Let's talk about... RHIANNON - Page 2

daniellaaarisen · #16 09-03-2009, 08:08 PM

I'll post my full length response when I'm procrastinating at 2AM.... I hate essays.

FMlex · #17 09-05-2009, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

I'll post my full length response when I'm procrastinating at 2AM.... I hate essays.

Girl, are you still procrastinating that crazy essay?!

Come on, I'm on needles & pins over here! I can't wait, I can't wait...

gypsy4life · #18 09-05-2009, 11:16 AM

AHH Rhiannon...I'm so glad we are talking about her!!

To me, this song conveys a vast spectrum of images and meanings.

I know Stevie has been quoted saying she loved the name when she read it in "Triad" (evident in the begining of the "Birds Rising" demo). In that particular demo, she asks Lindsey the question with such emotion, the first time I heard it I cried. I feel she loved the name, and the thought of her and Lindsey having a child by that name, that she wanted the song's character to be a one-in-all type person. Like no one has ever lived, or will ever live to match her beauty and power(once in a million years).

Then, in Stevie style, she adds all the mystical qualities she loves to Rhiannon...using the birds in flight, cats in the dark, and such things to acheive that aspect. Each mystical quality has hidden meaning as well, I believe.

I could go on and on, but, I don't want to bore anyone.

To sum it up, I think Stevie created Rhiannon as a sort of alter ego. If she couldn't have her own Rhiannon, then she would become Rhiannon in a sense.

daniellaaarisen · #19 09-05-2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

Okay, shoot me. I understand. You are all thinking, "this song has been explained in interviews a thousand and one times and yet Dani STILL posts a thread about it simply because she wants to thrust her obsession against the helpless board."

However, how much do we REALLY know? The name was inspired from The Triad, the character sprouting from a series of myths that claimed she was "the maker of birds, and the goddess of steeds; she's the protector of horses. Her music is like a pain pill. When you wake up and hear her birds singing her little song, the danger will have passed" (Nicks 1996, inherownwords.com).

That is essentially all we know as concrete fact. Granted, this explanation is much more detailed and specific than any other self-professed origin of a Nicks work, therefore losing much of the puzzling appeal that drives avid fans to explicate any further meaning. For many, Rhiannon was written about a Welsh witch. It is as simple as that, and the song merely captures Stevie's dramatiziced and partially fabricated "story" of a gothic legend. Beautiful, no doubt, but simple.

For me, "Rhiannon" is one of Stevie's most complex and intiguing works because of a single staple aspect of any piece:

To some degree, a writer is within each and every one of his or her works, despite how hard one tries to cover it. I believe "Rhiannon" is as autobiographical as it is fictional because in illustrating the characteristics she finds most alluring, Stevie illustrates herself.

I will write a line-by-line analysis of the song tomorrow, but for now, write your own responses and consider the following quote, especially given the time period in which "Rhiannon" was written and recorded:

"So it is ~ it's just about, it's just about a very mystical woman that finds it very, very hard to be tied down in any kind of way ~ and she's uplifting all through the song. That's ~ that's what I wanted to get and that's what the band got really well was that uplifting of wings kind of a feel, you know ~ when you feel like you see a seagull and she's, she's like lifting up. Well, that's, that's Rhiannon. Rhiannon ~ yeah ~ she's moving up."

Okay, Alexa, here I go. Some of the connections I draw to Stevie herself may be stretching it a little, but I honestly believe that this song conveys a lot of internal aspects of her that have otherwise gone unaddressed.

_________________________________

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
Who will be her lover?

This woman resonates. She is felt by everyone within a moderate distance in some way; she is inescapable, unavoidable. She will haunt you in the best (and maybe the worst) of ways. I feel like "Rhiannon" is a subtle, early indicator of Stevie's own ability to haunt-- think "Kind of Woman" and "Silver Springs", specifically.

She has a certain way of reaching every man-- every one-- effortlessly. You can't help but to be fascinated, to want to love her. Who wouldn't??

Yet she is unreachable. She's the woman who can whisper the boldest nothings into your ear, bathing your neck in hot air-- and yet she is miles away, softly laughing to herself. She has taken "the sky like a bird in flight" and she doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon. Yet she is there-- she is ALWAYS there-- and the song essentially asks,

"Who will be her lover?"
"Who can capture her; who will be as mesmerizing to her as she is to us?"
"Who can accept the distance, except the nomadic life she leads?"
"Who can really love her back?"

_________________________________

Thoughts on that first verse before I continue? I kinda like taking it in little chunks at a time.... What parallels do you see between the Rhiannon described in these opening lines and the author herself? Any contradictions? Does this reveal anything about Stevie Nicks herself?

Ghost_Tracker · #20 09-05-2009, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

Okay, shoot me.
However, how much do we REALLY know? I believe "Rhiannon" is as autobiographical as it is fictional because in illustrating the characteristics she finds most alluring, Stevie illustrates herself"

WHOO-hooo! That's a very interesting observation!

