Annabel Lee
 

I keep seeing "Annabel Lee" sited by people who've heard the album as one of the stand-out tracks. I've also read that Stevie wrote it when she was about 17.

What I'm wondering is, how is it that this song is so good but yet it was never considered for any Fleetwood Mac album or any previous Stevie Nicks album? Did it just get lost in the shuffle like "Secret Love" did? Any ideas?

I don't know, but I hate the constant comments that Stevie "wrote" it when she was 17. She may have arranged it musically when she was 17, but it was written over 160 years ago. I think that is what bugs me the most about this song. Stevie is known for her writing, yet one of the best songs on her album is an old Poe poem? Why? I know she added a line into the demo, but aside from that, I just don't see what it would be that makes it one of the best things she's done.

Well because of the melody and the "song" that is written from the lyrics or poem in this case. That still takes artistry and she is one of the best at affecting mood and impacting people so if they're saying this about Annabel Lee then it must have all these elements plus a compelling vocal which is half her magic anyway.

Very well stated .I'm reserving my judgement until I hear the album.

Was "Secret Love" just lost in the shuffle? :shrug:

This song has been changed. I guess Dave a middle to it.

Right .I believe Stevie's comment was something like"Added a beautiful middle part with a harpsicord"

Stevie demoed "Annabel Lee" in 1997 for consideration for Trouble In Shangri-la. There's no evidence whether or not it was fully recorded for the album, though.

I agree. Actually, if I remember correctly in the demo version, Stevie doesn't add anything. She takes out a few lines and changes the word "Seraphs " to "Angels". My concern is that there won't be any writing credit for Poe. She lifted a few lines from a poem of his called "Dreamland" for the studio version of Planets, and also borrowed some from Nathaniel Hawthorn's "Rappaccini's Daughter" for Running through the Garden without any mention of either of them. Of course, this is a whole poem, and a pretty famous one at that, so we'll see. I wasn't crazy about the demo, so I do hope that the finished version is as good as people are saying, especially in light of the recent article in which she talks about having trouble whittling away the 500 songs she's written down to 10 for an album.

That was from a 1989 interview where she rambles in all her high Klonopin era grandiose glory.It was not regarding IYD.

Why are you worried? Dave liked Annabelle because of what she did with it. There have been many Annabelle Lee songs but she turned it into a rock song. Those other songs are not rock. What she did was clever. She can't plagerize a song that was never written.

Time frame, not withstanding, She's always spoke of how prolific of a writer she is. I don't mind her not using her own work, it's more about giving the proper credit when she doesn't.

You aren't suggesting that anyone could take a poem by an author, set it to music and not give writing credit to the person who wrote it? I'm sure Stevie wouldn't like it if I took one of her poems or journal entries changed one word, wrote some music to it, recorded it and put my name on it without acknowledging she wrote the words. It's about having integrity as a writer. If she doesn't give writing credit to Poe for the words, it would reflect badly on her in that regards as far as I am concerned.

No need to really worry about it until it happens, because THIS song is different from times before when she’s used an idea for inspiration, or has taken a line here or there. Why wouldn't she give credit to POE? Do you think she thinks that she could fool everyone? ITS A FAMOUS POEM. SOMEONE would know. It sounds to me like with the "TONE" and "MOOD" of this album it seems appropriate that she WOULD do a Poem of his. This album is supposedly in that vein. I appreciate your valiance in looking out for plagiarism, and am in no way saying its ok, i just do not see a reason for people to be up in arms about her singing a melody to this poem and making it into a song. As some one stated before there have been other Annabelle lee songs. besides, EVERYTHING in the world is about 80% borrowed anyway. :lol: Peoples ideas come from the movies and tv they watch, the books they read, the other people they talk to, not that many ideas ARE 100% original, they usually come from SOMETHING. Its what you do with that idea or inspiration that counts, and i believe that stevie WILL use the fact that it IS a Poe poem as something to talk about in interviews about the album ect. She has name dropped Charles Dickens in a song, people who know who Stevie Nicks is casually would EXPECT her to like that sort of thing, but for SOME REASON her closest fans JUST CAN NOT accept that SHE enjoys HIS work and wants to put music to it and sing. I am reserving judgement imtill the song and the album is actually out.

