stand outside and call to me, my street angel."

I have to wonder if this is about Stevie's leaving the band after Mick refusing to let her have Silver Springs for Timespace. The evidence for that theory continues...

"So I ended it all for the both of us. I fell down the stairs, a broken ragdoll. But you never knew, you just thought I went away.... with nothing more to hope for. But you don't hear voices anymore, no, my sweet street angel."

Seems like a pretty solid case for it being about Mick to me. Them fighting and her leaving the band a completely broken person. I could still see that last couple of verses being about Lindsey though. I just can't decide. What do y'all think?? :shrug:

I think it's about Stevie and her view of the homeless in Hollyweird.

Street Angel is an amazing song... A few years ago Bella Donna (Santa Barbara) performed it at NOTS.... I think I was the only person who loved it. I would love to hear Stevie sing it live.

I think its about Mick as well.

I've always thought this referred to their fling in Australia... I seem to recall her mentioning them romping through the countryside at sunrise, with a rainbow mentioned. I'll have to dig out the quote.

Okay, if there is any quote out there even remotely resembling that, please find it! That would be a must read! Oh the imagery of a quote like that...the two of them doing whatever it is that one does in the countryside at sunrise, a beautiful rainbow (cause you know Stevie, it isn't going to be just any old rainbow...its going to be the most beautiful one she'd ever seen). Yep, I'd like to read about that! :thumbsup:

i love this board :D

definitely about lindsey. i never questioned that.

Street angels aren't like any one you know
They do what they want
and the go where they go

mirrors

You're not like other people
you do what you want to

HOWEVER

i think the Dickensian references pertain to Mama.
and she's just talking about herself in the 3rd person
but she's talking like she's lindsey singing it
if Lindsey is the Street Angel...Stevie is the Dickens persona


this is my favorite stevie song in the whole stevie universe :nod:
i cant explain it
it's so sad, and dark.
and the fact that she wants to kill herself to end the so their relationship wouldn't be weird. :( but then there's imagery of rainbows and children. which is a "happy" constrast to the morbid tone of the song. there's no more rainbows. there's no children. even though that's where he thought he'd sent her off to. but coz there's no "street angel" in her life...she doesnt want that life aaaaaaaaaaw man it's so sad and SOOOOOOOO good.

i dont know why people dont love this song
ive never thought about what it means til this thread
it's brilliant

ETA: alternatively this whole song could be about stevie. she is a gemini. hence the 2 "personas" in the song *so confused*

I agree with vivfox. I think the song is a limo-view from Stevie of certain Hollywood kids she'd see wandering, and of one she noticed who was always there, then disappeared, who gave up and left Los Angeles and went back to his family to take care of him because he couldn't take care of himself. Just a hunch, but that's the feel I get from the song.

Seriously though is every damn song about Lindsey or do the fans just read too much into her music? :shrug:

Im with you street angel86, Street Angel is one of my fav's too!!! I love it, Could be about Mick, but I have always thought it was about a real homeless person, she see's whilst driving by in her limo...

Yes, except for EO17, BATB, HAEWAFY and Nightbird :D

I think Street Angel is about Stevie Nicks. She says her inspiration for her look was 'The Artful Dodger', and in SA she mentions "a Charles Dickens character" with top hat and scarf.
I remember a radio interview she did for TOSOTM in '89, some lady called in and asked who a certain song was about. Stevie hazily replied, "well, all my songs are about me, Debbie."

My friends got a huge amount of mileage out of that line, because they were convinced already that Stevie was self-absorbed, LOL. I remember my friend Lynn said "why doesn't Stevie just write a song called 'Me, Me, Me'"?

The quote is from Mick's book. Don't get excited. There isn't much "romp" description. I always found this part to be very bittersweet.

It started up in New Zealand. Late one night,
after the concert, a Samoan limo driver took me
and Stevie for a long cruise along mountains and
ridgebacks at dawn. At one point we got out and
walked a bit in silence, waiting for the sun to
rise. There was a mist that turned to a gentle
rain, soaking us to our skin.

We were driven back to our hotel in a
ferocious downpour, clinging to each other in the
back of the car. Up in her suite, I said, "I think
I'd like to stay here tonight."

While looking for that quote, I found this one, which is a little more positive, and possibly the one you were thinking of...

I remember going to Hawaii by myself in
February. I told Jenny I wanted to inspect some
property I had bought on Maui, but the real
reason was to visit Stevie, who was renting a
house with her friend Sara Recor and another
lady. They were supposed to meet my plane, but
they had taken a dot of acid and gone to the
wrong airport. We rendezvoused later at a
restaurant, and then went on to Stevie's house.
There were a bunch of hammocks on the beach in
front of the place, and that evening we lay in
them, swinging gently in the mid-Pacific zephyr,
watching the stupefying purple sunset and
dreaming of nothing but peace and serenity.

As for Street Angel...I just bought the album a few weeks ago, and just assumed from the 'Angel' in the title that it was about Lindsey. Perhaps it's a little bit of both...like Sara

Hah. And Stevie said in an interview not too long ago that she was terrified of psychedelics and only did it once prior to joining FM. I think Mick mentions Stevie dropping twice in that book, in fact. If I recall correctly, the other time was during the Rolling Stone cover shoot when they are in bed. Stevie and John were tripping while giggling over a Playboy.

She's the master of revisionist history.

Verrrrry interesting! :p

Thanks for posting all that :)

No. Every song is NOT about lindsey EXCEPT those 4 u specifically mentioned :lol: {and this one}

Here's what Stevie says:

"It's a story about a girl who is homeless and a man that has a lot of money that falls in love with her. And the fact is, that no matter how much she cares about him, she really can't give up her life on the street and her friends and her family and all her people she hangs with. She really can't change that. And finally at the end, in order to send him back to his life, she basically makes him think that she has committed suicide -- that she's dead, because she knows he won't leave her any other way and she knows she can't really be with him."

