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edge of 17
my first thread in sn forum :]
was edge written about lb? i ask because i know they met when he was about 17, he had just broken up with his gf or she went away & the lyrics "the music there, well it was hauntingly familiar." wasn't their first song california dreamin? probably a stretch on my part but wondering anyway :shrug: |
Yeah, you don't want me to answer this question. I'll let someone else do the honors.
The song is about John Lennon. :wavey: :laugh: |
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is this a weird topic? john lennon? i'm just going by lyrics only & don't know if the lyrics are autobiographical but thought if they were, how many other guys would she write about on the edge of 17 & the place they met or so the lyrics make it sound? the lyrics i copied from nicksfix. my interpretation may be a stretch but just an opinion. the chorus i think she's talking about herself having an ambition to be free & to make it in music business Just like the white winged dove... sings a song ... Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo...baby...ooo...said ooo this part i think she's talking about her life being a little boring & self-involved before meeting lb And the days go by.... like a strand in the wind In the web that is my own... I begin again Said to my friend, baby... Nothin' else mattered this verse i think is about their meeting He was no more...than a baby then Well he... seemed broken hearted... something within him But the moment...that I first laid... Eyes...on...him...all alone... On the edge of...seventeen this chorus after singing with lb, having a vision of a career in singing Just like the white winged dove... sings a song ... Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo...baby...ooo...said ooo this verse again about their meeting "and i see you doing what i try to do for me" meaning meshing well with words & melody or musically. something she tried but couldn't seem to do on her own back then? like she needed a ying to her yang. I went today...maybe I will go again... tomorrow And the music there it was hauntingly... familiar And I see you doing... what I try to do for me With the words from a poet... and the voice from a choir And a melody...nothing else mattered Just like the white winged dove... sings a song ... Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo...baby...ooo...said ooo all really symbolic like changes sometimes don't come when they're expected & she felt something changed in her that night The clouds...never expect it... when it rains But the sea changes colours... but the sea... Does not change And so...with the slow...graceful flow.. of age I went forth...with an age old... desire...to please On the edge of...seventeen Just like the white winged dove... sings a song ... Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo...baby...ooo...said ooo this verse i think everyone was gone but she knew something had happened to her & her call of the nightbird which i think means her calling as a singer Well then suddenly... there was no one...left standing In the hall...yeah, yeah... In a flood of tears That no one really ever heard fall at all Oh I went searchin' for an answer... Up the stairs...and down the hall Not to find an answer... just to hear the call Of a nightbird...singing... come away...come away... Just like the white winged dove... sings a song ... Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo...baby...ooo...said ooo last but not least that she couldn't stop thinking about him. "sometime to be near you is to be unable to hear you" i think means when she was with him she couldn't single-mindedly focus on his music or that she was distracted. i know they didn't get involved for a few years but imo there might have been an immediate attraction. maybe the fact that she was a little older held her back. one year isn't much but from 18 to 17, it is. Well I hear you in the morning... and I hear you... At nightfall... sometime to be near you... Is to be unable...to hear you... my love... I'm a few years older than you... are (I'm a few years older than you) my love Just like the white winged dove... sings a song... Sounds like she's singing... ooo baby...ooo...said ...(repeat) |
eo17 is one of those songs that stevie explains differently each time she's asked about it. it could be about her uncle (bill? john? mike? binky? who knows), it could be about john lennon, it could be about lindsey ... you get the picture.
here's a primer :laugh: http://www.inherownwords.com/edge.htm |
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As for Edge of Seventeen, she said the idea for the title came to her when Jane Petty (Tom's then wife) was telling her she met Tom at the age of seventeen, but due to her southern accent Stevie thought she said edge of seventeen. |
^^^
exactly the site I was going to suggest. :thumbsup: I just don't have the energy to get into it. :lol: |
It's also explained in the CV cd/dvd that just came out
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i couldn't have been more off but i always wondered about it. thanks :xoxo: |
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This was the short version of my interpretation. ;) |
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[QUOTE=danax6;691657]Well, you actually do make a few valid points, and I really think that certain elements of the song are about LB (meeting at the age of seventeen, being no more than a baby, him doing what she tried to do for herself, going forth with a desire to please, being a few years older, my love, yadda, yadda) but all the white winged dove and nightbird stuff does pertain to the deaths of JL and her uncle, at least to a certain degree. The nightbird represents death and the white winged dove represents peace and serenity. Being Stevie labeled herself the 'peacekeeper' at various times I personally think that it's a little autobiographical in that extent.
This was the short version of my interpretation. ;)[ you are definitely right. maybe a little of lb was in there but my interp. was wayyyy off. i always thought it was kind of this happy song but there was some pain in there. |
this song has nothing to do with being 16 or 17 years old.
it's her most "abstract" song lyrically... she has even admitted this in interviews. i don't think it has anything to do with lindsey either. the wail in the middle.... on the edge of... seventeen.... oooooooooooowahhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... in my opinion... (the wail) is the body leaving this world... and the spirit going to the next world... the life/death reference she has made so often about this song. the nightbird (the call/symbol of death) isn't mentioned until - after- the wail.... the title... edge of 17, yes, was inspired by jane petty's "age of seventeen" remark, but stevie also said uncle john (bill) died just before midnight on the 16th of the month (that she witnessed) .... a la.. the "edge of 17" on the calendar. the shippers think this is about her and lindsey as teenagers from the song title... but i disagree. i think it's much more abstract than the literal meaning all the shippers want to put on it. this song has nothing to do with lindsey or being 17. flame me now. but i'm entitled to my opinion and interpretation. discuss amongst yourselves. LOL! |
^^ that's interesting. honestly, i've never tried to nail down my own interpretation because, well ... i don't really think there is a single interpretation that can explain everything that inspired this song. but i do enjoy reading others' and yours is one i've never heard before.
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Hm, does thinking the song has elements of LB in it automatically make you a 'shipper'? I agree with you in that some parts of the song are definitely very abstract and deep, but other parts are fairly literal and don't fit in with the idea behind the song that she has fed us. A lot of her songs are culminations of different things, whether they actually have anything to do with one another or not. |
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so I went forth with a desire to please you on the edge of seventeen.... but i think this was more of a desire to please you [her family] than please you to [lindsey when they were 17 years old]... she met lindsey twice before fritz when she or he was 17. how intense of a connection is that? compared to your family who has known you YOUR ENTIRE LIFE up until you are 32 when you recorded this song... I think the family/death connection was much more intense, considering uncle john was the first "family" death she ever experienced..... (as she states on the CV DVD) when you are first crossed with death of a family member it is INTENSE and I can see how this would inspire such a strong, forceful song as this)... not a silly teenage heartbreak experience.... grow up! I can't even remember the last names of some of the high school people who were so "close" to me - and no, I'm not *that* ancient* I'm only 40.....but the family death experience was much more intense and painful than any high school crush I ever had, and I think it was for Stevie too. |
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