Who wrote Stand Back?
 

In a recent interview regarding SNL Stevie says:


“You know, we practiced and practiced, and everything went well. At the time, I had my friend who wrote ‘Stand Back,’ and she was gonna do the second song, which was called ‘Nightbird’ — and she freaked out and had terrible stage fright, so she couldn’t do it,” Nicks says.


I looked at the liner notes for the Wild Heart album and it says (S. Nicks) wrote the song…… so who is this uncredited friend? I thought she wrote Stand Back in the car when Kim was driving and they were listening to “Little Red Corvette” and she “desperately needed a pen and paper so she could jot down the lyrics”


So who is this friend who wrote Stand Back???

I am so confused.

Prince was supposedly in the studio with her for a few hours, and he came up with the synth part for it.

Stevie is getting older, and she often does, she misspoke in the interview.

My theory is that she meant to say her "friend" wrote the second song that was to be performed that night on SNL, which was "Nightbird". Her friend Sandy Stewart co-wrote "Nightbird". I can only assume that's what Stevie meant.

I did not know that Sandy was slated to perform with Stevie that night - but backed out at the last minute. To me, that is interesting considering that this was January 1984 and Sandy was soon to release her solo album "Cat Dancer" on Modern Records. Stage fright?

I think Stevie wrote the words and her musicians worked out the music to follow the “Little Red Corvette” chord modulation. I think one of her keyboardists created the main synth hook that you hear in concert with the drums, but I think Prince added the sixteenth-note synth bass and the octave tremolo on the chorus, which turn the song into a little bit of a funk-dance track (right up Prince’s alley).

Here’s what I heard about Stevie and Sandy. When that falling out happened, the story goes that Sandy had finished recording her first album (Modern Records) and Stevie had added a lot of backup vocals and duet vocals. But for some (stupid) reason, Sandy took off a lot of her vocals and just kept “I Pretend,” “Saddest Victory,” and “Cat Dancer” backup vocals. So Stevie got very annoyed and basically said, “Fine. You want to do your solo album by yourself, go ahead.” Stevie then started planning another tour leg for 1984. She had originally planned to have Sandy open the shows, but when they had this fight, Stevie reached out to Julian Lennon to open the show at Dodger Stadium and the shows after that.

But that was the story going around in 1984 — Sandy wanted her album to stand on its own two feet and just use Stevie a little bit, whereas Stevie wanted to basically make a Sandy Stewart + Stevie Nicks album. Sounds like a young artist wanted her efforts to be prominent and the mentor superstar wanted to push a team effort to draw enormous attention to it.

I've heard you mention that possible second Wild Heart tour leg in 1984 before. Besides the Sandy falling out, maybe she and her record company thought Nightbird was going to be another hit and keep the momentum going. Did you not say before Stevie also wanted to release All The Beautiful Worlds on the B side of Nightbird?
The Against All Odds soundtrack was also released in early 1984. Violet and Blue was big in rock station rotation. After Nightbird and Violet and Blue faded from the charts, it was quiet in Stevie world for a long time.
I think if she had done a video for I Will Run To You, Nothing Ever Changes or Enchanted as a possible third single would have extended the Wild Heart's run on the charts and bled into 1984.

Wow, I had no idea Julian Lennon ever opened for Stevie. I presume this was before he released the album that had a couple of big hits?

That’s understandable that Sandy would want her album to stand on its own, but I’m not sure Stevie expected or wanted the album to be considered a Sandy Stewart+Stevie Nicks album. Maybe Stevie was more irritated that she wasted her time providing vocals only to have them removed from the songs?

Maybe she felt that her addition to the record would have made a difference, in whether or not it was a hit?

Personally I have to wonder if Stevie was a little too bossy-pants with Sandy and Sandy was like, "look, I appreciate your help and support, but I want to also know that I can make it for my own talent". Who knows. Stevie could and can be a bit overbearing in the advice department (though is anyone did to her what she does to others she'd be rightfully annoyed, as they are). I think about Harry Styles, and how he invited her to listen to his new album and she and her entourage proceeded to tell him how he should have done this and that differently, sequenced it differently etc etc etc...and then she hung around til the wee hours not taking any hints that he really just wanted to finally go to bed. Let's just say her self-awareness can be rather limited. One of Joe Walsh's ex-girlfriends related a similar story where Stevie showed up at their house, hung with Joe, started playing stuff on the piano and asking him about songs she was working on for HOURS on end, also totally ignoring any hints that she had worn out her welcome. So...I can see that sort of telling someone how to do their album, no matter how well-intentioned, could get on your nerves if you're Sandy, and can offend your sense of being all-knowing and a STAAAR, Darling, if you're Stevie.:shrug:

What's more fascinating to me is, How did the Seven Wonders thing come into play years later on Tango?? Was Stevie desperately out of new material and hit up Sandy? Or was Sandy out there in no-hit land and back to sending material to Stevie hoping she'd like something and record it and give Sandy some income?? (I don't know if Sandy ever wrote for other artists besides Stevie or had any hits with anyone else)...

