Imaginary Lover

[Macfan4life]

I never knew this. I was aware of the version of the song that sounded like Stevie. However this video confirms it was sort of a radio obsession in 1978 and as a joke Stevie submitted the "demo" in a large stack of demos for the Tusk album. Christine was most impressed with the track thinking it was real. Now why would not Mick put this in his book. If true Stevie had one hell of a sense of humor. I wish someone would ask her about this today. It does sound like Stevie especially in the 1970s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPGuSdm1Wk

[BrownEyedGirl26]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I never knew this. I was aware of the version of the song that sounded like Stevie. However this video confirms it was sort of a radio obsession in 1978 and as a joke Stevie submitted the "demo" in a large stack of demos for the Tusk album. Christine was most impressed with the track thinking it was real. Now why would not Mick put this in his book. If true Stevie had one hell of a sense of humor. I wish someone would ask her about this today. It does sound like Stevie especially in the 1970s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPGuSdm1Wk

Wow, please release this!

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by BrownEyedGirl26

Wow, please release this!

She did not record it or at least that is not how I understood it. She submitted the sped up version that sounded like her in a bunch of her other demos.
Its a good prank. Stevie's demos are fairly raw so no wonder why Chris was so impressed like "this is a good song and its mostly finished."

This video explains a bit more how it happened by accident. I wonder why Atlanta Rhythm Section did not find it funny. They thought Stevie was stealing their thunder? I can understand how it happened though. In 1978 fans were ready for a new Fleetwood Mac song and this is on the radio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t34N_DoiU8E

[BLY]

I remember when this was a bit of a buzz back in the day. I never knew or heard that Stevie brought it to the MAC with her demos as a joke. I don’t really see that happening but…….who knows!

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by BLY

I never knew or heard that Stevie brought it to the MAC with her demos as a joke. I don’t really see that happening but…….who knows!

I doubt it, too. But I think that based in my percception of today's Stevie. The 1978 Stevie might have been more playful, and perhaps she did do it.

[Macfan4life]

I agree that it seems out of character. However the key detail was how the song blew up and it was brought to Stevie's attention. Many fans thought or hoped it was a new FM song. There was no internet back then so it did not go viral but word of mouth got out for Stevie to buy the album. I think its a fantastic joke. I can see it happening.
Stevie was always laughing back then so I can see it happening. Remember in MICK'S BOOK Stevie and someone else dropped acid and could not find the way to the airport to pick up Mick in Hawaii and Stevie could not stop laughing. All bands play jokes on each other. I love the story of Mick and Lindsey? getting Don Henley's roses before Stevie got them and they got to write a card that was very sexually driven and Stevie thought it was real. These were the fun years. Another key detail that does reveal there is truth is Christine's reaction. Stevie could write lyrics but her chords were the same and the demos were nothing great. This really impressed Christine because it was arranged so perfectly and so unlike a Stevie demo. Had the story not been true that detail would not have come out.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

All bands play jokes on each other. I love the story of Mick and Lindsey? getting Don Henley's roses before Stevie got them and they got to write a card that was very sexually driven and Stevie thought it was real. These were the fun years. Another key detail that does reveal there is truth is Christine's reaction. Stevie could write lyrics but her chords were the same and the demos were nothing great. This really impressed Christine because it was arranged so perfectly and so unlike a Stevie demo. Had the story not been true that detail would not have come out.

I think it was john and mick who gave stevie the flowers and wrote the suggestive note. kind of funny that they were messing with her mind lol. and i could believe that stevie brought in the song, too, her sense of humor was more active back then and folks seemed to be having more fun.

--Lis

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

I think it was john and mick who gave stevie the flowers and wrote the suggestive note. kind of funny that they were messing with her mind lol. and i could believe that stevie brought in the song, too, her sense of humor was more active back then and folks seemed to be having more fun.

--Lis

She was a lot more fun back then, before she cured cancer and performed that self service lobotomy.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by BLY

I remember when this was a bit of a buzz back in the day. I never knew or heard that Stevie brought it to the MAC with her demos as a joke. I don’t really see that happening but…….who knows!

Agree. I recall it from back in the day and was really surprised how it DID sound like her. Rolling Stone actually asked her about it at the time, there was a piece about it in their gossip page "Random Notes". She said she had heard about it and then tried it herself to see and was like yep it does sound like me.

Have never heard then or since that she faked out the band with it. Color me skeptical.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

I think it was john and mick who gave stevie the flowers and wrote the suggestive note. kind of funny that they were messing with her mind lol.
--Lis

Yes, it was M&J. He wrote it happen in 1976.

