Sound Off Interview

[danax6]

Originally Posted by michelej1

A non-rote thing that Lindsey said was that his lyrics were not romantic because he doesn't think his approach to life is particularly romantic. Actually though, I would disagree with him. I think some of his lyrics are romantic, have the idealism of romance.

Yes. Certainly not in the way that Stevie works, by romanticizing the romanticism, like Lindsey once pointed out. And not even Stevie writes songs like Because You Loved Me, which is the other side of the romance coin, the fluffy side. I think Lindsey views his songs as more realistic and down to earth, whereas Stevie's songs, though taken from real life also, always have to have that extra dramatic pitch and are often layered with nice things to make them more hopeful and ~magickal~. A good example is Planets of the Universe, which she changed the words to because the original song was too harsh. That's something I think Lindsey would never do.

Even the way he interprets a song like Peacekeeper (which is not the way I hear the song) is romantic, in the sense that if you work together and persevere through adversity, you will prevail in life and in love.

Absolutely. "Don't be afraid, love is the sweet surprise." and "All of our friends are God, and they all tell us how to paint our face. But there's only one brush we need, it's the one that never leaves a trace."

It also reminds me of his cover of Love Minus Zero/No Limit. I adore the speech he gave right before he performed it has AHI 2001, because I 100% agree. It's a song where the romance isn't laid on thickly, but if you look at the words, it's one of the most romantic songs ever.

Originally Posted by michelej1

For the line, "she's a lot like you" I thought it could go either way. I thought it could be about Cheri and Carol or about Stevie and Carol.

Seeing how he probably worked on GI mostly throughout 1983, it's too early for it to have anything to do with Cheri. She didn't come into the picture until late 1984, after the release of the album.