I don't understand why you are concerned. She may or may not give him credit. Does he get the royalties too. Instead of splitting it between Dave and Stevie, will they only get 2/3 of the song, with no one getting the other 3rd. Whatever she does with it, I'm sure it will be the right thing.

Annabel Lee is public domain, so doesn't that mean they don't have to pay royalties?

As a writer, I wouldn't want my work used without being credited. It's not like I'm losing any sleep over what Stevie does, but I would have less respect for her professionally if she didn't give the proper credit. Based on your post it seems like you may not be familiar with Edgar Allan Poe. He's been dead for over a century, so I don't think he'll miss out on royalties, but his work should still be acknowledged. Stevie's recording may broaden many of her fans appreciation for his work, so I do hope she mentions him in interviews as Phoenix said in addition to crediting him for the words he wrote.

If you aren't familiar with him, you should check out his work. Never really cared for his poems, but I loved some of his stories. "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Mask of the Red Death" and "The Tell Tale Heart" are some of my favorites.

Me too, that's why I used the words "if" and "would". I can't imagine Stevie wouldn't give Poe credit for the words, especially after she was accused of stealing the lyrics to "Sara" years ago. All this talk about Annabel Lee is making me want to read some Poe! Where's my kindle!

Me too!! i just bought his collected works today:laugh: Love it. and Hello to my fellow charmed fan:wavey: :xoxo:

We need a "Charmed" movie!!!!

I SOOOO AGREE. I just watched the episodes where they play "planets of the universe" and then the one where they play "i miss you". AND I just went to the house again a month ago. I brought my leather book of shadows! :D

Another Charmed fan over here :wavey:
I haven't watched it in forever, but I used to be obsessed. I have all the seasons I think I might watch them again :D

Do it!:thumbsup: I have a weekly night to have friends over for charmed nite.:thumbsup: One of my best friends came with me to the house so its even cooler now that hes been there. We started a while back with season one and are now in season 4. Prue will always be my favorite, followed by Piper. but page rocks too. im even reading the comic books now.

Rose McGowan is just beautiful. She was supposed to play Barberella in the remake and that got cancelled. Then she was supposed to play Red Sonja and that got pushed back.

This thread has taken some strange turns...
I think Stevie will give Poe credit and I don't mind that she is doing Annabel Lee. What has me worried is it is considered one of the best tracks on her album and I believe David Wild even said it was one of the best things shes EVER done. Why does this bother me? Because the song is at most 25% her artistic work. I just feel like it isn't saying much if an artists "best" thing is something that was mostly created by someone else.

Wild also said that "Italian Summer"is one of her top 3 songs ever as well.Dave also mentioned that one as one of his two favorites on the album along with "For What it's Worth"

Oh, I feel sure that Edgar Allen Poe will be given his writing credit within the liner notes, even if it's only for "inspiration" for 'AL'.
Technically, it may seem Poe should be listed as an author of it, but I'm unsure how that would work. If someone had put 'As You Like It' into song form, I tend to doubt we'd see, oh- (Madonna/Jellybean/William Shakespeare) under the song title.


And what about the publishing for 'AL'? 'Poe Welsh Witch'?
I would guess he gets full credit somewhere in the liner notes for his original work that turned into a song, they are and were his words.

What I got from all the posts is For What it's Worth is the best song, followed by Italian Summer, In Your Dreams and then Annabelle Lee. He's just chatting things up. I'm sure Annabelle Lee is not close to Landslide or Leather and Lace. Stevie loves what Dave did with Annabelle Lee too.

