Tonight on Austin City Limits on PBS

[vermicious knid]

Last minute update!!

Tonight on "Austin City Limits", the band Calexico will be performing their 2003 song "Not Even Stevie Nicks". It is a song about someone killing themself by driving off of a cliff.

PBS website

Lyrics:
"With a head like a vulture
and heart full of hornets
he drives off the cliff
and into the blue
not even the priestess
with her wrenches and
secret powers
could save (steer) him
from danger for a little while
not even she could save him"


The following are quotes from the bandmembers:

"Lyrically, it was influenced by growing up in Southern California. Near where my folks lived there are these huge cliffs, and every now and then you’d follow the siren on your skateboard down to the cliffs and there’d be a car down there."

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“Well the title is a joke ’cause it sounds like Fleetwood Mac,” says Burns laughing. “At the same time I went out on a few dates with this girl who was a poet at U of A. And she was so infatuated with Stevie Nicks. And I was like ‘Oh my god...’ y’know? I’d forgotten about her, about how important a figure she is. Maybe she’s coming back. Y’know she lives in Scottsdale.”

There’s a story that Phoenix resident Glenn Campbell has a driveway in front of his house that plays “Rhinestone Cowboy” when you pull through the gates. Wonder what happens when someone pulls into Stevie’s driveway?

“The doves fly down,” says Convertino.

“And the gates close behind you,” says Burns.

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"Maybe the protagonist was just listening to Stevie Nicks in the car. It's also about that whole myth personality she's got going."

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Can Stevie Nicks take credit for Calexico's ever-shifting dynamic? Not likely, but a song named after the Fleetwood Mac siren featured on the band's 2003 release, "Feast of Wire," did signal the direction Joey Burns, John Convertino and co. took on their newest outing, "Garden Ruin." The only thing Calexico and Nicks share is the state of Arizona as a home base and there's question as to whether the latter is even aware of the song.

"Maybe we'll go up there and serenade her one night," says singer/guitarist Burns. "It would be fun."

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