As Mick said in his book, ". . . .SOUNDS about right!"

P.S. - An open invitation to do a line-by-line of one of Stevie's songs!?
You REALIZE I'm going to have to go NUTS with this!!!!

Ghost_Tracker · #21 09-05-2009, 07:33 PM

Okay folks, here I go! Here's my little line-by-line analysis of "Rhiannon."
Please keep in mind that opinions of the Ghost_Tracker do not necessarily reflect those of The Ledge, SevenWondersOnline, Nicksfix uhhh, Rockalittle.com, Fleetwood Mac, Reprise Records or Warner Brothers, Inc. Then again 'ya never know!

Overall, I feel that this song is about ELUSIVENESS. Let's just say this flat-out -

Stevie has ALWAYS been beautiful. Try and tell me with a straight face that some poor schlep who didn't have a chance with her wanted to date her starting in Junior High School and lasting all the way through High School and College and well into her
twenties and beyond. Lindsey said it himself, she just "blew into town." But was that beautiful, rich, popular girl really Stephanie Nicks?

"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
and wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight
and who will be her lover?"

Rhiannon is like a bird soaring up in the air - one with "mystical powers" that us lowly admirers can't even comprehend. Isn't she? She's MAGICAL, right?
Mysterious. Hey, wouldn't YOU have wanted to date Her if she was in your
high school class? But - - - who is going to LOVE her? I mean, TRULY love
her? Somebody she chooses, right? But whether people realize it or not,
she's just as human, and as heartbroken, as they are.

"All your life you've never seen
a woman taken by the sky."

Again - Everything she touches turns to gold, right? But if you listen, VERY hard...

"Well would you stay if she promised to you heaven?
Would you even try?"

Well WAIT a minute here - - - what's on the inside? IS she as beautiful on the inside as on the outside? C'mon folks, she's a ROCK star!!! She said it herself, "We're ROCK stars, we're NOT NICE!" But . . . that's just an "act," isn't it. Is heaven on earth possible between a rock st- uhm - - - A lonely woman and a man? Lightning struck once already - MAYBE it can strike again? But she's not talking about "heaven on earth" in terms of glamor and the fast lane and the money, is she.... She's talking about, real, true love. The kind she read about as a child in fairy tales. What if she thought that was a real possibility? Would the guy she's interested in throw THAT hat into the ring? Oh, and by the way her lawyers want a pre-nup and she's probably never, never never gonna want to get married 'cause there's too much money at stake - can her knight in shining armor get through that thorny garden and cut through all the b.s.? Or would he not be able to deal with the road... Is he TRULY willing to make the effort? Is she worth it? After all, it's to BE, isn't it? (Heaven...)

"And he says, 'Rhiannon, Don't go.'
And he says, 'Rhiannon, stay.'
And he says, 'I still cry out for you.
Don't leave me, don't leave me.'

Sorry but that has Lindsey written ALL over it!

The standard "GET OUT I HATE YOU! come here I LOVE you Stevie/Lindsey angst.

"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night.
And wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight.
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen
a woman taken by the sky.
Well would you stay if she promised to you heaven?
Would you even try?"

Pretty much the same as above. "She rules her life like a bird in flight." Stevie was ALWAYS going places - guys SENSED that. Only guys who were going places too had a chance with her; that's just reality. And you've NEVER seen anyone else LIKE her . . . right? "Taken by the sky." Please. She wants to sit home and eat pizza and chill. She's saying, "Jesus Christ, get real."

"She is like a cat in the dark,
then baby, she is your darkness."

VERY plain, i.m.o., but also one of her most-intriguing and insightful lines.
The darkness isn't within her - it's PROJECTED ON TO HER by the guys who
think they're in love with her because they "thought they saw something
in her eyes." They did - their own reflection, in the spotlights...
Not to be grim, but that kind of "love" can destroy people -
and she knows that. But it's NOT HER FAULT - it's the GUYS' fault.
All she does is "be herself" and hope people like her.
She happens to be one of those people who's exceptionally good at that.

"She rules her life like a fine skylark -
and when the sky is starless?"

I've always taken that as a question.
She's soaring through the sky like a meteor - going FAST like a jet plane - - -
What does she do when there's no one to help her find her bearings?
She feels just as lost as anyone else, sometimes. She's human, she
gets lonely too.

"Once in a million years a lady like her rises."

Pure rock star ego, and nothing wrong with that. She's ambitious.
Get with the program. Like she did. She WANTS to have huge success,
she WANTS to be a big rock star. With millions of cheering fans.
But if you listen - - - VERY hard...
Well . . . You have to read in-between her lines.

"Oh no, Rhiannon, you cry, but she's gone
Your life knows no answer, Your life knows no answer."