It all boiled down to Lindsey's sorrow that Stevie had left him, while Stevie feared that her music would lose its appeal without Lindsey's guiding hand. In addition, Lindsey felt jealous, since new men were being drawn to the now-single Stevie like honeybees to a gorgeous, pollenladen blossom. And the fact that Stevie was being courted by the Eagles' Don Henley didn't really help matters. He had called earlier, asking to meet her. They talked on the phone a few times, but hadn't met when Fleetwood Mac played our first show with Henley's band. So we get to our dressing room in Greensboro and are told the Eagles are in the next dressing room. Stevie, who is quite shy, wasn't at all the type to go over and introduce herself. So when she enters the dressing room she sees a huge bouquet of roses and a card, which read: ''The best of my love . . . Tonight? Love, Don."

Stevie was furious. She thought it was the least cool approach anyone had ever made in the history of romance. They hadn't even met! She was really pissed off, flushed with anger. She didn't notice me and McVie, collapsed in the corner with hysterical laughter. Finally, Christine had to take Stevie aside. Don didn't send that note, Chris said. Mick and John did. It was a while before Stevie felt like talking to either of us again.

By the way, I've already said I got the txt file so it's easy to look for any episode, but since I know you are dying to see the condition of the actual book (purchased in 1992), here is a photo of this legacy to the mankind. I don't know whether to bequeath it to the Smithsonian or the British Museum Library in my will.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Agree. I recall it from back in the day and was really surprised how it DID sound like her. Rolling Stone actually asked her about it at the time, there was a piece about it in their gossip page "Random Notes". She said she had heard about it and then tried it herself to see and was like yep it does sound like me.

Have never heard then or since that she faked out the band with it. Color me skeptical.

Its weird because I had the same initial reaction that you still have and others had. Then I started to think that we are so used to the guardedness of the band and cat fights that your brain could never picture Stevie doing such a thing. But looking back to those zany videos that her and Christine would make while they were high and drunk made me remember the funny Stevie. I think up until Wild Heart is when she started to go into this cocoon and management knew she could not promote albums or do interviews. Look at all that David Letterman fiasco. Her management was terrified that he would egg her to come on the show. They could not stand eachother during Mirage and then when Lindsey left klonopin controlled her for many years and there were no jokes. Then you got angry Street Angel Stevie. A year later Christine warned Bekka not to do any Stevie songs. Then the insane Stevie firing Lindsey. Its hard to remember the fun party girl that did have a sense of humor. Remember drugs were not a recognized problem yet and it was all fun and games especially at the peak of her career without having separate management.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Its weird because I had the same initial reaction that you still have and others had. Then I started to think that we are so used to the guardedness of the band and cat fights that your brain could never picture Stevie doing such a thing. But looking back to those zany videos that her and Christine would make while they were high and drunk made me remember the funny Stevie. I think up until Wild Heart is when she started to go into this cocoon and management knew she could not promote albums or do interviews. Look at all that David Letterman fiasco. Her management was terrified that he would egg her to come on the show. They could not stand eachother during Mirage and then when Lindsey left klonopin controlled her for many years and there were no jokes. Then you got angry Street Angel Stevie. A year later Christine warned Bekka not to do any Stevie songs. Then the insane Stevie firing Lindsey. Its hard to remember the fun party girl that did have a sense of humor. Remember drugs were not a recognized problem yet and it was all fun and games especially at the peak of her career without having separate management.

Agree they were younger and more fun then. So I don't disagree it sounds like something that *could* have happened (her faking out the band). I just don't think it did...

[WalkAThinLine.]

Ken Calait mentioned the incident in his Get Tusked book. Here's the quote from a Rolling Stone article:

It began when an FM station accidentally played the Atlanta Rhythm Section album cut “Imaginary Lover” at the wrong speed – 45. Favorable calls began to light up the switchboard, so the disc jockey let it play. Speeded up, the song sounded unmistakably like Fleetwood Mac, with Stevie Nicks warbling lead vocals.

News quickly reached Nicks in Los Angeles. She rushed out to buy the record and played it at the wrong speed. “I got chills,” says Stevie. “It sounds exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it. I even played it for Christine [McVie], mixed in with some other demos for the new album. She complimented me on it.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...nicked-198353/

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

Ken Calait mentioned the incident in his Get Tusked book. Here's the quote from a Rolling Stone article:

It began when an FM station accidentally played the Atlanta Rhythm Section album cut “Imaginary Lover” at the wrong speed – 45. Favorable calls began to light up the switchboard, so the disc jockey let it play. Speeded up, the song sounded unmistakably like Fleetwood Mac, with Stevie Nicks warbling lead vocals.

News quickly reached Nicks in Los Angeles. She rushed out to buy the record and played it at the wrong speed. “I got chills,” says Stevie. “It sounds exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it. I even played it for Christine [McVie], mixed in with some other demos for the new album. She complimented me on it.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...nicked-198353/

thank you for posting this! I love when we can track things down to stuff at the actual time. Color me

And I love how she was so busy working on that Rhiannon project...... Oy. If she didn't want to be asked about it over and over for years and years she shouldn't have ever mentioned it til she actually finished it.