Dave Stewart Memoir

[Missy]

Originally Posted by wheart

I love this video and this song! Yes, back in the day Annie Lennox was quite shocking

I have been away for a bit, caught up in some other matter, but anyhow...

What Annie did was extremely confrontational for its time! But it wasn't just a mere 'shock gimmick' like some of them do nowadays. They had the goods to back it up and there was usually a genuine artistic purpose behind it.

But yes, Annie could be very confusing. They once recorded with Aretha Franklin and apparently Aretha didn't know what to make of Annie. She thought 'Sisters Are Doin It For Themselves' could have some other kind of meaning lol. So Dave had to explain to her that Annie was not gay and it was just a feminist song.

Anyway, once they were singing together, it was all going okay because Aretha could hear that Annie had the pipes.

I don't know if that sort of song would come out today. I am totally with Stevie when she says "We fought very hard for feminism, for women's rights. What I'm seeing today is a very opposite thing. I don't know why, but I see women being put back in their place. And I hate it. We're losing all we worked so hard for, and it really bums me out."

Sadly I think that some born after the feminist era and are now in a post-feminist environment, they take some of the equalities for granted and don't realize, how hard it had to be fought for and how easily it could all be taken away again.

But now the feminist cause seems to be gaining new momentum. There has been the issue with Kesha and Taylor Swift's stand against Kanye. Part of me suspects, this is just another fad but I hope sooner or later they wake up.

I find the way that Stevie and Annie assert their own female identities very interesting, though quite different to each other.

Vanessa Carton once said 'Stevie understands how much power there is in the feminine, and she's not afraid of it.' There is also this observation by Mike Campbell 'Stevie is strong-willed, and at the same time she's vulnerable and fragile. And that's a really great combination.'

And then you had someone like Annie who came along and broke all the rules, stereotypes and definitions! But each to their own - however they chose to define themselves, both remarkable women.

Annie in drag during the 'Who's That Girl' video.



Infamous Grammys performance 1984. Copied later by Gaga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzpZJ05BfHI

There are some more observations in the book about how being former partners had an effect on how they created their music. I might get back to that later. But yeh Dave and Annie are often described as the UK equivalent to Lindsey and Stevie with their personal arrangement. I'm rediscovering the Eurythmics while reading this book. I was very young when their hits were in the charts... a lot of the songs have a different sort of meaning to me now.