Scotsman.com (Interview)

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Though, of course, Stevie never exaggerates!

Michele

nor lindsey - lol
(i flash to the tear he wipes away in the Destiny Rules Doc)

[danax6]

Butting in to say that I think there's a difference between liking someone's lyrics and them being good lyrics. The former is solely a question of taste. Tom Petty may not like Stevie's lyrics, and this is a big if in my opinion, but that doesn't make them any better or worse.

And to provide some more quotes on the matter:

Bam Magazine, 1981: (about Lindsey) I'm surprised the two of you haven't collaborated on songs since you've been in Fleetwood Mac. You love to write words and he's a nut for melodies. “I'm surprised, too. I always wanted to. It's strange. You would think he would ask me, but I think he really doesn't like my lyrics very much. They're too spacey for him. We think differently, I guess.”

You and Petty obviously have a good rapport. Can you see yourself writing with him? “I think we will write together eventually. You see, Tom and I aren't going out. Tom and I aren't in love with each other, or haven't been in love and out of love. We're really just good friends so we probably could write together. Lindsey and I have so much behind us that it would be difficult to sit down and intensely get into lyrics. As it is he asks me, "Who's that one about? What are you talking about in that line? What does that mean?"

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yeah, but it didn't make it to Destiny Rules. It was in the promo for Destiny Rules though. Lindsey was standing up against a wall and Stevie was really agitated and she was saying, "I knew you would hate it! I knew you would hate it because I wrote it." But it was only an excerpt and we don't know what song she was talking about and I guess that whole exchange was left on the cutting room floor. Michele

well that made me salivate a bit










ok wait - nope - it was dinner - the slow cooker chicken is ready.

but it def. intrigues me this promo you speak of - i haven't seen it - will have to do some youtube searching after dinner

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by danax6

Butting in to say that I think there's a difference between liking someone's lyrics and them being good lyrics. The former is solely a question of taste. Tom Petty may not like Stevie's lyrics, and this is a big if in my opinion, but that doesn't make them any better or worse.

And to provide some more quotes on the matter:

Bam Magazine, 1981: I'm surprised the two of you haven't collaborated on songs since you've been in Fleetwood Mac. You love to write words and he's a nut for melodies. “I'm surprised, too. I always wanted to. It's strange. You would think he would ask me, but I think he really doesn't like my lyrics very much. They're too spacey for him. We think differently, I guess.”

You and Petty obviously have a good rapport. Can you see yourself writing with him? “I think we will write together eventually. You see, Tom and I aren't going out. Tom and I aren't in love with each other, or haven't been in love and out of love. We're really just good friends so we probably could write together. Lindsey and I have so much behind us that it would be difficult to sit down and intensely get into lyrics. As it is he asks me, "Who's that one about? What are you talking about in that line? What does that mean?"

is that first quote about tom or bucky?

[michelej1]

As far as the testosterone goes, I know it really surprised me when Chris said that she wrote the music for Mystified and Lindsey wrote the lyrics, because there's something pretty feminine about those lyrics, "pretty" being the operative word. Michele

[danax6]

Originally Posted by buckymcnix

is that first quote about tom or bucky?

I just edited... they were talking about Lindsey.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by michelej1

As far as the testosterone goes, I know it really surprised me when Chris said that she wrote the music for Mystified and Lindsey wrote the lyrics, because there's something pretty feminine about those lyrics, "pretty" being the operative word. Michele

Don't get me started on Lindsey's feminine side, please.

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by danax6

I just edited... they were talking about Lindsey.

thanks - and great info as always vanessa - no kidding -



When and if that damn clique gets around to making a "Vanessa Rocks?" Poll, I know where my vote falls.

[michelej1]

Stevie also said,

If I would try to write words for Lindsey they were too poetic. He would go "ugh! makes me sick" and then I would try to write something that wasn't so poetic and that wasn't good because that wasn't me and that wasn't inspired and so that's the difference: Lindsey would never say "I see the crystal visions" and I would never say "Shacking up is all you want to do."

Of course, today Lindsey would write with her and wants to record with her and, apparently, even wants to do a BN tour with her.

As far as lyrics go, sometimes you could have great songs and a bad lyrics or great lyrics and a bad song. However, in Stevie's case, I don't think a lot of people ever bother to look past the lyrics. If they feel alienated from those, then they don't go further, which is a shame, because you don't have to like a word in EO17 to know it's an incredible song.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by danax6

Don't get me started on Lindsey's feminine side, please.

Well, that is fertile territory. When he was ruminating about how Chris made Stevie more feminine than she would be when left to her own devices, I was thinking, "How so? You're more feminine than Christine." Well when he's left to his own devices he is.

However, when he sets himself up in opposition to Christine, you really do get a nice passive v. aggressive passion play vocally. Michele

[danax6]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Lindsey made Stevie mad when he didn't pick up TISL too. There was some point when he praised TISL and then she found out he hadn't even listened to it.

Wait, I apologize for going back a page but I missed some stuff. Where did you get this from? Stevie has talked about sitting down with Mick and Lindsey and listening to TISL and she mentioned him calling her from the car to compliment her on her work. To my recollection she never talked about him not picking up TISL like he did Bella Donna.

edit to include quotes with which to better illustrate:

Sonicnet, 2001: “Lindsey and Mick were here two weeks ago. I went back through the song vaults and I pulled 17 songs from a hundred years ago all the way up to now. We listened to Shangri-La, and we listened to the 17 demos, and Lindsey was knocked out. He really hadn't heard all these songs; I guess I just never really played them for him. He had no idea that I was going to present him with 17 songs; he thought maybe we were gonna work on a song. So he called me the next day and said, "I'm driving up the coast and I'm taking notes and I'm very happy with all these songs." So that's about the nicest thing he ever said to me, really. "I'm very happy with all this music" was like, "Oh my God, I can't believe he said that!"

I also love the promo where Stevie's saying, "I knew you would hate it because I wrote it." And Lindsey says, "It's not because you wrote it. I just don't like the song." I wonder what song they were talking about.

I don't think he said that last sentence, but it's been a while since I've watched All Access. I do believe the song in question was Say You Will.

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by michelej1

because you don't have to like a word in EO17 to know it's an incredible song.

Michele

i hope you don't think i am just being contrary here but i strongly disagree with that part.

"eye of the tiger" has the same basic guitar riff and chords yet it's a throw away -

eo17's words ARE that song to me.
and i am not talking "white winged dove" "ooh baby" parts here -
i am talkin the verses
death, growth, loss, lonliness, yearning
words that hint at images that are pretty foreign to the writer up to this point. Like this death really "shook" her.
a growing point in a life as well as songcraft

and just a personal experience with the song - (that i may be repeating ) - but this IS a very important song to me because it was released within days of my 18th birthday (yep - the other edge of 17) as well as days before the loss of my uncle bob and next door neighbor (who was more like a grandma )

i started to perform this song myself during the time when stevie was in the "uncool" phase. the first couple times i played it, i could barely sing out the first line - "just like the white- winged . . ."

people would be giggling and snickering and it just didn't go over.
the next time i played it i started right in with the first verse and didn't sing the "just like the . . . ohh, baby, ooh, said ooh" part and instead did a little ad lib vocal part there instead.

it was like night and day. people were riveted. and granted maybe they were thinking " is this that "white winged dove" song?" - but they listened to the verses and i really felt like it reached them in a different way.
then by the final time through i do sing that part and there wasn't any snickering.
people always come up and talk about it and i think the lyrics really do hit a chord in a understated (for stevie!?!) way.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by buckymcnix

i hope you don't think i am just being contrary here but i strongly disagree with that part.

"eye of the tiger" has the same basic guitar riff and chords yet it's a throw away -

eo17's words ARE that song to me.
and i am not talking "white winged dove" "ooh baby" parts here -
i am talkin the verses
death, growth, loss, lonliness, yearning
words that hint at images that are pretty foreign to the writer up to this point. Like this death really "shook" her.
a growing point in a life as well as songcraft

and just a personal experience with the song - (that i may be repeating ) - but this IS a very important song to me because it was released within days of my 18th birthday (yep - the other edge of 17) as well as days before the loss of my uncle bob and next door neighbor (who was more like a grandma )

i started to perform this song myself during the time when stevie was in the "uncool" phase. the first couple times i played it, i could barely sing out the first line - "just like the white- winged . . ."

people would be giggling and snickering and it just didn't go over.
the next time i played it i started right in with the first verse and didn't sing the "just like the . . . ohh, baby, ooh, said ooh" part and instead did a little ad lib vocal part there instead.

it was like night and day. people were riveted. and granted maybe they were thinking " is this that "white winged dove" song?" - but they listened to the verses and i really felt like it reached them in a different way.
then by the final time through i do sing that part and there wasn't any snickering.
people always come up and talk about it and i think the lyrics really do hit a chord in a understated (for stevie!?!) way.

I don't think you're contrary at all. I think it IS a power song, in terms of the sound, but it's more than just that. And it's in the lyrics, I agree. There's something sort of spiritual about Edge of Seventeen. I don't care how weird that sounds to anyone else. (Isn't that weird???) Whatever it is, I think that song grabbed on to people when the Bella Donna album came out and it remains the benediction for many Stevie Nicks fans.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by buckymcnix

i hope you don't think i am just being contrary here but i strongly disagree with that part.

Don't get me wrong. I myself love the lyrics to EO17. I don't discount them at all. I'm just saying that if you do discount them you can still enjoy the song. After all, people do enjoy Eye of The Tiger and Bring on the Night as well. I think the instrumental has its very own excitement and power, especially as it has evolved over the years during Stevie's performance. The drum intro with the dueling percussionists is very exciting for me now all by itself.

For me, the lyrics are very meaningful and it's not about her uncle dying or John Lennon or anything else that she has described about their origin. It's the unspoken and barely understood pain of the person on the edge of 17 who seemed somehow broken-hearted that gets to me.

Vanessa, when I say Lindsey didn't pick up TISL, I don't literally mean that he left it laying against a step. But there was something where Stevie had it delivered to him or thought he received it when he hadn't. He didn't listen to it and Stevie thought he had. She sent it to him or something, then found out he never received the package and she was hurt. I will find the interview. But what's funny is, she found out he hadn't heard it AFTER he had already told her how much he loved it.

As far as the Destiny Rules promo, I don't know what Lindsey said. Something like, "It's not because you wrote it. It's the song." If they were talking about Say You Will, I'm surprised. It's like Christine was inhabiting Stevie's body for that song. Whether he liked it or not, FM definitely wanted that song on the album, because it's closest to the sound expected of them. Stevie's rarely written such linear lyrics in her life. She must have had some kind of fever. Michele

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by michelej1

It's like Christine was inhabiting Stevie's body for that song. Whether he liked it or not, FM definitely wanted that song on the album, because it's closest to the sound expected of them. Stevie's rarely written such linear lyrics in her life. She must have had some kind of fever. Michele

i haven't heard it put quite this way - but i find myself in agreement (except about the fever. i reckon it was heat-stroke.)
It was the pop gem that chris would have delivered, or at least it's from the same mineshaft.