Songs she was offered but rejected
 

Anyone ever hear this story before? I hadn't. Kind of interesting...
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/stevi...e-rain-lyrics/

Yep, I'd heard it. Pretty interesting to think what-could-have-been and all.

Yep heard it before. Although there is no proof I believe that Stevie had a hand at least in part in writing When Doves Cry. Prince took no credit for his part in Stand Back so I think Stevie did the same on Doves. For awhile during Edge Stevie would sing "I know what it sounds like when doves cry...."

Yes! I heard the same story! Supposedly, Prince gave her the music to Purple Rain and wanted Stevie to write the lyrics to the song. Stevie said that she got a little frustrated with this awesome piece of music and ended up giving it back to him. She told him that he should write it himself.

She said she was glad that she did because now there is this awesome Prince song called Purple Rain.

Songs she was offered but rejected (Janey, Don't You Lose Heart)
 

Within the time span of her career, Stevie has inspired a few artists to write songs who were either inspired by her, or intended for her.

A good example of it is "These Dreams," written by Elton John's brilliant lyricist Bernie Taupin. He wrote the song for her, or at least offered it to her, knowing that it was a nice fit, in her style. She rejected it, and the song found its way to Heart, who enjoyed a massive hit with it.

Another song, a long forgotten memory, was remembered just today when I purchased a used copy of Bruce Springsteen's 18 Tracks CD, a compilation of outakes - songs that never found a place on albums. One track ignited my memory : "Janey Don't You Lose Heart."

Early on in Stevie's solo career I recall a note (likely in Rolling Stone), speculating about her recording this Springsteen -written song. Since no evidence of it exists as of now, I assume she never took the offer, and never had any involvement with it.

Anyone know anything about this?

I read or heard somewhere that she did record it, but Bruce didn't like that she changed the gender roles around. So he asked her to scrap it.

I personally asked her about this a few years ago. She said she was never offered a song by Bruce. She said she would have "loved" it if he sent her something. I know her memory is often fuzzy from the past but I doubt she forgot being sent a song by Bruce Springsteen, especially during his mega-selling Born in the USA period.

That would be a real lame excuse. I think that was someone's supposition that has grown into a "mythical" fact. Usually artists whose songs get covered don't have artistic control over the creative articulation of the song. If Bruce worked directly worked with Stevie in the development of the song, that's another story. But I don't think that was ever the case.

I remember around the time of Trouble In Shangri-La, that Macy Gray wrote a song for her called "Smitten" and Courtney Love wrote a song for her called "When It All Falls Apart," but I don't know if she ever recorded either one of them. I think Rod Steward eventually recorded "Smitten."

Wasn't the song "Love Will Find a Way" by Yes originally supposed to be written for Stevie as well?

I don't know the offical story, but I have heard a few demos of Tied Up In Promises (J.Farrar/L.Ritenour). from a cassette tape in 1989. Olivia Newton John ended up recording this song, but I don't know if Stevie's were intended to be a cover, or if it was offered to her before Olivia.

http://dancpharmd.wordpress.com/2012...p-in-promises/

I really love this track and always wished there was a clean, good quality of Tied Up (In Promises) by Stevie. I do know Tied Up released in 1982 on ONJ Greatest Hits vol 2...but according to everything I have read, Stevie's version was recorded during Rock-A-Little sessions...so 1984-1986?

However, both John Farrar and L. Ritenour wrote many songs exclusively for ONJ, with Farrar producing most of her albums. So, I really do not think Tied Up (In Promises) was written for Stevie Nicks in mind. It's well known that Stevie has trouble with hit songs, which is why I think they brought in Tied Up (In Promises) to Stevie.

Yes offered her the instrumental track that became "Love Will Find a Way" Courtney also reportedly offered Stevie "Malibu" for TISL which ended up the second single from Hole's Celebrity Skin..that one she should have taken.She could have dunped That Made me Stronger for it.:rolleyes:

It's probably a good practice for her to turn down these songs. Most fans absolutely hate it when she records other people's songs anyway. The fact that she includes covers in her set lists is a general complaint.

She was offered "Call Me" but turned it down. Worked well for Blondie.