If I understand you correctly...... you're saying that she hasn't had a HIT in 40(FORTY FUKCING YEARS), yet she's offering advice?

I'll give it to her, she created a BRAND that the world fell in love with.

My internet search is showing that Tom Petty didn't tour at all in 1984 which would have made that a good time for him to film a nice-quality video for "I Will Run to You". But my vote would be for fourth single rather than third. And despite how synth-heavy the album was, that is one song that ought to have had NO synthesizer. It needed to be pure country. Stevie really needed to take the reigns on that one and say that it was going to be done her way since the song was being given to her. Should have been the fourth-single country song just like "After the Glitter Fades".

To take things back to Sandy Stewart, I only just learned that she co-wrote a song called "In My Blood" for a singer named Fiona that was on a 1986 album. Maybe in an alternate universe it would have been on Rock a Little or a soundtrack thing. You can decide for yourself whether you wish it had been a Stevie song.

I remember reading years ago that Sandy initially did not want to give the song to Stevie but someone in Fleetwood Mac's or Stevie's orbit told her " your bank account will thank you" so she ending up sending it and considering Tango's massive international sales I'm sure it was a nice check.Sandy also provided Maybe Love Will Change your Mind for Street Angel to far less returns I'm sure.

Tom busted his hand in 1984 and was out of commission.

I like Seven Wonders, but ranking it number 14 on Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greates Songs makes me wonder what Rolling Stone has been smoking. Specially if it's in better position than YMLF, Storms or World Turning.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-songs-192324/

Julian Lennon’s first solo album was recorded in early 1984, then released in October of the same year. So depending when Stevie went on tour, Julian could have either: a) toured the recorded album before it was released; or b) started touring with Stevie once the album was released.

Yes, that’s some hot garbage nonsense. Though pleasant and catchy, “Seven Wonders” isn’t even in the top 20 of that lineup’s best songs.

And its two singles are the only I remember. They were nice songs, including the title track Vallote which "coincidentally" reminds us of John. Never heard any other Julian song on radios.

I have always been curious about the Prince contributions to Stand Back. Stevie said that she felt like she was ripping off Prince so she called him down to listen to it and he added some parts and then left. She was asked by MTV in 1983 why Prince was not credited on the album and she said he wanted it that way. Many years later she stated she gave Prince 50% royalties off the song.
Do you think Prince was paid for his parts in studio? Why would he not want credit yet accept royalties on the song. Stevie was high during many interviews so who knows if she was telling the truth. Prince was also a very damaged person from his constant bullying as a child which made him sort of toxic.
The best royalties story is Eddie Van Halen and Michael Jackson. Eddie had a reason not to be given royalties or credit because he did not want anyone to know about him working with Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones wrote in his book that not only did Eddie play the guitar solo but when Michael left the studio for a bit Eddie changed arrangements on the song which Quincy thought was a gamble because Michael may not like people messing with his music. But Michael liked the changes. Eddie thought no one would find out because he thought he was playing on a "children's record." When members of Van Halen found out about it they were pissed. David Lee Roth was furious that he gave away one of his best guitar solos for free. It also started tensions in the band. Not that Eddie Van Halen needed money but would it not be right for Michael to give Eddie royalties anyway? Sort of what Stevie said and allegedly did? Vincent Price was paid money for his talking parts on Thriller. When it because huge he asked for royalties and Michael Jackson refused.
I am always fascinated by royalties stories. What did Chris Nicks do to deserve writing credit on The Nightmare? Was it not so nice of Stevie to give writing credit on No Questions Asked to the woman that gave Stevie the tape recorder?

Wasn't Prince also the one who told his security, "keep that crazy bitch(Stevie) away from me!"?

At the end, it was never a secret, was it? I think I heard it on the radio when the song became popular, or shortly after. I never knew it was supposed to be a secret.

He thought no one would hear the song. He did not know or expect it would be a #1 song. Its not Jackson that was keeping it a secret. Eddie thought he could sneak in, do it for free, and leave and it never be known. But the album and song exploded and it was revealed but not by Eddie. The band Van Halen felt betrayed and it was the beginning of the end of that line up. Crazy to think a simple guitar solo could hurt a band with his own name. Roth thought it would hurt their fans crossing over to pop. Roth was also against any keyboards on 1984 and fought Eddie the whole way. But once the album and song Jump went to #1 Roth soaked up the riches and new fame and suddenly did not have a problem with keyboard playing in the band.
Another good example of royalties is SDMHA. Tom Petty and his band resented Stevie using their song at first because they thought it hurt their album sales. But a few years later Tom was ok with it and joked that the song bought him a new house :)

Just add this question to the long list of questions, us long suffering true fans would like her to answer.:shrug::wavey::lol:

It was unfortunate for us that we never got to hear both of them harmonizing together! Keep in mind that Stevie started singing with her grandfather, AJ Nicks when she was very young and loved to sing two part harmonies with him.

