Like or dislike Bella Donna

[ontheEdgeof17]

I love how it has a climax in the middle of the song. A lot of Stevie's songs do not have it. When I listen to this, even today, I get chills. It's freakin' amazing.

[Rickypt]

I think it is perfect from start to finish, always have. I never even paid much attention to the lyrics. It's the intensity and her delivery that make it epic.

[HejiraNYC]

Definitely one of my all time favorite songs by anybody. The sweetly hoarse vocals, the moaning guitars, Roy Bittan's piano, the percussion and especially the way it builds and builds to a climax and just stops for a second right before "And the woman disappears..." That being said, what has always annoyed me is the line "You are in love with... and I'm ready to sail... It's just a feeling." WTF???? Triple non-sequitors. Sounds like someone smoking a doobie who lost her train of thought mid-sentence.

[amber]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

And thank you Amber so much for spelling these lines out EXACTLY the way they sound. You know I've noticed you have a real talent fuh this.

thanks sweetie. It is Stevie, just add some "H's" and a few extra vowels, and you're good to go!

[David]

Originally Posted by skcin

Bella Donna

I have always really really loved "Bella Donna." Stevie once said that "Rhiannon" is the one song she always plays when she sits down at her piano. "Bella Donna" is the one song I always play at my piano -- I can't walk by a keyboard without playing the opening. It's like being on autopilot; I'm not even totally aware I'm doing it. Just out comes "Bella Donna."

It's a perfect, ironic, sophisticated image, a great melody, a great vocal & great lyrics about being so enervated by your profession & wondering whether you will ever pep up again & feel & see with fresh eyes -- but also it's about pulling yourself together & making that decision to snap to, & knowing you have to do so in order to possibly save your life.

It's a strong ballad that opens & sets the tone not just for the whole album but for Stevie's solo career in general (& the reasons she went solo). It's one of Stevie's all-time best songs.

[David]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

That being said, what has always annoyed me is the line "You are in love with... and I'm ready to sail... It's just a feeling." WTF???? Triple non-sequitors.

I've always imagined that the "ready to sail" image had something to do with Stevie heading down to South America after the Tusk tour to try to make sense of her career & her emotional life. I like to believe she took a ship down to Chile or Argentina (I forgot which country she stayed in). She went down to stay with some nuns in a convent somewhere, or visited them.

But also of course sailing forth figuratively into the horizon of a new life & a new way of being & doing. Stevie wanted to change. Being a Fleetwood Mac superstar for five years had left her unable to find her center.

[lagringader&r]

Originally Posted by CreepingDeath

WTH kind of question is this? Of course I adore Bella Donna. It's exquisite.

I agree, wth kind of question is this? I'll make this easy. There are very, very, very few songs of Stevie's I don't like. They're Stevie so.. I don't like L&L. Other than that, it's all good. I LOVE Street Angel. The whole thing.

[equeen102289]

Bella Donna is actually the song that made me adore Stevie. It wasn't Edge of Seventeen, or Rhiannon...it was Bella Donna. I had just gotten TVBOFM, and Stevie's songs happened to be my favorite. So one day, I'm in Art class, and my teacher brings in his cds. I skim thru them, and see Stevie Nicks Bella Donna, and get all excited (and to be honest...at this time, I didn't even know she had a solo career ) and was eager to listen to it. So he tells me it's his wife's and she won't care if I take it. So it goes home with me!

I get home...I put the cd in, and of course Bella Donna is the opening song. From the moment the words Bella Donna came out of Stevie's mouth, she had me hooked. I just loved the way she sang it...don't know why, just did and still do. And that was my favorite song on the album for the longest time (I didn't get to hear Leather and Lace and Outside the Rain till months later, because they always skipped so I never bothered with them). And it would still be my favorite if I had never heard LAL...

So to sum up my rambling...yes I LOVE Bella Donna. I think it's one of Stevie's "musical masterpieces," and why she doesn't do it in concert today, baffles me.

[catinthedark]

I do love it - though I love the lyrics more than the music. They are definitely some of my favourite Stevie lyrics (But the woman is so tired... oohhhh.... So the woman disappears...). Heartbreaking.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by CreepingDeath

WTH kind of question is this? Of course I adore Bella Donna. It's exquisite.

Kimberly, I love your avatar, and when I read your comment, I couldn't help but read it in Stewy's voice!

I love, love, love Bella Donna! The song and the album!!!

[StevieNicksEO17]

I used to not like this song very much, but the more I listened to it the more I fell in love with it.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

That being said, what has always annoyed me is the line "You are in love with... and I'm ready to sail... It's just a feeling." WTF???? Triple non-sequitors. Sounds like someone smoking a doobie who lost her train of thought mid-sentence.

lol I also used to be annoyed and perplexed by that line too! Then one day it all made sense to me. So many puzzles in Stevie's lyrics! Her odd phrasing also confuses things.

COME IN OUT OF THE DARKNESS YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH, AND I"M READY TO SAIL

[Ghosty]

It's always been one of my favorites of her songs. I love the lyrics, the music, everything about it. And I went crazy over the live version. I didn't hear that live version until like 6 or 7 years ago when I heard the full HBO concert on tape cassette. I was so bummed they left out a few songs on the concert video. What an absolutely horrible thing to do to us die-hard fans!! I mean, can you just imagine being able to *see* her sing that along with hearing it? I think we'd all faint afterwards!

I forget...did she do Blue Lamp too on that show too (the radio show version that had Bella Donna, Angel, and what else....How Still My Love???) I love the Blue Lamp live versions too.

[LiquidBlue5000]

Originally Posted by dudden22

Makes up for face becomes thin.

that line has never bothered me.. it's obviously symbolic... it fits perfectly in "Bella Donna", imo

[darklinensuit]

Love it. Love the vocal, the guitar, and the lyrics that many posters make fun of.

- Jake