American Horror Story: Seven Wonders
 

I wonder what the general Ledgie opnion of this is. I personally was thrilled to see Stevie give Seven Wonders the time of day again on AHS (albeit not a new recording). It seems like she has very rarely acknowledged this gem in the last 26 years or so since the Shake the Cage Tour. I wonder if there is any hope of her rehearsing this for the upcoming FM tour with Christine? What do you guys think?

I doubt it although who knows :shrug:since she now apparently believes that she wrote the song.

I hope this is the case because it has always been one of my faves. However, I suspect she believes she can't sing it anymore or is afraid to like Talk To Me.

I've been wondering this as well. I think this song could be changed to lower the key in which Stevie sings it. I honestly would not be surprised if it's the latest Stevie song to be resurrected. After all, American Horror appears to have generated a large amount of interest in it.

Something else that has occurred to me about Seven Wonders: was it the last song Stevie recorded while she was on coke? The vocal certainly points to that. And we know she started recording the album then went into rehab... and when she came out, was dissatisfied about the lack of presence she had on Tango.

Yep Seven Wonders was recorded the weekend after Halloween in 1986 just before she went into Betty Ford.

She could absolutely still sing this song in the key they did on the Tango tour...I have a feeling it will be brought back for the summer tour, after all...who thought we would ever hear Storms live?!?!?

What's this in reference to?

I'd love to hear her reintroduce this song on tour. I thought the fact that she didn't record a new vocal for AHS didn't bode well, but maybe the renewed public interest in the song will be brought to the bands attention come rehearsal time and things will change.

Maybe. But realistically I think we're not going to see any changes to Stevie's set beyond subtractions to accommodate for Christine's presence.

I agree. Stevie has brought out forgotten Mac songs every time the band has toured for the past 11 years. After American Horror, this seems like the logical next song to get dusted off. Straight Back would be cool, too. :D

Right? Or Beautiful Child. And at one point we thought she'd never perform Sara or Sisters Of The Moon ever again, either.

She said in an interview that she told Ryan Murphy she had written a song about the Seven Wonders. Obviously, Sandy Stewart wrote Seven Wonders... not Stevie.

I don't think the lack of new vocal on AHS means a thing.

I also don't believe just because Chris is returning, that Stevie's set will stay static, either. She certainly has setlist mainstays- but her setlist is never identical tour to tour. After all, we may get to hear new songs from the 3 writers since they're supposed to be going into the studio next month. :)

I thought she just said she "had" a song by that name. Or maybe we're thinking of different interviews? Anyone have a link? I'm not doubting you, just genuinely curious.

I'm looking at The Dance setlist and there does seem to be a little more wiggle room in her set than I was thinking. But still, it pays to be a Debbie Downer sometimes. ;) I'll just wait and see, and not hold my breath.

I was genuinely shocked when I heard the opening notes of "SW" on the AHS finale! I think it's another example of how her resurgence has made her more open to trying new things. 6 months ago I'd have laughed at the idea of her even acknowledging the songs existence, let alone "performing" it on a hit TV series!

Count me in as cautiously optimistic about it showing up on the setlist. I think she's totally capable of it vocally, though I see Christine & The Girls helping out a lot.

I really don't know why people took that comment or the comment about her and Lindsey working on a song as literally as they did.

It seemed pretty clear to me when I read it that the comment was about Seven Wonders -- and I don't think she thinks she wrote it. Ryan may think she wrote it, because he's not fussed about those kinds of details.

Michele

Yep, that's what she said!

As for Sandy.......I'm betting she's VERY glad she let Paul Fishkin talk her into letting Fleetwood Mac keep the track after Stevie.......reworked it, shall we say?

Does Sandy still hold the copyright??? Or did she get hard up for cash and sell it???

What Ryan said was that Stevie said she WROTE the song. But Ryan wasn't trying to recount word for word what Stevie said. He paraphrased based on what he remembered. This is just like people thinking that Stevie and Lindsey were working on a new song for AHS. That should hardly have been assumed from the vague wording in the magazine articles.

