[Christopher]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I tend to agree that Stevie has a theme in mind and writes little vignettes around the theme to tell her story, which is never linear or literal. The theme of this story is how her life has been saved by the angels in her life during the great nadirs- presumably her addiction/recovery to Klonopin and then the Street Angel fiasco/tour- an era that is so unspeakably traumatic that she never even mentions it any more except in song.

Now, putting my shipper hat on for a moment, I am going to hone in one obvious facet of this song that nobody seems to pick up on: the phrase "for what it's worth." Sometimes that is a phrase that is tacked onto a string of facts or things to consider, which leaves the listener to draw up a conclusion about this information. My theory about "for what it's worth" is that this person saved her life by making up all of these promises/enticements for Stevie to come to her own conclusion to go for treatment. I think the first verse and chorus is about Lindsey. Based on what we know about Lindsey and his concerns about Stevie around this time, is it possible that he tossed out these gestures (leaving his girlfriend, packing up his stuff, moving in, etc.) as an enticement for Stevie to get help? She was probably in a very vulnerable emotional state at the time and needed to hear those words by someone who cared so deeply about her that she really had no choice but to go. She must have gone to rehab with dreams of blue-gray eyes, white picket fences and rose gardens. As many people suspect/believe/wish, the "great romance" came to pass during The Dance, and it was definitely forbidden.

The second verse is about the post-recovery phase in which she was "broken" and "scared" and basically thrown to the wolves. This is probably about Dallas Taylor and the way he also saved her livelihood, if not her life, by holding her hand and giving her hope and reassurance. I don't think there is any reason to believe that they were sharing a bunk in the back of the tour bus.

As usual, in her typical lying by omission, Stevie has conveniently neglected to tell the full story about this song in interviews.

Hmmm... Interesting. If you really examine the summation of Stevie's life at this time, just the bits and pieces that we know of, for example FM surely was contacted at least a month before their one off reunion during Clinton's inauguration January 20th, 1993, which squarely one can assume Stevie & Lindsey were in communication late 1992 (the infamous phone call of Stevie cajoling Lindsey that they had to do this gig). So even though she clearly was knee-deep in her own health crisis, which was obvious to anyone watching their performance of "Don't Stop", with her jaw dropping appearance, all pasty & bloated, barely recognizable sans her trademark finery & tamborine - She felt some urgency to do this! Maybe it was more about reconnecting with Lindsey, than the President of the United States call of duty? Also note, during this timeframe, Stevie was practically finished with the Glyn Johns production of Street Angel. She wrote and recorded the bulk of this record in 1992, including Blue Denim, and Glyn & Stevie turned in the final mixed masters in early 1993. So it is totally plausible that Lindsey, after some talks & seeing for himself Stevie's imminent destruction at hand, intervened in some small or big way. Because soon after, the record company delayed SA, and Stevie entered rehab in 93', then came out...and we know the rest. Or do we?