17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe

[SisterNightroad]

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe

1 This video is the studio performance of Rhiannon from the famous Rosebud documentary. This track plus Go your own way, You make loving fun and Say you love me should have been recorded live at Santa Barbara along with World Turning and I'm so Afraid, but the proximity of the venue with an airport made it impossible to use the footage as the show had been continuously disturbed by the planes flying. This makes the performance particularly powerful, precise and clear, counterbalancing the absence of the audience that in my opinion makes Stevie performances more fiery.

2 Part of the Rhiannon performed originally at Santa Barbara is visible on the Disney Channel documentary "Going Home" exactly here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDqkaUCk_oM#t=228. I always hope some more footage from this comes out.

3 It's 1976, by now Stevie is famous and Rhiannon is a staple song. She grew more confident in singing it and performing it, in this moment Rhiannon is a force of nature.

4 Stevie wears this beautiful Rhiannon dress with a deep V-neck, laces and beads on the cleavage. It's a beautiful dress, captured just this one time on video.

5 Her hair is so blonde it reflects light and seems golden.

6 The performance starts particularly slow, but Stevie's vocals are sharp and bright. 1976 is the best year for her voice.

7 Lindsey wears a blue silk kimono, matched with his eyes. Maybe it's a gift from Stevie or maybe he's just a dressy guy, anyway we ladies appreciate it.

8 Christine-Lindsey-Stevie harmonies on the chorus are soft and high, perfectly like the album ones.

9 "Once in a million years a lady like her rises Rhiannon you cry but she's gone" is biting, in anticipation of the approaching ending part of the song.

10 Stevie's lip biting at 2:11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjx-NL4GlmE#t=131)

11 Above all the other's, Christine's harmonies are clear, but sweet, her voice emerges distinct from Lindsey's and Stevie's in the chorus.

12 After chanting like a siren "Taken by the sky" Stevie's roaring "No" prepares the viewer for the fiery end.

13 We have a close-up of John playing his bass. If you hadn't already noticed, you do now: he is effortlessly cool.

14 Stevie does her butterfly-flight dance. She glides and twirls rapidly, closes one wing on herself and then, with her head low down and her arms moving sinuously, starts to walk like a spider, her black veils hanging up from her arms. It's like a methamorphosis and Stevie from lightweight and balletic is becoming misterious and mighty.

15 Quickly the song itself morphes and Stevie starts screaming "dreams unwind love's a state of mind" while her arms twitch under the silks.

16 Mick, filled with tension and excitement, has a mad and fanatic espression, ready to lash back.

17 Stevie tosses her heir and finally explodes while Mick observes pleased: she screams to be taken to the sky extending her arms, her feet stomps and her arms frenetically open and close her black bat wings. Then she grabs at the microphone nearly destroying it and with a spurt of dark fabrics she unleashes in shouts and arms fluttering, culminating in a rasping yell of release with outstretched arms. After that, Stevie turns vehemently preparing for the grand ending: her hand gently brings her veil on the microphone while she does her last voice-shattering cry. John's bass close the effort.