You are correct.
I read the same article. It was in Rollingstone sometime in 1984 or 1985.

Yes, but only after Debbie Harry completely re-wrote the lyrics. Apparently Giorgio Moroder's English wasn't that great, so his lyrics were awkward. The original title was either "Man Machine" or "Machine Man." The song that Stevie was given was not necessarily a guaranteed hit.

Re: Springsteen.....I remember this as well.....and she DID change the title to "BABY, Don't You Lose Heart!"

Re: YES.....they also offered her "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" and she turned it down.

Re: "Call Me".....it ws offered to someone else like Pat Benatar or Martha Davis after Stevie turned it down....that's when Debbie convinced Georgio to let her rewrite it with him!

There's also Warren Zevon's "Reconsider Me", which is such a great song. I really think Stevie could have done a killer version of this song if A) she had put her heart and soul into it, and B) Jimmy hadn't pushed it on her at a point when they were either just breaking up or just not really getting along (can't remember what it was at that point....I THINK they had already broken up.....or were breaking up!)

You're correct that Courtney and Billy Corgan set out to write a song(s) for Stevie, But when they finished "Malibu", Courtney loved the song so much she ducked out and decided to keep it for Hole instead (she admitted this on twitter last year). Supposedly they also wrote a song for her called When It Falls Apart. Stevie recorded a bunch of material for TISL during 1996 for her next solo album, but put it all on hold when The Dance came together. Afterwards came "Enchanted", then she went to work on a whole new set of songs in late 98' through late 2000. It would be interesting to to hear what was recorded pre-"Dance" era.

During the whole Corgan & Hole supposed writing campaign for Stevie, there was also another group called "Blinker The Star" that was either recording with her, for her or something. I just came across the article not to long ago-and looked up the band, who is still around, but haven't made much of a splash.
I also thought there was a Dave Koz song FOR Stevie. Seems I'm missing a few people. I had no idea about YES though. SN doing Owner Of A Lonely Heart w/ Waddy tearing up the guitar solo...I can see it.

I don't have anything to add to this discussion except to say that I love this thread. I think it's so interesting that Stevie didn't record "These Dreams," because it's such a great song. I always think that Stevie was offered "Black Velvet," but I know that's not true. That would have been cool, too.

"Baby, Don't You Lose Heart" is a reasonable and modest gender-neutral change to the title, making more appropriate if a woman is to sing it. I just don't buy the story - that the song did not come to fruition because Bruce had issues with the gender switch. What is so damn precious about an innocuous song, where a few words are changed? I don't think Bruce is that fickle.

Also, if this song was ever officially considered, was Bruce going to be involved in some manner, as this news tibbit implied? Stevie makes small changes to almost all of songs she's covered. I don't thing the publishers of the song don't have artistic veto power if the writer has issue with a particular rendition; this is strictly a business transaction.

Does anyone know if the the song had any development in Stevie's camp? I suppose it amounts to nothing more than speculative comments. No song, just a little press.

Was the song ever officially slated to be recorded? Did any recording take place. It was likely a non-starter,

Jordon Zadorozny, from Blinker The Star, wrote a song with Courtney that was intended for Stevie. According the US copyright site, the only song Courtney & Jordon have submitted jointly for copyright was "Reasons To Be Beautiful" -- which was released on Hole's 'Celebrity Skin' in 1998.
Hard to say if that was the song they wrote for Stevie, however.

ha, cool! there's a vid of Blinker The Star and LB noodling around in the studio that was uploaded by the band some time last year - since the song they were recording with LB made their last year's album, i believe. looking at LB it must have been some time in maybe 2001-2002 (so that must have been after the time when they were writing song(s) for SN?) -

Jordon Zadorozny seems to be a really nice guy and he is around on FB, so you guys can probably ask him about the song you are wondering about.

It was around 1997 that they were writing for Stevie. At the time Zadorozny said:

"Courtney and I wrote a song together to give to Stevie Nicks. It was very California, very Stevie. It was a total collaboration and the song was written pretty quickly."

