But WHY do you not like it?
 

Okay folks...let's let off some steam. ;)

You say you don't like Red Rover...but WHY do you dislike it?

You say you don't like WISYA....but WHY do you dislike it?

Tell us!!

I don't care for Silver Girl. WHY? I like the music, it's the LYRICS that I don't like..."girly girl...high tech world..." BLECK!!

Why don't I like WISYA? It's repetitive, pointless, and it drags. I mean, when I transcribed those lyrics for my site, I was just grimacing. Observe:

"What's the matter baby
What's the matter baby
What's the matter baby...baby... baby
What's the matter baby
What's the matter baby
What's the matter baby...baby"

AAAARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

As for Red Rover, I LOVE it. I also don't understand the hostility towards it. I think it's terrific!

Forgive me for chiming in once again about "When I See You Again," but this is one song that I'll "defend" until I'm blue in the face, simply because I love it that much. :)

Stevie is using a repetitive phrase ("what's the matter, baby") in much the same way that T.S. Eliot did in his 'The Hollow Men'....

"This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang but a whimper."

The repetition of the phrase is meant to pull the listener/reader in, and to further drive home the bleak mood of the piece. Its use is entirely purposeful here, and not a mere space filler (which can't be said of many songs).

In "When I See You Again," her (former) lover is posing a question, which Stevie then repeats until she's asking it of herself.

At any rate... I know I'm not really going to change anyone's opinion of the song. If you hate it now, you probably always will.
I just think the reasons for its bad reputation, are a little unfair. :)

I have to be in the right kind of mood for WISYA. If I've had a bad day, it'll grate on my nerves. Not because of "What's the matter baby," that's actually my favorite part (probably because everyone else hates it). I just really don't like how Stevie presents the song. Her voice is a bit too wistful. Plus, the song I think needed more parts to it for the end. Instead you get Lindsey singing a few lines and the music just goes on and on.

As for Red Rover, I think it's actually beginning to get it's itch on me. But still a big problem with the song is, as with many songs on SYW, I can't understand what the Hell Lindsey is saying. And that bothers me since I'm a lyrics person as well as a sing-a-long person, so if I can't hear the words I can't learn the words and therefore I cannot sing along. Worse for me is Murrow and Come, the former due to it's even worse vocal clarity, and the latter due to Lindsey annoying screeching on the chorus. Too much head voice, and too much guitar. However, Come in concert was much better.

These are my exact reason for not liking Murrow and Red Rover, however I do like Come because I can understand (for the most part) what he's saying and I actually find it fun to sing along to...the other two, however, I just can't get a grasp on them I don't hate them at all...they are just not my favorites...

I really LIKE both of these songs. Red Rover is one of my fav. Lindsey songs.

:nod: Nae

I posted why I don't like WISYA and WTTR...S in another thread, but I'll post it hear for your sake, Christy :)

There are many reasons why I, and I'm sure many others, don't like WISYA. I know that Stevie writes in an honest, truthful way and that she allows herself to show her true colors and vulnerability, but it doesn't necessarily mask a bad song.

The vocals are very poor. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: it's as if Stevie forgot how to sing when they recorded this. Her vocals are lousy. They're whiny, sharp, and too scratchy. The only good vocal comes from Lindsey.

The lyrics are lazy and among the worst she's ever written (and I don't think she has written many bad songs). I think this is the worst part of the song:

"So she walks slowly
down the hall
There are many doors
in the hallway
And she stares at the stairs
Ooh there are many things
to stare at these days"

The repetition of "Whassamattababay" grates on the nerves. Any song that just repeats itself over and over, regardless if it's a Stevie/Mac song, is obnoxious. The fact that she starts off singing it and then whispering it and then screeching it and then caterwauling it doesn't help.

I love Stevie and understand all of her lyrics like the rest of y'all. However, for people who are not fans that hear a song like WISYA, it won't make them a fan and I think the lyrics are a big part in that. WISYA and WTTR...S would be incomprehensible to someone who isn't a fanatic like us on the board. Frontline, baby? It's not home and it's not Tara? Deja vu? Upstairs where the stars laugh and shine? They'd be scratching their heads in bewilderment, asking how all this mess ties together. I expect most people would laugh hysterically at the "Whassamattababays" and the staring at stairs in WISYA. The song just doesn't come together.