We have a hard enough time taking out the tea leaves and working with actual quotes from the band members. Trying to divine what they said based on something someone else says they said is nigh impossible.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/12/05/am...sacred-taking/

You had mentioned that you wanted Stevie Nicks to come back. Is that gonna happen?

We have Stevie for another. Stevie will be in episode 10 and then we have Stevie for another one, doing an idea that she came up with that I thought was too perfect to say no to. Hilariously, Stevie read some of the scripts and called up and said “Are you aware that one of the things you’re doing I actually wrote a song about?” I’m like, “You’ve got to be kidding.” Then I remembered the song. We have something cool that was her idea.

I believe Sandy was given the choice of... A) Keep quiet about the changes and let FM put 7W on the record and make a lot of money OR B) She could put 7W on her next solo record...

Why mess with a vocal scorched with craggy spendor. Seven Wonders was the last torch vocal of Stevies caterwauling whirling dervish era. I think it could've been potentially a disaster & embarressment for Stevie to try to recreate that vocal. Heck, she even tried back in the day, after rehab, to improve that vocal, but everyone in the band agreed she couldn't top that 1st take w/ misinterpreted lyrics and all. That vocal is what makes that song - Stevie made the song her own. This is the rare Stevie cover that didn't matter to me at all that she didn't happen to write.
Besides, Stevie manifested her wish by reminding Ryan that she had recorded a song called "Seven Wonders" (which it seems Ryan forgot about). Stevie got to do the walk through she fantasized about. Drifting around Miss Robichaux’s Academy with her long black dress, high heel shoes, & top hat. "When I want something, I get it!"

I think the only time she ever even came close to matching that vocal was the 1987 Fresno show.

Thanks, Michele, for giving me some insight into the whole written/recorded quote semantics. It makes a lot of sense to me now.

I just find it completely bizarre to see her lip-sync to that vocal which sounds nothing like her current voice, which she used to perform two other songs only a few short episodes ago, so every viewer would be very familiar with it and likely find the discrepancy jarring. They could have used the studio track, and had her wandering around not lip-syncing. Or had her performing live. "Pretending" to sing a decades-old vocal is an inconsistency that seems hard to justify, unless they tried working out a new vocal and disliked it. Which is why my initial reaction was that it didn't bode well for adding the song to a 2014 live set. I'm not saying it won't be added to the set. I'm just saying that was my reaction to SW in the show.

I'm glad she lip-synched. The video wouldn't of been half as good.

One thing I noticed, music hasn't changed that much. Seven Wonders really didn't sound dated. I wonder if Lindsey worked on the track.

Seven Wonders contains one of Stevie's greatest vocals. After she croaked out Rhiannon and Has Anyone, she needed this.

That's exactly what happened.....I was in the next room when they were having the conversation! (And, actually, it was "You can leave it on the album with Stevie's changes.....and make a ton of money!.......or you can keep it for yourself and release it the way you first wrote it."

It really was a no-brainer, one who's royalties I'm sure Sandy has been thankful for for years!

I just hope Stevie didn't get any royalties off it. She doesn't deserve them.

Actually, ahe added a lot more lyrics to the song than she's given credit for! I think the main thing that Sandy was upset about was that she changed the title....."Aaron" had some special meaning to Sandy.

She didn't better the song. Adding Sara here and there actually hurt the song. She sort of stole the song.

I wouldn't say she "stole" the song....she was given a rough demo that was partially completed, and she added lyrics to it, changing the title as well. (Though, in all fairness, the cassette had no title on it, so Stevie had no way of knowing Sandy had titled it "Aaron").

I'm hoping the renewed interest in the song will result in putting it back into the FM setlist. We know Lindsey will do Big Love. I'm sure Chris will do Everywhere, and possibly Little Lies as well. Stevie might as well have some Tango representation.

Seven Wonders is about as 80s as you can get. Heck, most of TitN is.

Not in a necessarily bad way (I love it, personally), but it definitely doesn't sound like a contemporary pop song. Maybe if you're listening to Haim... but otherwise, no.

