Let's talk abouit...SLEEPING ANGEL
 

I'm gonna start with my analysis of this song and then get personal later :)

First off, this song is absolutely stunning. I believe it is about taking the first steps into seriously defining a relationship as "serious"-- forseeing an extended future together, really.


Defining boundaries. She is telling him (whoever he may be) to put down his guard and allow himself to need her yet still respect her "wild heart". :) These opening lines make me think that "he" cannot be Lindsey-- it sounds like Stevie already has an understanding of how possessive love can become, which leads me to believe this is post-Lindsey :). Also, there's always the big trust issue when a relationship starts to become serious, and she's just putting it out in the air that it will not be easy for her to adapt to it.

I'm trying to believe you
And I'm learning all the time
Two-part personality
The flower and the vine

She's trying to trust. She also realizes that there are two (or more) every different aspects of each person, and that she needs to fully understand both halves before she dedicates herself to the whole.

Take me sleeping angel
Catch me when you can
Real love affairs are heavy spells
For a woman and a man

I love this part of the song :). She seems to finally throw her hands up and say "take me" to the man she's allowing herself to love. She asks him to "catch her", or reciprocate that new intensity of love, "when [he] can". But yet, she needs to establish that there are ways in which the relationship still has room to go wrong...

I need you because you let me breathe
Well you've taken me away
But never take me lightly
Or I could never stay

He needs her to appreciate her intensity and depth as a person. If he "takes her lightly", or underestimates her in any way, shape or form, there will be issues.

Well, someday when we're older
And my hair is silver gray
Unbraid with all of the love that you have
Like a soft silver chain

Yet she has faith in a beautiful, long future-- she asks him to "unbraid" her, or slowly delve into her personality and heart, even at such an old age. She implies that there is still something quite hidden within her that he will not be able to know for a long long time, yet she invites him to do that "someday". She has faith.

this is one of my all time fav stevie songs~ i remember seeing "fast times at ridgemont high" w/ friends & not knowing the song was in the movie & freaking out when i heard it~ the lyrics are beautiful & now being w/ my husband for 23 years, the lyrics make me think of us & making it this long & still having passion~

the song still gives me goosebumps when i hear it~

one of stevie's best if you ask me~

And that unbraiding request is interesting because she explained with Gold and Braid that she was never the type of woman who wanted to share everything. She said, "it's about Lindsey wanting more from me in our relationship. But wanting to know everything about someone, which goes hand in hand with being in love, was never something, I'd ever wanted to share with anybody."

So, for Gold and Braid, you imagined a lover feeling that he could never know her fully, never get behind her wall. She was never willing to disclose all of her secrets, hiding her eyes and soul behind her braid.

But here she's saying that one day, maybe when she's old and life is not so pressing, she will come out from behind the curtain. She will let him unbraid her, see into her heart and share everything. Opening up all that she had concealed and withheld in the past. It's like a promise of full trust, full disclosure and full oneness in the future, even if not now.

Michele

I did a 'Reflections' segment on Sleeping Angel in February. It's funny how the 'Let's Talk About' threads seem to mirror songs I've covered in my blog. It seems like these are songs that fans really love and want to dissect.

http://planet-john.blogspot.com/2009...ns-vol-11.html


:o

It's about Paul Fishkin.

This song is by far stevie at her best. The music and lyrics are beautiful, not to mention the absolute perfect vocal that she laid on it. It gives me goosebumps just listening to it.

Yes-- exactly. I love how many of Stevie's songs connect so beautifully and show her transform throughout the years.

A very well-crafted song. It's a crime that this song was "thrown away" on the Fast Times soundtrack. It really should have been on Bella Donna (would have made a better album closer than "Highwayman").

Great observation, Michele. I love this song and especially this part. It's so touching.

I have to admit, while this is a beautiful song, it's never touched me in the same way as some of the other songs we've been talking about. I will say, the first time I heard Sleeping Angel, I was in grade 12, so it kind of reminds me of that. But I really connect the song to the pre-abortion scene in Fast Times...I think the part where Mike is calling his friends to try and find the money to pay for the abortion is quite touching. The song really helps to bring out the whole idea that these kids aren't old enough to be dealing with the things they're dealing with. Gives me chills. I think by consequence, I sort of relate Sleeping Angel to Stevie's alleged abortion...but logically I don't think the song has much to do with it.

Yes the vocal is stunning along with Silver Springs arguably her finest vocal performance on record..Kind of sad it was just after this when her voice began to deteriorate.

Somebody remind me to never post threads at weird hours at night... maybe then, I will spell "about" correctly in my titles.

Ugh.