This stuff doesn't bother me anymore. Bjork has had heaps of critical praise. She's colloborated on almost everything. Never wrote a lot of her stuff. Madonna survived by colloborating. Bonnie Raitt won grammys for songs she didn't even write. Her biggest hits were written for her.

Stevie hired Dave to make her songs bigger and better. That's what a producer does. The idea for the song was hers. It's her tune. He added to it and made it better. Great.

P.S. Stevie has written hundreds and maybe thousands of songs. She needs to colloborate to get something new. She's probably sick of herself now. I'm glad she found a collorater is writing different stuff. She needed that.

It depends on if the poem is public domain, which in this case I don't believe it is. Public domain is when a copyright expires, 'x' amount of years after the author's or artist's death or if the copyright is not renewed by an estate...something like that. Emily Dickinson is given half credit of Lindsey's song Gift of Screws, for instance, a similar situation.

I believe Poe is public domain now since he's been dead for over 100 years and copyright wasn't renewed by his estate. That just means that no one needs permission to use his work, not that he shouldn't be given writing credit for it. Based on this article: http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunte...public-domain/ It seems that it would just be an ethical choice and Stevie wouldn't have to give Poe credit. In the past, when she's used bits and pieces from public domain writers, she hasn't. As was mentioned though, this case is different because it's an entire body of work, with only slight alterations. Should be interesting to see how she handles it. I'm looking forward to hearing how it's evolved from the demo version.

I sure hope Annabel got an extreme makeover, I actively dislike the demo I find on Youtube.

I'm very certain Stevie will give credit to Poe for Annabel Lee. It's one thing that Stevie has borrowed lines here and there with subtle changes from Wilde & Poe before and not credited them. But it's entirely different to use the title of a very famous poem within which includes 99 % of the poems contents for lyrics to compose a song around. :nod: Don't worry Edgar will get his credit. Stevie is a big fan of his writings and will be happy to share that knowledge as she has already in interviews last summer. It will also lend a gothic cache to her new record which also features inspiration from vampires, ghosts, and Stevie's ubiquitous angels.

And let's not forget "the demons down under the sea"!I guess I'm in the minority but I like the demo and I think it has great possiblities.

I also really like the demo and can see it has potential. I don't think we are in the minority per say, I know there are others who like it, its just the ones who. HATE HATE HATE IT WITH A FIRE FULED PASSION THAT IS BEYOND MEASURE. Are just louder trumpets. SOME (one on particular ) NEVER misses am chance to slam it for all and every reason. Its like ...enough already, you hate it, We know! We all know. Sheesh.

The demo definitely has potential (certainly moreso than Space Needle, which everyone seems to love, but I think is tedious & meandering). I'm very interested to see what she's done with it.

I simply don't like the melody to this song, never have so I can't imagine them doing anything to it to make me love it no matter how good the production is. Too bad :distress:. I wish I felt differently but I don't. That being said, I'm sure there will be other tracks I fall in love with (Secret Love can also be eliminated as a favorite).

I LOVE the melody of the demo!!! I think that 1997 demo is just about perfect! Stevie's voice is incredible, and the music pulls me in deeper.

When I bought the Fleetwood Mac Almanac record when I was a teenager, only 30 years ago I barely gave Secret Love a second listen and then like Stevie apparently did, pretty much forgot all about it until now.I really .really like the official version and don't get tired of listening to it and it is faithful to the demo melody.Stevie has stated that her melody of Annabel Lee is preserved on IYD with Dave and Glen adding a 30 secoond minuet type interlude in the middle of the song.With the new production and if her stellar vocals on Secret Love are any indication I think it could be a great song.

I like the melody as well. And the fade out is pure bliss.:thumbsup: I'm really looking forward to the finished product. The thing about some of the TISL demos is Stevie was going through the motions vocally, So I look forward to a more inspired vocal and of course much more embellishments to the melody and overall production. I dont know why but I always envisioned FM doing this song, the structure of the melody to me is Gypsy meets Angel.:shrug:

I like the chorus, I think the chorus is clever