Just my opinion though!

With all due respect, that's just silly. If you don't like it because it sucks, then you don't like it. What's unfair about that? I don't like tripe (the kind you eat... and other kinds as well, come to think of it). Is that unfair?

You can defend it till you're blue in the face but I doubt you'll ever change anybody's mind. This is among the worst pieces of drivel to ever come out of Ms. Nicks' lips and pen. The only redeeming thing about it is the guitar work, especially the Spanish guitar at the end.

I'm sorry, but you cannot compare The Hollow Men to WISYA. Hollow Men was written in a completely different way than WISYA and there is no comparing drivel to a masterpiece. The Hollow Men builds up to the end where he repeats "this is the way the world ends..." Yes, there is a reason that it is repeated three times, but it's for completely different reasons than WISYA. It isn't necessarily to drive home the bleak mood, but to confirm it. It gets progressively bleak as the it goes on until it explodes. The stanza you quoted doesn't drive home anything; it confirms what we already were told AT THE END of the piece.

WISYA doesn't build up to much of anything, it's just dark and bleak from the start and it doesn't really intensify (like The Hollow Men) at all and no point is ever driven home. Where the repetition in Hollow Men was sparse and very hard-hitting, "Whassamattababay" isn't. It grates on the nerves and makes one not want to listen to the whole thing. They just want to press skip and get to "Isn't It Midnight."

"Red Rover" would be my favorite off of Say You Will if it wasn't for Stevie's "Silver Girl." And "When I See You Again" would be my favorite off of Tango In the Night if it wasn't "Welcome To the Room...Sara." I guess I've never been one of popular judgement.

If you want to attack Stevie for the repetiveness of WISYA, you gotta give Lindsey the same for I Must Go.

You could say that's the worst piece of drivel to ever come out of Lindsey. He says "I must go" about about 147 times.

Ok, Linds, I get it. You gotta go. Go already. He was making a point about his life at the time. Even though it's not my favorite thing to listen to, I can appreciate it that was something he needed to express. You can't bash an artist for doing what true artists do, which is emote about their experiences.

In WISYA, Stevie is doing the same thing. It's not my favorite song, but hearing her sounding like that, so broken, so fragile, her voice so ravaged.......... it does make me want to cry and give her a hug. It's an expression of all her hurt and pain at the time. It's not supposed to be pretty to listen to.

That's what I love about them both. You get all the emotions, all the parts of their lives, and it's not always pretty.

-Sharon

I totally agree :nod:

I hated Murrow, Red Rover and Come from the outset. However, Murrow started growing on me, so I stopped skipping that song. And then I saw LB do Come in concert, and I was just blown away. So now I listen to that song, too (at least until the end when he is too over the top with the guitar).

Red Rover is a different story. I really like the music, but I can't understand LB and even when I read the words, I don't get it. I don't like the incessant repeated (Red rover, red rover, we've come, we've come to take you over - BLECH!!!).

I'm starting to come around on Red Rover. Still, I can't listen to the whole thing at once. It's like getting into a pool when the water is chilly. A little bit at a time...

Murrow, on the other hand, I have no preference one way or the other. I usually don't skip it, but it does absolutely nothing for me.

No one's attacking anybody. When I See You Again comes up repeatedly as one of the least liked songs for a good reason. It plain and simple sucks. Stevie couldn't sing. The lyrics were awful. Anybody can find meaning in any string of words put together, so it doesn't surprise me that a handful of people think the song is wonderful. Good for them, but it doesn't change the fact she couldn't sing and she couldn't really write at that point. Hey, that's OK, she had already proven herself, and she got much better later. Anyone can have a nadir.

As for I must go, sure it's repetitious but I, for one, have not knocked repetition. I Must Go is infectious; it's about the propulsive rhythm. There's lots of motion in that song. To me, the whole Go Insane album was always an amazing sonic experience. If you get hung up on the lyrics in that album, you're not getting it.

Exactly. :D