Well, this is pretty depressing....
 

Re. Street Angel

Up Close with Stevie Nicks - 1994
"Street Angel is not about how to help the homeless. It's a story about a girl that is homeless and a man that has alot of money that falls in love with her and the fact is that no matter how much she cares about him she really can't give up her life on the street and her friends and her family and all the people that she hangs with. She really can't change that and finally at the end in order to send him back to his life she basically makes him think that she has committed suicide...that she's dead because she knows that he won't leave her any other way and she knows she can't be with him."

***
Funny, never in million years would I have thought that this is what this song was about. But now that I read the lyrics, her description makes perfect sense. Stevie definitely has a way of writing songs that may not be very effective on their face (to me anyway..I've always disliked this song), but once you know the true meaning behind them, they become much more interesting. Wish she would write a book with a description behind all her songs! (as if!) Pretty depressing though, don't ya think?? I guess she committed suicide by 'throwing herself down the stairs like a broken rag doll.' How sad.

I've been walking under rainbows too long to tell
You keep walking down mean streets
my street angel
I try to bring you in out of the cold
But street angels live on the street
And they always will

Street angels aren't like anyone you know
They do what they want and they go where they go
They may tell you
that you hold the world in your hands
But they always give it back
They always give it back

No amount of crying changes your mind
No amount of praying brings you inside
I know that you love me
and that you always will
You just stand outside and call to me
My sweet street angel

A Charles Dickens character,
with your top hat and your scarf
When you pull me through the rainbow
I thought you'd stop
But you didn't you turned around
You went back to the children and your music
And the people that you love

I can't help but wonder if
Every one in a while you remember the girl
When you were a homeless angel
that drove you wild
Strange and elusive

No amount of crying changes your mind
No amount of praying brings you inside
I know that you love me and that you always will
You just stand outside and call to me
My sweet street angel

So I ended it all for the both of us
I fell down the stairs a broken rag doll
But you never knew you just thought I went away
With nothing more to hope for
But you don't hear voices anymore
No my sweet street angel

That is on the depressing side. I never cared much for the song; I never could get past that "street angels live on the street" line.

I like that song. inexplicably :laugh: At first, of course, i thought it was cheesy. But now, I really like it. I like the rainbow parts, and the girl that drove you wild, strange and illusive part. It doesn't depress me much, either, though the whole album is a rainy day foggy kind of toned album... :wavey:
Amber

very good!!!~

brightest stevie blessings~
jill

Really interesting! I kinda like the song, mainly for David Crosby's presence and the part:

A Charles Dickens character,
with your top hat and your scarf
When you pull me through the rainbow...
I thought you'd stop
But you didn't...you turned around...
You went back to the children...and your music...
And the people that you love

Romy

Wow. I always sorta thought this song might be about Tom Petty. That's just my own guess based on nothing factual. Just my own weird assumptions. Guess I was WAY OFF base on that one. D'OH! :o

Why'd you think that? did something bad happen to petty?

The song makes a little more sense to me now! Just a little. I can see why she would think of something like this - it kinda mirrors her life - when she talks about how she cannot give up the things she loves to do for a relationship. Although I don't think she's got the to the point where she would throw herself down the stairs....

Well....it's just what she says in 2 of the verses: the thing about Dickens, with the top hat & scarf, and going back "to the children and the music and the people that you love". And also about wondering if "every once in a while you remember the girl when you were a homeless angel that drove you wild...strange and elusive". I have a personal theory based on nothing factual: I like to think Stevie & Tom had an affair sometime in the 80s-maybe when he was having trouble at home during his "Southern Accents" LP (or maybe even sooner during the Bella Donna era). While I'm here speculating irresponsibly, I might as well also add that I think TP's song "Runaway Trains" is about Stevie. I don't know why, these are just the impressions I got while listening to these songs. I base these on nothing except my own weird vibes. I'm probably WAY OFF BASE here: I'm just guessing!! :confused: :o

No, I have that same impression, i just don't understand how the title of this thread would make you think that. Street Angel, maybe...But seriously, I have Stevie/Tom speculations, so that's cool.... :nod: :thumbsup:
AMber

She's also said she was inspired to write it after seeing a news broadcast about homeless people, so who the hell knows what it's about.

But I do know that I love it and think it's her most heartfelt song from that time period. Very vivid.

Yea - she said this in the SA press kit:

During all of that time, Stevie recalls, "l was thinking about 'STREET ANGEL.' l already had the title song in mind, for instance; l wanted it to be about people whose dreams have gone bad. l had an idea of a Charles Dickens style character, a homeless woman who doesn't want to leave the streets, and the rich man who loves her."

http://www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com/artic...reetangel.html (KUDOS to the site ;) )

and in "Angel of the Turntable" The Island Ear, David J. Criblez, August 22 - September 4, 1994.

Street Angel is a bit different, 'cause it's a fictional story about a girl who is a homless person who has been in the street, with her family, her whole life. They are just gypsies. Some rich guy falls in love with her and tries to lift her up by marrying her. She can't do it, 'cause she can't give up her other life in the street. It's not a political comment on how to save the homeless. It's simply about a girl who is homeless.

http://members.aol.com/WLDHRT69/nicksart2.html (KUDOS to the site :cool: )
BTW - this is a GREAT and candid interview with Stevie - read the whole thing and you will see what I mean!!!!!

You're right! Thanks for posting!


I also see a little bit of a similarity between 'Street Angel' and 'Rooms on Fire.'
Here is what Stevie has said about 'Rooms on Fire:'

Open House Party – 1989
“Rooms on Fire is about a girl, like me, who goes on with her life for a long time thinking that the only thing she ever is going to have is her music. And she meets somebody one night at a party and they get married and they have a baby and he dies very quickly, so she only has him for about five years. And then she waits for the rest of her life for him. It’s really a love story…and he comes back to get her and says basically ‘do you want to go?’ And she kind of turns around and looks at the world and says bye to them and steps into the doorway.”

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It's a reacurring theme in Stevie's songs that I *think* relates back to her knowing that she is never going to find a man that can put up with her career. (ie. the homeless girl is too attached to her lifestyle to be with the rich man, the Rooms on Fire girl loses her man very quickly). She sacrificed love for rock and roll. And as much as she says that she made the right choice, I believe deep down in her heart that she feels she may have made the wrong choice or at least wonders what could have been.

Good analysis. And i totally didn't know that was what rooms on fire is about. (you can't tell ALL THAT from the lyrics :) )
Amber

I know, you can't. I know that she molded the video after this concept though, which after watching the video I couldn't figure out anyway. I think alot of times she just assumes that her audience will 'get' what she is talking about, when in fact we have no clue!