Am I The Only One Who Loves "The Highwayman"?

[stevierocks87]

I'm usually not that crazy about it, but could someone post one of the really good demo/master versions? Her voice is amazing in some of those and much smoother than the album version.

[Haunted_Song]

In high school, I had to write a paper about imagery being used in a song. I chose "The Highwayman" and when my Dad asked what I was doing he told me about a poem by Alfred Noyes by the same name. So, I ended up writing a paper about both the song and the poem.

Another note: Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" video is based on The Highwayman poem.

I have always loved this song. Here is the poem:

The Highwayman

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle--
His rapier hilt a-twinkle--
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened--his face was white and peaked--
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter--
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching--
Marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."

She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.

Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.

Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight--
Her musket shattered the moonlight--
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.

He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Alfred Noyes

[GoldDustOrphan]

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Complete take, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmiyqnoizjn

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Demo)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dazyn4zzgxt

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (False start and Discussion, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?iyzyymwoomw

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Take #7)
http://www.mediafire.com/?e0ntno0coym

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Take #8)
http://www.mediafire.com/?3cymtjtn3cg

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Talking - Complete Take, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?y3inamn0wwz

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by Sahara

Doesn't do it for me, sorry! It's the only BD track I skip.

Well technically you need not skip it, you can just turn the album off after Outside the Rain

[SortaSavageLike]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Well technically you need not skip it, you can just turn the album off after Outside the Rain

What, haven't you heard the hidden track?

[dnightshade]

I'm so glad someone brought attention to this song. It's one of my favorites and is often overlooked. It's a very raw, emotional song ~ the vocals and the lyrics. The image I always get is of a couple standing facing each other on a platform at an old train station w the early morning mist rising around them; they're silhouetted against the waking dawn and the train is idling in its berth and you just know the couple is hanging on as long as possible even though it's time for them to part ways. It's beautiful and painful at the same time and that's how it's always been for me.

[sodascouts]

"The Highwayman" is one of my top three Stevie solo songs. Lovely imagery, powerful vocals (with great backing by Don Henley), and a beautiful melody.

[EveryHour]

LOVE IT.

Stunning lyrics and I love the melody. A melody doesn't neccesarily have to be range-y to be great!

Love the feel of it closing Bella Donna.

[EnchantedKiwi]

Stevie should consider including it in future sets, it would be a great set closer

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by GoldDustOrphan

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Complete take, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmiyqnoizjn

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Demo)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dazyn4zzgxt

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (False start and Discussion, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?iyzyymwoomw

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Take #7)
http://www.mediafire.com/?e0ntno0coym

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Take #8)
http://www.mediafire.com/?3cymtjtn3cg

Stevie Nicks - The Highwayman (Talking - Complete Take, March 3, 1980)
http://www.mediafire.com/?y3inamn0wwz

Where do these dates come from? According to tour info, she was in Australia with the Mac for the Tusk tour in March of 1980.

[GoldDustOrphan]

The dates were on the Master Reels, which doesn't mean they are correct. They could have been mislabeled by whoever filed/stored them or they could have recorded while on tour.

[Sahara]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Well technically you need not skip it, you can just turn the album off after Outside the Rain

I knew some smart alec would bring that up

I must say I love the Noyes poem, I remember reading it when I was 10 years old and being totally awestruck. The Highwayman and The Raven were two poems in an anthology at school that made me want to write just like that

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Sahara

I knew some smart alec would bring that up

I must say I love the Noyes poem, I remember reading it when I was 10 years old and being totally awestruck. The Highwayman and The Raven were two poems in an anthology at school that made me want to write just like that

Oh yeah, I was way into The Raven. Annabel Lee, Dream within a Dream. Our Macsters like him too!

I just bought 100 Edgar Allan Poe stamps at the post office and they rock. The picture is a classic one, but then they scrawl his name across the stamp in gold. It is simply beautiful.

Michele

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Oh yeah, I was way into The Raven. Annabel Lee, Dream within a Dream. Our Macsters like him too!

I just bought 100 Edgar Allan Poe stamps at the post office and they rock. The picture is a classic one, but then they scrawl his name across the stamp in gold. It is simply beautiful.

Michele

Annabel lee!!! Is a great poem, and one of my FAVORITE demos of Stevies!
I love how she made the last bit the chourus, and they way she sings the lines.

[galestreet]

: yay for The Highwayman!!!!