I hope Stevie has at least one copy of both of their vocals, from their recording sessions together!

someone posted the link to this interview of Stevie talking about Prince and how Stand Back happened and then the fact that he was now mad at her and not talking to her because she wouldn't go out with him....She also recounts the infamous falling asleep on his kitchen floor story.... Personally I've always believed Thousand Days was about her relationship with Prince, and the part "you've been asleep/well I've been asleep for how long she says" was her on the kitchen floor :shrug:

the interview was from the Mark and Brian show in LA and I am reminded by this clip how stupid and obnoxious they were... I'm really shocked she spent and hour with them but..

Prince/Stand Back story from her starts at 1:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntul_GT28TU&t=902s


The story about Prince using his engineer to avoid Stevie.... starts at 4:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KG3e7GuC80

Thanks for the info! Using your dates, I checked out Julian’s Wikipedia page, and then his his touring schedule, and it seems he opened for Stevie during her RAL tour in 1986, either before or after Roger Daltrey and Peter Frampton opened for her. Julian was touring at that time for the release of his second album, the Secret Value of Daydreaming. The first album, Valotte, is the only one I remember any songs from- Valotte, Too Late For Goodbyes, and one of my favorites, Say You’re Wrong.

I am the one that posted that interview link from 1994. She states Prince wont talk to her and she does not know why. She never says that Prince wanted to go out with her. The radio guys were making jokes so maybe that is what you heard?
She claims she slept on the kitchen floor because the air conditioning broke and that was the only cool place. Now THAT is a joke. I don't think Prince wanted anything to do with her. She has said he showed interest in recording with her but because she was constantly using drugs there never was collaboration or even friendship. I checked the Wild Heart tour dates and sure enough she had the night off the next day after Minneapolis and the Chicago date was 2 days later. So when she said she needed to catch a plane to her next show that was true.
Prince also confronted her for leaving the premiere of Purple Rain for the bathroom. She probably could not sit through a movie without another bump which really annoyed Prince. Oh the irony that it was him that died of a drug overdose yet she survived.
As much as Stevie was insane back then, Prince was a horrible person. The mixture of these 2 could never have worked especially at that time.
Stevie flirting with Prince in 1982 is funny when Prince tasked his assistant to keep her away from him. Stevie was still a prize back in 1982 but the insanity from the heavy drug use just put him off. Mirage Tour and Prince's 1982 tour were both in Texas at the same time which put them close together for that event.

As for the original quote that starts this thread, maybe Stevie meant to say “my friend who wrote ‘If Anyone Falls.’” That song was originally a synth instrumental demo that Sandy had written called “The Last American Hero.” One of Stevie’s people heard it, acquired it, and Stevie wrote the lyrics.

I’ve never heard Stevie talk about Sandy having a role in writing “Stand Back” anywhere else, so I think she just misspoke here.

Did this happen? If so, do you have a source I could read? I know she had a first-grade meltdown when she was refused admission backstage at a Wham concert in ‘84 or ‘85 (or ‘86?).

From what I’ve read, it seemed Prince had a crush on Stevie, wanted her in his orbit. Their flirtation/possible romantic relationship spanned a year or two…from 1982-84 ish. Prince gave her the backing track to what became “Purple Rain,” but she couldn’t “dream” up lyrics and a melody over the top of it.

Independent of Stevie, Christine once cited “Raspberry Beret” as one of her all-time favorite songs that she listened to obsessively.

I don't remember. I'm pretty sure I read it on here, probably a decade or more ago.

Do you have a hard time believing it? I mean, the Wham thing... Mama was cuckoo for Coco Puffs, and everyone was figuring it out.

When the Mirage tour ended in Texas in 1982, Prince was on tour and met Prince at some afterparty. Prince's engineer "Peggy" tells a very funny story that she still laughs about today. Stevie was dancing and sort of flirting with Prince with pulling up her dress, etc. Prince ran over to Peggy and instructed her to keep her away from him.
They would meet again 6 months later when Prince thought they were going to work on music. Prince picked her up after her Minneapolis show and took her to his house. But Stevie wanted to party and took drugs. Prince was not into that so she just crashed on his kitchen floor. No recordings ever happened and the next morning Prince drove her to the airport. They met again during the Purple Rain premier which is the last time she saw him and Prince confronted her about leaving the film to go to the bathroom. In the earlier 1994 link Stevie explains that Prince no longer talks to her and she does not know why.