"We wrote it quite quickly, actually. She's definitely an extraordinary person. I found her quite easy to work with and hang out with. Her mind moves quickly and so does mine, so it was fun ... We just sat down with acoustic guitars actually. We worked really well together. I've actually never sat down one-on-one with acoustic guitars and written. With her, it was great because we both have little patience and she was very quick to say, 'That sucks,' and I was very quick to say, 'Don't sing that.'"


Here's a Dance article that mentions the song, in passing.

http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.ph...v2&id=604&c=18

As I stated before, Stevie said Bruce never sent her the song. It's the dumbest myth ever.

While a very beautiful song.... I think that "These Dreams" seems far more well suited for Nancy Wilson or even Pat Benatar. I would have to re-imagine this in an entirely different key to "hear" Stevie sounding right for this one-or is it just me?:shrug:

Besides Malibu and When It All Falls Apart, I know Courtney also wrote Pacific Coast Highway for Stevie to sing originally. I think the problem is when Courtney wrote these songs for her, it just so happens to have been right when Stevie had no real album in the works. Malibu is basically from during the Dance, and PCH was on Hole's album Nobody's Daughter that was recorded in 09. If Stevie was ever actively working on an album when Courtney had a song for her, i'm sure it would've come into fruition, but since CL doesn't know when Stevie's next album will be, she probably gets impatient and just records them herself.
Here's the PCH demo if you've never heard it (I prefer it to Hole's studio version), I actually love this song and Malibu. Courtney did them both amazingly when I saw her live. I love that she's such a Stevie fan and even has pictures of SN framed in her living room. Too cute.

Didn't tom petty offer her I Won't Back Down?

Prince offered her to WRITE 'Purple Rain'

Regarding the Bruce song, I read it in one of the Dreams fanzines that were popular back in the late 80's, early 90's. I'll look through my stash to see which issue it was and the exact quote.

It was also reported in Rolling Stone during spring/summer of 1984, that Bruce had submitted the song "Don't Lose Heart" for Stevie's forthcoming release. They also mentioned it wasn't confirmed whether the song would be used at press time, or something like that. I should dig out the old RS.
So whether or not Stevie remembers - which would not be surprising, considering RAL was among the craziest & druggiest eras of Stevies career - The Bruce Springsteen song was at least more than a passing thought, likely put in place via Jimmy Iovine & his close relationship with Bruce.

Here's an old thread of people discussing the song on The Ledge.

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=14859

I was reading about Roger Daltry and it discussed "Let Me Down Easy." Jim Vallance said, "Adams and I originally wrote "Let Me Down Easy" for Stevie Nicks, but I don't know if she ever heard the song? Regardless, I thought Roger did a superb job."

I kind of wish Stevie would do a cover album and go back and pick all the songs that she passed on that later became hits. I think I would love to hear her interpretations of these songs.

Bumping this old thread because this week I learned that Bono from U2 wrote a song for Stevie (I guess it was intended for The Wild Heart). I was digging through the online archives of a Dutch newspaper when I came across this interview with Bono, from March 1983: http://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LLC/1...sort=relevance
Translation of the interesting bits:
Stevie Nicks (from Fleetwood Mac) called us a while ago and asked us if we wanted to write a song for her. We send her a composition but she wasn't satisfied. I think it was too good for her. We wrote that song in Holland during a soundcheck, it was done is just 5 minutes. Maybe that sounds crazy but I have a tape to prove it. We send Stevie a copy of that tape but I guess it wasn't wat she was looking for, it's a beautiful love song and that's not what she wanted.

Originally posted by michelej1:

Roger Daltrey's and Bryan Adams' released versions (on the Reckless 30th Anniversary reissue) sound very much in the vein of the Rock A Little mid-80's pop/rock period. Check out Bryan Adams' acoustic version on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgfpdZXJphw

We found out during the MSG show that Stevie once recorded a cover of It's Raining Men. Not exactly a song she rejected but as long as we're talking about covers, I really hope this sees the light of day someday. :nod:

:distress: :distress: :distress: :sorry:

No worries they never offered her that song. it was "Love Will Find a Way"

I always like to think about what Stevie's versions of these songs could have sounded like. Call Me or These Dreams (both some of my favorite songs) could have took a different direction if Stevie had sang them.