The guy's lost her now. Maybe he never had a chance. And he's nothing without
her. And that of course is the problem.

"Dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind
Your dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind"

Was it ever real in the first place?
She's had disappointments too.

"Take me like the wind, child
Take me with the sky
Take me now"

100 percent pure, unrefined sex.

"And he still cries out for her,
'Don't leave me now.'"

And yet . . . even after all that . . . he still LOVES her. Anyone projecting on to her that she doesn't appreciate that and understand it and feel flattered and loved by all the attention and - frankly - desire - must think she has a heart of stone.
She's human.

So here's the kicker - -- - i.m.o., in between the lines, this is Stevie's most "feminist" song, and maybe one of the most "feminist" songs ever written.
She's saying ALL WOMEN have this power. She's learned some "tricks."
And they have a RIGHT to USE that power. They have the RIGHT to be elusive
and mysterious and desireable and they have the right to take off and fly, fly away all the way to the FBI, if necessary, because their life is their own business and the direction they take is their own choice.

That or something like it.
Or something completely different.

vivfox · #22 09-05-2009, 07:52 PM

Hey GhostTracker, that was a lot of reading to take in, Very, very interesting. You had me all the way until you said she could fly away all the way to the FBI. Then I was like, "huh??"

Ghost_Tracker · #23 09-05-2009, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivfox

Hey GhostTracker, that was a lot of reading to take in, Very, very interesting. You had me all the way until you said she could fly away all the way to the FBI. Then I was like, "huh??"

I was makin' a reference to Dr. Lector's comment in "Silence of the Lambs" - the main character, Clarice Starling, left home to join the FBI - Lector was messing with her head and told her that what she had done is "fly, fly away all the way to the FBI"
or something like that. It just kinda "came out" while I was typing.

daniellaaarisen · #24 09-06-2009, 12:56 AM

Completely agreed. I never thought of it in a feminist context though, probably because I think of EVERYTHING in a feminist context and therefore, its hard for me to decipher it all

"She is like a cat in the dark,
then baby, she is your darkness."

^^ I think this really defines what I love so much about Rhiannon. I kinda have this characteristic, to a lesser extent of course. But I do, and "Rhiannon" reminds me of everything I love and loathe about myself. When I first realized that Stevie was really describing herself in the song, I went from loving her music to falling, completely mesmerized, into the story, the lyrics, the persona... its when she started being a whole lot more than a singer to me.

I think that "take me like the wind, baby, take me with the sky" is more about leaving her roots, her apprehension, her intensity behind. It's about leaving the earthly boundaries she feels, about leaving a place where her intensity is not properly interpreted nor appreciated-- its about finding the place where she can be Rhiannon and have it help and not hinder her. To me, the Stevie Nicks she became with fame and experience is about the closest anyone could get to finding that place... although I don't think it has ever really been enough.

Ghost_Tracker · #25 09-06-2009, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

I think that "take me like the wind, baby, take me with the sky" is more about leaving her roots, her apprehension, her intensity behind. It's about leaving the earthly boundaries she feels, about leaving a place where her intensity is not properly interpreted nor appreciated-- its about finding the place where she can be Rhiannon and have it help and not hinder her. To me, the Stevie Nicks she became with fame and experience is about the closest anyone could get to finding that place... although I don't think it has ever really been enough.

Well, what about this - - - There's long-lasting earthquakes and shorter ones and sometimes the one helps with the other - and vice-versa - - - you see what I mean?
It was like a drug for her - and each helped her to deal with the other - the uhm, err,
"little earthquakes" helped her deal with the fame and upheaval and so on - and it worked the other way too - the upheaval helped her put deep relationships and so on into perspective - but only to a certain extent, in both directions.
I hope that makes sense - it's REALLY late and I'm being kind of allusive !

LukeA · #26 09-06-2009, 02:02 AM

studio Rhiannon > 98% of all live Rhiannons (from any era) I've ever heard (even the '75-'76 live Rhiannon's are hit & miss to me)

I love it.

brysondt · #27 09-06-2009, 02:08 AM

Live Rhiannon's are the only way to listen to Rhiannon.

daniellaaarisen · #28 09-06-2009, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

Well, what about this - - - There's long-lasting earthquakes and shorter ones and sometimes the one helps with the other - and vice-versa - - - you see what I mean?
It was like a drug for her - and each helped her to deal with the other - the uhm, err,
"little earthquakes" helped her deal with the fame and upheaval and so on - and it worked the other way too - the upheaval helped her put deep relationships and so on into perspective - but only to a certain extent, in both directions.
I hope that makes sense - it's REALLY late and I'm being kind of allusive !

Makes total sense. Sex is accessible to everyone, even super intense witchy women who can't identify with anything else "normal."

Rhiannon covinces me that I AM Stevie Nicks. Except not... but you get the idea.