I know this has been discussed and debated to death... but I'm still pretty sure Stevie is saying Aaron. I hear no 'S.' And it would make sense being that the song was originally titled 'Aaron.'

And of course Stevie gets royalties from the song. She has a co-writing credit and she's the recording artist. Unless she signed her rights to the song away (doubtful)... she's getting money off of it.

Stevie contributed "additional lyrics" to “Seven Wonders” and consequently, scored a co-writing credit. Regardless of her exact contribution, she is listed as co-author of the song. That is fact.

The version of "Seven Wonders" featured in AHS had the bridge/refrains edited out and seemed to be slightly remixed. I wonder if this constituted "reworking the song"? I know it seems lame, but it’s possible that’s all that was considered and a new recording wasn’t ever intended.

I agree that the lip-synching was a little strange, given that Stevie has not sung in that key for more than 25 years (especially when you consider that the original vocal recording had been sped up as well). She did seem more awkward in this scene than the earlier appearance. When Ryan Murphy described the opening as “a Stevie Nicks music video extravagaaaaanza!”, I foolishly got my hopes up for something special. Needless to say, I was mightily disappointed. That said, I'm glad the song was given attention and that it has charted on Itunes. This all could bode well for it's inclusion in the nex Mac concert tour.

Well like I said it has always been one of my favorite Stevie songs ever and I hope the powers that be read this forum and communicate to Stevie how much we miss this song and would love to hear it live again in whatever key she would feel comfortable singing it in. :wavey:

I could never understand this talk about "Sara"......she is DEFINITELY singing "Aaron!!!"

Speaking of HAIM.......listen to "The Wire"......I think FM could do a KILLER cover of it, especially now that Christine's back! And that would SO raise their "cool" factor!!!

I knew it was recorded pre-BF, but not the weekend after Halloween. Someone else on here said 1985. They weren't in the studio for Tango that early?

Personally, I think 'Seven Wonders' is the best track on TITN. I never understood why here in the U.K. it only reached #56 whereas 'Big Love', 'Little Lies' and 'Everywhere' reached #9, #5 and #4 respectively....

It sounds like Sara or Tara, not Aaron. Also, like I said before, she stole some credit for song. She should not of taken any writing credit for what she did. It is ridiculous.

Where are y'all talking about? :shrug:

The one part I know Stevie changed on Seven Wonders was:

"on the way down to Emmaline"

Which I believe was originally:

"All the way down the line"

Yes, I, too, am very confused (but incredibly intrigued!) about the "Aaron/Sara" discussion. I love the song, and I never remember hearing anything that sounds like either of these names. :shrug:

There have been discussions in the past concerning what Stevie actually utters during the refrain sections of "Seven Wonders", ranging from "Sara" to "Tara" and then some. For the longest time, I thought she was singing "Pharaoh", but these days, I'm quite certain she's saying "Aaron". I would never have guessed this had I not learned of the original title of the song, but it's pretty clear to me now that she's actually referring to this name.

From what I remember of the story of this song. Ms. sandy wrote this song (Originally titled "Aaron" or "Erin") about a friend of hers that had recently passed away at the time who goes by the same name.

So when Ms. Sandy sent the demo to Ms. Nicks, only to find out later that our Stevie altered it by possibly changing the Aaron/Erin to Sara/Tara and other lyrics. Ms.Sandy wasn't pleased.


Then something happened where she tried taking the song back but then Warners stopped her from doing so. Then something about money or getting dropped.

I don't know, that's all I can remember. The story is somewhere on this forum.

Honestly, I do feel that Sandy does deserve credit where credit is due. Stevie wouldn't have liked if Sandy took "Julia" and made it her own with out crediting her, so she should of at least include her name in the credits. :shrug:

Is it me or has Sandy Stewart always been clearly credited as the main author of that song? I never thought the band was ambiguous about that. I think I'm confused too.

Whatever happened, there clearly isn't bad blood over it - Sandy co-wrote Too Far From Texas, on TISL.

Oh, okay! Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense. I always thought she was saying, "Never." But this is far better! I do hope she kept it as, "Aaron." I'm off to listen very closely right now. :xoxo: