You Can't Fix This - Full Song

[Jondalar]

appreciating the refreshing honesty on this site.

[On Ice]

No shrug about it, "Italian Summer" is exquisite!! I find it not only to be one of the many great treasures on IYD, but also such an interesting & unique rarity in Stevie's entire catalog.

Well said, it's a beautiful song and fits in perfectly with a great album.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

For instance, we have a picture of Stevie's original 'Italian Summer' lyrics (which I can't find at the moment - maybe someone has them on hand).. and they're different from what ended up on the record. They're better than what ended up on the record, to me. Some of the things about the studio version that made me cringe didn't exist in it's first incarnation. I have to wonder why she felt the need to change it/add those things in.

I have no idea about which you speak.

I would love to see the original lyrics. Where was this?

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by sparky

I have no idea about which you speak.

I would love to see the original lyrics. Where was this?

Not sure if this is what WildHearted was talking about, but there is a 2 part promo for In Your Dreams on youtube. In part 2 she talks about writing Italian Summer and they show the hotel stationary she wrote the poem on. Some of the words are slightly different. Here are 2 screen caps:

[sparky]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I think Italian Summer is flawless. Completely flawless.

I cannot, though I would love to, call it flawless.

I remember very clearly listening to it for the very first time on the Rolling Stone stream on whatever day it was that they first streamed the entire album. I sat here right on this porch, likely chain smoking my Joni Mitchell American Spirit mediums and drinking tequila.

I saw it up there, and needed to set up my first ritual Stevie listening party. As always. I lit candles and got myself ready. Of course the damned album cover and lyric sheet were not available, but I could not wait and had to get my props in place. Good lord, is anyone left here on the ledge who remembers this time honored first Stevie album listen? Livia?
Marisa nightbird? Salvatore? Anyone? I don't think so. No matter.

So I did.

This song is stunning. No doubt. The only major club in the head I got was the "Ooh it's so romantic, hey it's so soulful" line.

WHAT THE HELL? It was like someone soiled a diaper in church. What a stinking and leaden thump that was in the middle of a gorgeous song. And it had to be repeated more than once! The lyrics to this song were actually fairly poetic. The music is gorgeous. TY Dave Stewart. Those heavenly strings. And a waltz no less! But good god almighty, those eight words so pulled me out of the movie. What a lazy and WTF moment! It took me quite some time to recover and get pulled back into the song. That eight word clunk in the middle of an epic beauty of a song made it a forever missed opportunity at flawless greatness. If Joni read those 8 words she would likely smack Stevie on the head with a guitar and toss her into a ditch on the back 40 of her Bel Air estate.

Don't get me wrong. At the first snippet of this gem on the "sizzle reel", I damn near wept. I may have. I know I texted amd emailed about 25 people the minute I saw that you tube clip. And to tell the truth, on my first full listen to Italian Summer, I was a wreck. But I was still recovering from You May Be The One. That song left me in such a state. I sobbed and damn near howled from the emotional pain it left me in. And that is no joke. I can't listen to that song to this day without crying. I just can't.

It is true that Italian Summer smacked me upside the head - that last note! What is it? 16 counts? Revelatory. But it was probably the impact of the previous song that had me a sobbing inconsolable disaster. I still hear the "romantic...soulful" throwaway line and I shake my head in regret that it pulls the song back from the perfection it had promised.
I still love the song. I do. But it has a fatal and ugly flaw in those eight words.

It was damn near the song I could present to any Stevie naysayer and proclaim, "She is a genius! A living legend! A national treasure!" Then those words drop out and I know that even a casual disinterested party can tell me that some of the words were stupid and pedestrian. And I have no argument. I have to agree.

The real masterpiece of IYD is You May Be The One. There isn't a bad phrase. No wasted words. Utter and searing perfection. To my ears. I just did a self flaggelating test with it.

Dumbass me. Yup. Makes me bawl like a jackass to this very day. And I don't even love that guy anymore. But this song makes me remember that once, I did. There are no bad words or lyrically mangled phrases. No musical missteps. That song utterly tears my guts out. Yard by agonizing yard, that song rips my very insides out, from my core and out of my paralyzed mouth. And leaves the tortured steaming remnants in a heap in front of me. All I can do is kind of tremble and twitch in the wake of that song. Crying in stunned disbelief these years later over "what I had and what I lost".

It leaves me destroyed.

So that, for me, is the masterpiece of IYD. Not Italian Summer.

[TheWILDheart]

Originally Posted by sparky

The real masterpiece of IYD is You May Be The One. There isn't a bad phrase. No wasted words. Utter and searing perfection. To my ears. I just did a self flaggelating test with it.

Dumbass me. Yup. Makes me bawl like a jackass to this very day. And I don't even love that guy anymore. But this song makes me remember that once, I did. There are no bad words or lyrically mangled phrases. No musical missteps. That song utterly tears my guts out. Yard by agonizing yard, that song rips my very insides out, from my core and out of my paralyzed mouth. And leaves the tortured steaming remnants in a heap in front of me. All I can do is kind of tremble and twitch in the wake of that song. Crying in stunned disbelief these years later over "what I had and what I lost".

It leaves me destroyed.

So that, for me, is the masterpiece of IYD. Not Italian Summer.

"You May Be The One" gets me EVERY time. And like you, it's not because I feel something for the particular person I associate with it, but it's the memories of what I did feel, the pain I went through and all the regrets I still have about it. In particular, this:

I hear the islands calling
I hear angry words
Fly across the ocean
Like some, sea birds
Never stopping
I feel my blood racing
Can't believe what you are saying
I used to love you, SOO much

God, I'm welling up just READING it! This might call for a new thread - "songs that make you cry". That'll be a long discussion

[blinker12]

^ My favorite verse on the whole album.

Angry words / sea birds is such an awesome rhyme and an awesome (and non cliche) image! And yes sparky, when you realize she is capable of this, it makes you doubly frustrated about a line like the one you mention from Italian Summer.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by sparky

I remember very clearly listening to it for the very first time on the Rolling Stone stream on whatever day it was that they first streamed the entire album. I sat here right on this porch, likely chain smoking my Joni Mitchell American Spirit mediums and drinking tequila.

This song is stunning. No doubt. The only major club in the head I got was the "Ooh it's so romantic, hey it's so soulful" line.

WHAT THE HELL? If Joni read those 8 words she would likely smack Stevie on the head with a guitar and toss her into a ditch on the back 40 of her Bel Air estate.

From the very first paragraph you set up a visual demonstration I can relate to. Your entire column was such a fun read and so well written. I only quoted part of it but really, the whole thing was a delightful read. Have you ever, or anyone else here, ever typed out such a long article , then hit post only to have the page tell you it can't post for whatever reason and then the whole thing is lost forever? That has happened to me way too many times here so every time I write something long I'll copy it to paste if need be.

[DashingDan]

Originally Posted by sparky

I cannot, though I would love to, call it flawless.

I remember very clearly listening to it for the very first time on the Rolling Stone stream on whatever day it was that they first streamed the entire album. I sat here right on this porch, likely chain smoking my Joni Mitchell American Spirit mediums and drinking tequila.

I saw it up there, and needed to set up my first ritual Stevie listening party. As always. I lit candles and got myself ready. Of course the damned album cover and lyric sheet were not available, but I could not wait and had to get my props in place. Good lord, is anyone left here on the ledge who remembers this time honored first Stevie album listen? Livia?
Marisa nightbird? Salvatore? Anyone? I don't think so. No matter.

So I did.

This song is stunning. No doubt. The only major club in the head I got was the "Ooh it's so romantic, hey it's so soulful" line.

WHAT THE HELL? It was like someone soiled a diaper in church. What a stinking and leaden thump that was in the middle of a gorgeous song. And it had to be repeated more than once! The lyrics to this song were actually fairly poetic. The music is gorgeous. TY Dave Stewart. Those heavenly strings. And a waltz no less! But good god almighty, those eight words so pulled me out of the movie. What a lazy and WTF moment! It took me quite some time to recover and get pulled back into the song. That eight word clunk in the middle of an epic beauty of a song made it a forever missed opportunity at flawless greatness. If Joni read those 8 words she would likely smack Stevie on the head with a guitar and toss her into a ditch on the back 40 of her Bel Air estate.

Don't get me wrong. At the first snippet of this gem on the "sizzle reel", I damn near wept. I may have. I know I texted amd emailed about 25 people the minute I saw that you tube clip. And to tell the truth, on my first full listen to Italian Summer, I was a wreck. But I was still recovering from You May Be The One. That song left me in such a state. I sobbed and damn near howled from the emotional pain it left me in. And that is no joke. I can't listen to that song to this day without crying. I just can't.

It is true that Italian Summer smacked me upside the head - that last note! What is it? 16 counts? Revelatory. But it was probably the impact of the previous song that had me a sobbing inconsolable disaster. I still hear the "romantic...soulful" throwaway line and I shake my head in regret that it pulls the song back from the perfection it had promised.
I still love the song. I do. But it has a fatal and ugly flaw in those eight words.

It was damn near the song I could present to any Stevie naysayer and proclaim, "She is a genius! A living legend! A national treasure!" Then those words drop out and I know that even a casual disinterested party can tell me that some of the words were stupid and pedestrian. And I have no argument. I have to agree.

The real masterpiece of IYD is You May Be The One. There isn't a bad phrase. No wasted words. Utter and searing perfection. To my ears. I just did a self flaggelating test with it.

Dumbass me. Yup. Makes me bawl like a jackass to this very day. And I don't even love that guy anymore. But this song makes me remember that once, I did. There are no bad words or lyrically mangled phrases. No musical missteps. That song utterly tears my guts out. Yard by agonizing yard, that song rips my very insides out, from my core and out of my paralyzed mouth. And leaves the tortured steaming remnants in a heap in front of me. All I can do is kind of tremble and twitch in the wake of that song. Crying in stunned disbelief these years later over "what I had and what I lost".

It leaves me destroyed.

So that, for me, is the masterpiece of IYD. Not Italian Summer.

I agree with EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING above. Thank you.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Weren't they talking about something like "la la la" rather than actually lyrics. I think what they were talking about was more melody than words.

Michele

I just don't believe that the Destiny Rules "Thrown Down" scene is the first time that Lindsey ever made any suggestion to Stevie about changing her lyrics since 1969.

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by sparky

I cannot, though I would love to, call it flawless.


This song is stunning. No doubt. The only major club in the head I got was the "Ooh it's so romantic, hey it's so soulful" line. WHAT THE HELL? I still love the song. I do. But it has a fatal and ugly flaw in those eight words.

Ok, well, what the hell is so awful about those words??????!!!!!!! Really, what is it? Why are they SO objectionable? Why can't something be romantic? Why can't something be soulful? They are real , valid English language words. In fact, even a chimpanzee can be soulful. So, whazzamattababy? Why are those eight words so terrible? Specifically, why?

[diane_k]

I would have LOVED to have a set up like that, Sparky. Unfortunately I was at work when I found out that RS was streaming the album and my impatience wouldn't let me wait until I got home to give it a proper listen.

YMBTO is as bluesy Stevie gets. It's a great track to listen to when you're having one of those "well you never f*cking loved me anyway!" kind of moods. The girls sound great, it's not terribly overproduced and there's no airy fairy BS to dilute what she's trying to say.

Maybe it was just due to the way the songs were sequenced, but by the time I got to it on the first listen I was already worn down from getting emotionally attached to FWIW and Moonlight. Talk about a sobbing wreck! I had to listen to YMBTO a few times on its own to really get it.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by paleshadow

Not sure if this is what WildHearted was talking about, but there is a 2 part promo for In Your Dreams on youtube. In part 2 she talks about writing Italian Summer and they show the hotel stationary she wrote the poem on. Some of the words are slightly different. Here are 2 screen caps:

I like reading how "the thunder rolls" now that I've heard that other version of GYOW saying, "you can roll like thunder."

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

I just don't believe that the Destiny Rules "Thrown Down" scene is the first time that Lindsey ever made any suggestion to Stevie about changing her lyrics since 1969.

He may have made suggestions, but I don't think she listened to him. That's one of the things about Thrown Down. He knew good and well she wasn't going to take his suggestion. She just put her demos by the coffee pot and told him not to change anything. I don't think there's anything in their history which would suggest he went around carving, editing and tailoring her lyrics. If anything, maybe he said it was too long and they couldn't use the song because of the length, giving her the choice of cutting the song or putting it away, but I don't think he was changing words around.

He may have suggested it, if he felt like getting into an argument with her, but I don't think he won those arguments. What he COULD do is decide which songs of hers he wanted to use and which ones he didn't. I don't think he could change the lyrics.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by seekerj

Ok, well, what the hell is so awful about those words??????!!!!!!! Really, what is it? Why are they SO objectionable? Why can't something be romantic? Why can't something be soulful? They are real , valid English language words. In fact, even a chimpanzee can be soulful. So, whazzamattababy? Why are those eight words so terrible? Specifically, why?

I don't mind those words. They're simplistic, but not shameful. Not like the Cheaper Than Free lyrics.

So sew soulfully, people.

Michele