Rock A Little - the song

[Spoinny]

Can anyone give me a breakdown on the meaning of this song?

[Thrown_Down]

I'd like to know too, although I wonder if it's about Jimmy Iovine. I am especially intrigued by the line 'pale pink satin worn out in a week', as I can only imagine she is referring to satin sheets being 'worn out'. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to know!

[louielouie2000]

One of my very fav songs! Here is a link of Stevie herself explaining the song and it's origins:

http://www.inherownwords.com/rockalit.htm

Stevie had an oceanfront condo in Santa Monica in the early '80s which apparently would rumble with the crashing surf. She apparently was frightened by the rumbling at first, but learned that she just had to loosen up and get used to it. So she then drew a parallel between that and life... that if you're rigid, you get shaken and hurt by life's vibrations. But if you're relaxed and just rock a little yourself when things get shaky, you'll be okay. At least part of the song is talking about her dealing with her lifelong best friend Robin's death from leukemia a few years before.

Just for reference, some of Stevie's most iconic photos were shot at her Santa Monica condo:

[markolas]

Originally Posted by Thrown_Down

I am especially intrigued by the line 'pale pink satin worn out in a week', as I can only imagine she is referring to satin sheets being 'worn out'. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to know!

She's talking about ballet slippers.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Thrown_Down

I'd like to know too, although I wonder if it's about Jimmy Iovine. I am especially intrigued by the line 'pale pink satin worn out in a week', as I can only imagine she is referring to satin sheets being 'worn out'. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to know!

Apparently "pale pink satin worn out in a week" is a reference to ballet shoes . The tips of the shoes are satin, and wear out very quickly:

[fringed n fab]

Fans will always read more into things than maybe what they actually are. Minds wander far on the fan boards.

[mikebise]

http://www.inherownwords.com/rockalit.htm

We kinda rock a little all our life we rock ~ I did ~ I rocked in my cradle for sure and ah, then in mid-life you sort of rock on your feet and then you move onwards to a rocking chair at some point, probably, so that's kind of what Rock a Little means. It means to rock and roll all your life.
~Stevie Nicks, MTV clip, 1985

[Rock A Little] was also written before Bella Donna came out...and I've had most of the song ~ in fact, I mean really the entire [singing ] Sometimes it rages that was about the ocean you know ~ that ~ like shook my house and scared me to death every night ~ 'cause I thought it was an earthquake. [Singing] Rock a little/ Even when it's calm the house still shook a little/ Just like the sea I rock a little/ Some say it was just like me ~ Rock a little. That mean's cool out. Relax. Okay. Just rock a little all the time and you won't die.
~Stevie Nicks, Jim Ladd Interview, 1986

I'm Lily. ...I've been Lily for a long time, actually because in my writing ~ in my book and everything ~ I, when I write about me and my friend Robin who everybody knows that I lost to leukemia I wrote about her and I as Lily and Julia ~ Julia and Lillian Hellman ~ so that movie [Julia] ~ you know with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave ~ so Robin looked incredibly like Vanessa Redgrave and I ~ I was very Jane Fonda you know. And our relationship was very much like this like you know ~ come on across the river but don't forget to tell me that you're really afraid so in case you fall in I'll be expecting it. Don't lie to me and say 'Alright ~ I'll do it because you think I'm brave.'
~Stevie Nicks, Mary Turner "Off the Record" Interview, 1986

The Other Side of the Mirror came from…well first it was going to be Mirror, Mirror, that was going to the name of Rock A Little. And then, because the song Mirror Mirror didn't end up going on the record because I didn't like the way it turned out, I changed it to Rock A Little because Rock A Little became the lead song.
~Stevie Nicks, Atlantic Records video interview, 1986

Rock a little means perseverance ~ Rock a little means rock a little all the time. If you rock out, you may not rock any more.
~Stevie Nicks, Mary Turner "Off the Record" Interview, 1986

[Spoinny]

I always thought maybe "hit it" meant hit the pipe, but I don't think Stevie did Crack

[fumidesigns]

Originally Posted by markolas

She's talking about ballet slippers.

lmaooooooooooooo thanks for this. i was like woooooooooooooooooooooooow

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Spoinny

I always thought maybe "hit it" meant hit the pipe, but I don't think Stevie did Crack

She's talking about hitting the dance floor to do ballet. Ballet was a stress reliever for her. If you have ever seen the Tusk Documentary, she talks about her love of ballet pretty extensively, and you even get to see her doing her lessons in her home studio. The song is about how she dealt with the giant blow of losing her best friend to cancer. She danced a lot, and she just learned to rock/stay loose/go with the flow/etc when things get shaky.

[Spoinny]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

She's talking about hitting the dance floor to do ballet. Ballet was a stress reliever for her. If you have ever seen the Tusk Documentary, she talks about her love of ballet pretty extensively, and you even get to see her doing her lessons in her home studio. The song is about how she dealt with the giant blow of losing her best friend to cancer. She danced a lot, and she just learned to rock/stay loose/go with the flow/etc when things get shaky.

interesting, thanks Louie!

[KarmaContestant]

In the end, really, sometimes it's better not to know what Stevie's lyrics are about....that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Some of her greatest lyrics, full of mystery and so many hidden innuendos turn out to be about mundane things like ballet dancing and shaking houses.

The truth can totally ruin the mystery of her songs, for me.

[mikebise]

"Lily, it's time
To hit the stage...
One more time...
She's waiting...
Hit it~ one more time..."

[fumidesigns]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

In the end, really, sometimes it's better not to know what Stevie's lyrics are about....that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Some of her greatest lyrics, full of mystery and so many hidden innuendos turn out to be about mundane things like ballet dancing and shaking houses.

The truth can totally ruin the mystery of her songs, for me.

yeah it is fun when you don't know what she's talkin about. i totally agree with you. i'm kinda disappointed to know that "pale pink satin worn out in a week" is about her ballet slippers.

[Thrown_Down]

Originally Posted by fumidesigns

yeah it is fun when you don't know what she's talkin about. i totally agree with you. i'm kinda disappointed to know that "pale pink satin worn out in a week" is about her ballet slippers.

Me too. I prefer my original 'sheets' theory!