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Old 06-10-2003, 08:35 AM
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ComeLyrics and Music by Lindsey Buckingham
Interpretation participated in by Les, Lori, Tim, GlitterFades, Gem and Joe.
Thanks to the contributions of all the Ledgies who particpated in BlueGrass’ “Come is about Anne Heche” thread on the Rumours board.


The reconfigured Fleetwood Mac frontline of Buckingham and Nicks made headlines in 2003 with Say You Will. The new studio CD met with mixed reactions – but reactions nonetheless, mostly due to the genre-bending Lindsey Buckingham tracks orginally slated for his shelved solo CD, Gift of Screws. A standout among these unique songs is Come. This loud, screaming punk track is Lindsey at his most vicious. As Tim says: “This is a very unMac song.” Yet, by seizing the sensation of bitter ferocity and taking it over the top, Lindsey achieves a kind of lampoon of post-relationship resentment. (ARTICLE)

Think of me, sweet darling…

Lindsey has admitted that he wrote this song about Anne Heche, his girlfriend around 1993 (ARTICLE).

…when everything's going bad.
Think of me, sweet darling, everytime you're feeling sad.
Think of me, sweet darling, everytime you don't come...

Lindsey ruminates that since Anne broke up with him, there will be certain repeated times that things will go bad for her, she will feel sad, and she won’t come. Given the context, and the hypno-suggestive ‘cubism’ of the music in the verse, it is difficult to interpret anything other than that Lindsey is making a direct reference to sex, and implies that Anne will probably not achieve the same level of sexual and emotional satisfaction in her new relationship as she did when she was with Lindsey. Beyond this, it could be read into the lyrics that Lindsey is referring specifically to the lesbian relationship Anne went on to pursue. Is Lindsey, or at least the exaggeratedly petulant character he is playing, insinuating that Anne will not get from her new lifestyle what she got from the heterosexual one with Lindsey?

Can you feel the fever?

Lindsey taunts the one that got away, by implying that she still might need what he can give her, sexually and emotionally. Is Lindsey playing the role of a narrow-minded heterosexual who believes only a man can truly ignite a woman’s fire? Either way, the outrageous and callous impudence of the lyrics conjure a sort of immaturity. After the break-up, his power in the relationship was displaced, and so the immature character he portrays is holding something over Anne to make himself feel powerful again.

'Cause nobody else is doing it.
Nobody else is doing it, no, no.

The music shifts from understated seduction into punk-rock overdrive. His voice shrieks like a child in a tantrum. These are the most cryptic words of the song. What is nobody else doing? On one level you might safely interpret that he is just screaming his head off – perhaps for the parody of a man that Lindsey plays, shouting angry nonsense eases the pain. But if we want to interpret meaning into these phrases, we must look to the next lines.

Thought that our harmony was the new harmony,
Lord, it was a little too strange...

Lindsey and Anne had a ‘strange harmony’, that nobody else had. They were doing things nobody else were doing. A mind enamoured with love and lust is veiled from the rigours of reason, and so every high seems like the highest high; the only high. Lindsey and Anne were together for barely a year – their relationship was clearly as passionate and intense as it was whirlwind and abrupt. But such extremes of passion, and perhaps a failure to gel on a more personal or spritual level with Anne, did not sit well with Lindsey. It was a little too strange.

And the band played on.

And so he has ratonalised himself out of fault, out of pain, and declares himself satisfied with the break-up. The band – a metaphor symbolizing his livelihood with more accuracy than anyone else’s – will play on. If she doesn’t want what he can give her, fine. She was too intense anyway – who needs her. Someone more suitable will no doubt come along to ‘play with his band’.

I said I was going to put God away…

Here the music and vocal return to the eerie ‘voices in the head’ that constitute each verse. Lori reminds us that at some point down the track after she broke up woth Lindsey, Anne claimed she was God, or something to that effect. Suggesting that he can ‘put her away’ signifies that they enjoyed a very objectified, passionate relationship. Were they mere companions of benefit?

... she's been here a while.
Living in the guest room ... I guess she goes in style.

Sarcastic Lindsey comments that their relationship was so superficial, she even stayed in the guest room. Maybe this is also a reference to the room in his mind that he reserves for people he doesn’t really and truly love – she is just another girlfriend. Nothing close to his heart. But maybe she is the one who conducts the relationship in this way, who sets up these emotional barriers. Is that the reason for his petulance?

I said I was going to put God away, but I just can't let her go...
Can you feel the fever?

Now he suggests in a final plea, that as little as he likes maintaining this strange relationship, or pehaps as little as he likes playing by her rules, he cannot turn away from her seductive charms. This yearnful phrase evokes the nature of the hypnotic, sensual verse music. It seems that when all’s said on the matter, Lindsey embraced his freedom from this relationship as much as he was compelled to want its continuance.

Now I lay me down to sleep in this enemy bed.

Is Lindsey merely reminiscing of what the relationship was like, or has he in fact found himself back with Anne? He knows that she is an ‘enemy’ to his esteem – but is that enough to stop the cycle of passion?

Tomorrow morning I will wake up hurting from the things we've said.

After the night of fierce love, Lindsey will be hurt emotionally from the shallow ‘somethings’ whispered and screamed. Perhaps this is a Shakesperean-class allusion to the fact that he may be physically hurting from the ‘adult conversation’ that has taken place.

One thing leads to another, but I guess you know about that...
Can you feel the fever?

Lindsey has participated in this ‘romance’, but he’s willing to share the blame for this vicious cycle (that’s right… cycle) of satiating the feverent desires of love.



If you guys have any suggestions let me know, otherwise I'll wait for Lauren to do her thing and get it posted. Thanks for all your input!
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Joe

Last edited by DownOnRodeo; 06-10-2003 at 08:16 PM..
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