Here is the link about 1982. It puts perspective about Stand Back when she gets so excited when Little Red Corvette came on the radio on her wedding day late January 1983. It was just released as the second single. Stevie had been to the concert and heard it there. Its live performance in 1982 and even 1983 is very Stand Back sounding compared to the album recording. After party begins 2:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KG3e7GuC80

So, Prince telling Peggy to keep Stevie away from him was like: “Peggy, that woman is trouble….”—half-serious, half-joking? I can believe that.

Oh, I can believe, just wanted to know the story and/or the source…

She was so out of control by then it was just sad. That The Wild Heart is as good as it is…well, that’s remarkable. She clearly had a team committed on keeping her on course.

And she shouldn’t have parted ways with Stewart. She needed her badly on the next three albums.

She does say he wanted to go out with her. The radio guys ask her about Prince and she explains the studio thing and they say around 16:14... "He didn't ask you out or anything?" and she pauses and then says "well..." (wink wink). They ask her if she's thought about working with him more and at 17:05 she says well he's angry and won't speak to her and the DJs say, "Coz you turned him down when he asked you out?" And she says pretty firmly, "Kinda." Then they joke about where would Prince take you on a date and she says he took her to his house in Minneapolis in his purple Camaro.

Oh puh-lease, that's all in her drug addled mind.

The whole world wanted to F her back then...

Prince probably took at the list(Joe Walsh, Mick, and the rest of L.A.), and decided he didn't want to go on antibiotics.

The radio guys kept insinuating that and making jokes saying he was masturbating to her on the radio. I interpret that as tongue and cheek as her playing along with their jokes. If Prince wanted to bang her, he would not have put barriers up when she was dancing around him in 1982. He would have carried her to his bedroom from the kitchen floor. Stevie was being coy and playing along with the idiot DJs that know nothing about Stevie and less about Prince. You heard them call her Lindsey, right?
She's playing along here with "well" and "kinda" She goes to his purple house to actually work in his recording studio at the house. But all of that was ruined by her drug use. She was on tour with the biggest addict in rock at the time that was her boyfriend. She has said in other interviews that Prince sort of never wanted to be friends with her because he was not into drugs.

Duplicate post.

Well, Prince had a long history of curating beautiful women musicians. Sheena Easton is the most salient example I can think of right now. But there were others. I wouldn’t doubt that he wanted Stevie, both romantically and musically. For him, the two appeared to be impossible to separate (though Easton denies the romance) so when he saw Stevie was not in a position to collaborate, he probably dropped her/lost interest.

On another note can we talk about what a horrible person Prince was. I suppose he was damaged from all the bullying he got being young in school from being so short. He made his management send letters through his bodyguards to all in attendance at the American Music Awards that stated when Prince gets called on stage DO NOT LOOK at him or make eye contact. Night Ranger and Weird Al went on the record about receiving such letters. Sheila E stopped talking to him. The last straw for her was she was to open for him and when her and her band got to the venue Prince changed opening acts just to mess with her and she had to leave. Many people that worked his after shows and parties where he had the rule NO ONE could look him in the eyes. When he wanted something he would bang his cane and if he was upset he would not take the stage. He would play some concerts in pitch black. Sheryl Crow told the story on Howard Stern that Prince refused to talk to her because American Express was sponsoring her free concert in Central Park. It was all for charity but Prince was furious about a corporate sponsor. During We Are The World, they tried to get Prince to show up. He refused to leave his ego at the door and only would come if he could be in a room by himself and add a guitar solo.
He was a total a**. So while Stevie was in bad shape when they met, I am sure he was rude to her too but she was not in the state to really be aware of it.
How about he made Sheila Easton sing "Come inside my sugar walls" for him to work on her music. It sort of ruined her squeaky clean image.
Yes he was talented. Yes he made some good music. But he was a horrible human being.

I read somewhere that he was high-sensitive because of bullying in high school early years. But from those episodes you told, I guess he was more than high-sensitive. That behavior is kind of paranoic and maybe bipolar. Whatever it was, it's obvious he was severely mentally damaged. Some mental illnesses cause people to do horrible things. It's very difficult to be friends with someone like that.

:shrug:
I believe they did have a fling. But until she says for sure it is what it is.

I also recall her talking about him bringing her cough meds when she was sick. But he felt she took too much of it or got too dependent on it. :eek:

Yes when he brought her cough medicine he made a crude joke about it that he was not going to be responsible for her being addicted to another substance.

Who would have thought it was Prince would die of a drug overdose and not her.