Another interview where she says it was written in a hotel.

"I had to leave my house that I lived in because it was attacked by bees. It was a five story house, kind of like a New York house that went straight up. And I lived there. Liza lived there and four or five other peope lived there and we had to go because the bees were so intense that they had to be moved, not killed, but moved. And I went to the hotel and there were 2 movies on tv about homelessness and a lot about it on CNN and I was really very, very, very, touched at how said the situation was and I didn't have any solutions.

"This is not a political song. I was kind of looking out at Hollywood, all the sparkling lights, and people walking down the streets, and how it wild it would be if I was out there and I didn't have a place to go or sleep. This would be the most frightening thing for me. I mean, just as long as you had enough money to pay your rent, you can almost accept anything, but as soon as someone threatens to take your home away, that would scare me. So, I just wrote about a girl who was brought up on the streets and this very much kind of gypsy. She didn't hae much, just her friends and family. She was a Street Angel. There then was this guy, this really, really rich guy fell in love with her and tried to convince her to go with him and not be poor anymore, to marry him and leave her world. And in the end she really couldn't do that. She really couldn't change and be a rich man's lady, and so she, in order to make him let her go and go on with his life, she let it be known to him that she killed herself. She committed suicide. She fell down the steps. He didn't hear her voice anymore. She went awasy. She couldn't live that kind of life."

Stevie says a Street Angel is not a regular angel [yeah, I guess not, because a street angel is HUMAN]:

"Your heavenly origined angel is more like a princess. A street angel is not just a high-powered witch princess. She can also go out and blend in with people. I've always felt that that's the way I am. I can jump into the audience and go home with them. Then, if I'm bored, I'm outta here!"

My mind boggles at the notion that some people consider this vapidity & banality -- indistinguishable from junior-high-level females & their typical concerns -- a sign of poetic genius & truth.

I'm not trying to overdramatize. The mind truly boggles.

eo17 and batb -- definately lindsey. :]

LOL-for some reason I thought the Dickens reference was to either Tom Petty or Bob Dylan--she'd recently been hanging out with them and both of them were rocking the top-hat and/or scarf look at the time.
:laugh:

Let's just hope her banter is leftover fallout from the Klonopin detox... the alternative is just plain frightening :laugh:

I bet it's a permanent part of her mental & emotional makeup. Bless her heart, but she has a stunted intellect.

She isn't at all like these cool cats in the video. This looks like so much fun! Gerald, if you're out there, check this out! It's Tusky!

I like the idea that Stevie's house was attacked by bees. I wish she'd written a song about that.

Michele

It's only me who wants be wrapped around in bees and...
...have you any bees you'd like to sell?
:lol:

Just like the black winged bug
in my home and won't stop stinging!
Oooh! Baby Ooh! Said Ooh! :shocked:

hahahahaha

How about,

"Seems Like a Thousand Bees,
are in my home..."

It's about David Crosby. Ha Ha Ha. I think David and Stevie should sing together more often, their harmonies an SA are so beautiful.

Well, we at least know that one song was about Barry.

Yes, for sure some read too much into her music. Stevie is stuck in the past and perpetuates it; everytime she talks she references circumstances from 30 years ago. And she often revises history to suit that need. It's as if time stopped; as if she hasn't moved on, and thus, has no new life experience to draw upon. It's rather pathetic in my opinion. I know of no other serious artists of longevity who are so mentally stagnent.

Fans, especially newer ones and late-comers, are understandably fascinated by their colorful drama-filled history and thus, perpetuate it. I suppose you could take every single song Stevie ever wrote and equate it with Lindsey. I've been impressed by the creative, earnest and strained interpretations posted here to uncover a linear under-lying Lindsey theme in her lyrics.

I love Stevie's music, but I just don't think her writing is that complex as some people want to think it is. It's a sure thing Lindsey has had a significant impact on her life and her songs, yet still, again, thirty-plus years have past since Lindsey and Stevie were a couple! In this time, they each have had their countless and independent life experiences to draw on for inspiration in their songs. Lindsey has explored many different themes and subject matter, including his wife and children; Stevie is not his central muse at all, nor do I ever think it was. So to even think that Stevie hasn't moved on is very disturbing.

Hey, let's try the reverse situation and find clues of Stevie in Lindsey's songs! I'll start with "What's The World Coming To."

This is all about Stevie!!!

"I can walk anywhere, I can walk anytime, but the lone highway is the only way"
This is about Lindsey contemplating his impending break-up with Stevie, knowing that when he leaves her he will be going it alone.

"Everyone's gone to the moon"
This is about feeling the isolation of being single, as well as the fact that Stevie's solo career has gone sky high while his is still floundering on the ground.

See what I mean?

Funny. You should have used UTS or TFTS though... ;)

A few points to play devil's advocate:

-Stevie's songs aren't that current, giving Lindsey theorists more than enough evidence
-Both and Stevie and Lindsey have continued to perpetuate their own myth to the public
-Stevie constantly says in current interviews that she and Lindsey write about each other and will always be inspired by one another
-The relationship obviously did not end 30+ years ago and has therefore offered them both much "life experience" for their respective musings

All that being said, I bet if the stories behind all the songs were revealed, we would all be surprised.

So...it's about Stevie... surprise surprise :laugh:

OF COURSE THEY ARE
that's why theyre so veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery POWERRRRRful :lol: