'Running through the garden' review in Belgian newspaper

[suzyvermoesen]

Found this in 'De Standaard' (Belgian newspaper) of jan.11th , literary section - LaLaLaLiterature, written by Johanna Spaey

quote
Band : Fleetwood Mac
Inspired by : 'Rappaccini's daughter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

'Rappaccini's Daughter' is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's (author of The scarlet letter) most famous short stories.
The tendency of this story is that nature not only stands for innocence and the divine, but also hides darkness and danger.
The story starts as a fairy tale. Giovanni is studying in medieval Padua. From his window he watches docter Rappaccini
studiously nursing his exceptional plants in the garden . The boy notices that Rappaccini anxiously avoids to touch the plants or
to inhale their scents. Fortunately his beautiful daughter Beatrice takes care of the plants lovingly and without fear.
Giovanni becomes spellbound by this unspoilt scenery but also has his doubts. The flowers that he throws Beatrice wither in her hands.
His professor warns him about Rappaccini's experiments, of which his daughter seems to be the most successful one.
Beatrice, embodying the garden of Eden, is herself the serpent in her own paradise. Whoever comes too close to her will die of the
deadly poison she exhales. The more intense her feelings for Giovanni become, the bigger the danger.
A suitable subject for Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks. She frequently uses her distinct fascination for fairy tales and myths in her
song lyrics, in which the adventures of witches ('Rhiannon', 'Sisters of the moon') and magicians ('Sorcerer') blend with that
what intrigues people endlessly : the love that never lasts but leaves its traces for eternity.
Any fan knows that Lindsey Buckingham was the brain behind the unique Fleetwood Mac sound, but Stevie Nicks has single handedly
marked the image of Fleetwood Mac more than any other member of this British-American band.
Underneath her whirly dresses hides a woman who sees a song or poem in every experience. Not seldom will one of her lovers
find himself in a song years later, sometimes loving, sometimes mercyless, in beautiful but raisorsharp words.
What Nicks does with 'Rappaccini's daughter' in 'Running through the garden' is almost self-evidently autobiographical.
The woman in the song is trapped in her self-spun web of fame,commitment and addictions - in the eighties Nicks first beat a cocaine
addiction and then tranquilizers. She chases her lover from her paradise because she knows that he will find only disaster. She wants him
to lead a normal life at a safe distance of the deadly flowers that blossom there and the poison they are spreading.
Nicks' vision regarding the combination of a woman rock star and a longterm relationship is a pessimistic one.
Wether her affairs were with a musician, a top producer, the husband of her recently deceased friend or the mailman, the end was
perdictable. None of them could live with her tumultuous and unpredictable life on the road.
In 'Running through the garden' the music speeds in a fast and nervous pace. Disaster approaches and Nicks cannot conjure her lover
fast enough to leave her garden. Buckingham (the major,abused,wounded love of long-time ago) chasing her with the guitar and backing
vocals, renders the song a legendary ambiguity. One that they will probably fight out in their music for the rest of their lives.
unquote

I have tried to translate this into english as well as i could, so any hilarious mistakes are purely unintentional.

I quite liked this review and assume that the author is a Stevie Nicks/FM fan.
For those of you that can read dutch, here is the original article :
Running through the garden
Fleetwood Macs Stevie Nicks (rechts) jaagt haar lief de tuin uit voor zijn eigen bestwil.

Groep: Fleetwood Macgeïnspireerd op: 'Rappaccini's Daughter' van Nathaniel Hawthorne

'Rappaccini's daughter' is een van de bekendste kortverhalen van Nathaniel Hawthorne (auteur van The scarlet letter). De strekking van het verhaal is dat de natuur niet alleen voor onschuld en het goddelijke staat, maar dat er ook duisternis en gevaar in schuilgaan. Het verhaalt begint als een sprookje. Giovanni studeert in het middeleeuwse Padua. Vanuit zijn kamer kijkt hij uit op de tuin waarin dokter Rappaccini vlijtig zijn uitzonderlijke planten verzorgt. Het valt de jongen op dat Rappaccini angstig vermijdt om ze aan te raken of hun geur in te ademen. Gelukkig is er zijn beeldschone dochter, Beatrice, die de planten zonder vrees liefdevol verzorgt.

Giovanni raakt in de ban van dit ogenschijnlijke toonbeeld van ongereptheid, al heeft hij ook zijn twijfels. De bloemen die hij Beatrice toewerpt, verwelken in haar handen. Zijn professor waarschuwt hem voor de experimenten van Rappaccini, waarvan de dochter, zo blijkt, het meest geslaagde voorbeeld is.

Beatrice, die de tuin van Eden belichaamt, is zelf de slang in haar paradijs. Iedereen die haar benadert, zal sterven omdat het gif dat ze uitademt dodelijk is. Hoe intenser haar gevoelens voor Giovanni, hoe groter het gevaar.

Een geknipt onderwerp voor Stevie Nicks van Fleetwood Mac. Ze gebruikt haar uitgesproken fascinatie voor sprookjes en mythen geregeld in haar songteksten, waarin de belevenissen van heksen ('Rhiannon', 'Sisters of the moon') en tovenaars ('Sorcerer') versmelten met dat wat mensen eindeloos bezighoudt: de liefde die nooit blijft duren, maar wel eeuwig zijn sporen nalaat.

Elke fan weet dat Lindsey Buckingham het brein achter de unieke Fleetwood Mac-sound was, maar Stevie Nicks heeft in haar eentje een veel groter stempel op het imago van Fleetwood Mac gedrukt dan alle andere leden van deze Brits-Amerikaanse band.

Onder haar warrige jurken schuilt een vrouw die elke ervaring in haar leven als een nummer of gedicht ziet. Niet zelden komt een van haar minnaars zichzelf jaren later weer tegen, soms liefdevol, soms meedogenloos, in prachtige, maar messcherpe woorden.

Wat Nicks in 'Running through the garden' met 'Rappaccini's daughter' doet, is bijna vanzelfsprekend autobiografisch. De vrouwelijke ik-figuur zit gevangen in haar zelfgeweven web van roem, verplichtingen en verslavingen - Nicks kickte in de jaren tachtig eerst af van cocaïne, daarna van kalmeringsmiddelen. Ze jaagt haar lief uit haar paradijs omdat ze weet dat hij er alleen onheil zal vinden. Ze wil dat hij een normaal leven kan leiden, op een veilige afstand van de dodelijke bloemen die er bloeien en het gif dat zijzelf verspreidt.

Nicks heeft een pessimistische visie op de combinatie vrouwelijke rockster/langdurige relatie. Of ze nu iets had met een muzikant, een topproducer, de man van haar net overleden vriendin of de postbode, het einde was voorspelbaar. Geen van haar mannen kon leven met Nicks onrustige en onvoorspelbare on the road-bestaan.

In Running through the garden raast de muziek in een snel, nerveus tempo. Het onheil nadert en Nicks kan haar lief niet snel genoeg bezweren om haar tuin te verlaten. Dat Buckingham (de grote, verguisde, gekwetste liefde van lang geleden) haar intussen met gitaar en tweede stem achtervolgt, geeft het nummer een legendarische dubbelzinnigheid. Eén die ze waarschijnlijk samen nog levenslang zullen uitvechten in hun muziek.

JOHANNA SPAEY

here is a scan of the article:

[Phoenix]

WOW, That was a great read. thank you for sharing that!

[AliceLover]

That is so cool! What a great song to review. This is my #1 Fleetwood Mac song to see live.

[Betsy]

Suzy, Suzy, Suzy ---

What a pleasant person you are, to give of your time, translating the article so that we could read it and typing all of the text.

[suzyvermoesen]

Originally Posted by Betsy

Suzy, Suzy, Suzy ---

What a pleasant person you are, to give of your time, translating the article so that we could read it and typing all of the text.

The dutch text i've copied/pasted from the newspapers' website and
the translation was a great excercise for my english !
I'm just happy that i've found this article to share as that rarely happens here in Belgium.

[wildheart048]

Most excellent article/review! Thank you so much for translating and sharing it for us!

[cymrufem]

Wow, this is a lot to contemplate....bless you for sharing & translating!

[steviefan59]

hi Suzy...thanks for posting the story and translating it for us...i have a demo of this song but it is terribly scratchy or a lot of noise in the background so it really is bad...do u have a clean demo of it and could u post it here? thanks much...pat

[suzyvermoesen]

I'm sorry to say that i don't have a demo of this song, only the version which is on Say You Will ...

[shackin'up]

niet slecht, die vertaling!!!

(not bad that translation.)

Thanks!

[Serrart]

Thanks a lot for the translation, it's a really interesting article.

Romy

[suzyvermoesen]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

niet slecht, die vertaling!!!

(not bad that translation.)

Thanks!

merci! heb er wel mijn woordenboek voor moeten bovenhalen nu en dan

(merci! had to dig up my dictionary a few times though )

[suzyvermoesen]

Originally Posted by steviefan59

hi Suzy...thanks for posting the story and translating it for us...i have a demo of this song but it is terribly scratchy or a lot of noise in the background so it really is bad...do u have a clean demo of it and could u post it here? thanks much...pat

The other day i was looking for something and saw to my surprise that i did have a demo of this song. It's a bit "foggy" at first but gets better after about 35 seconds.
So here goes :

http://download.yousendit.com/7DA4F2B301B2E702

the link is valid for 7 days (or 100 downloads).
enjoy !
Suzy

[skcin]

Thanks for doing this for us, Suzy! Kinds of random to find a review for a 4/5 year old song that was never a hit, so I guess the author is quite a fan.

[JazmenFlowers]

^^^
true!

as with Smile At You, I thought RTTG kinda got the glossy workover by Lindsey that I don't like. I like it a lot (more than the SYW version of Smile At You), but I wish they had stayed closer to the demo. the way Stevie recorded the demo with the dual vocals a split second out of time with each other is amazing and really adds to the mood of the song. I also like the deep, heavy synthesizers they used on the demo. the SYW version just seems kind of one dimensional.