Like or Dislike: Gate and Garden

[StevieNicksEO17]

Meh, it's an okay song. If it comes on iTunes, I'll skip it once in a while.

[The Tower]

I love this song. I just plain love it.

Great vocal. No synthesizers. Lots of piano. Upbeat tune. Beautiful singing.

The vamp at the end is just "one of those" Stevie vocals that is so, so powerful.

This song makes me happy.

[GypsySorcerer]

GateandGarden the poster is fab. GateandGarden the song is very good. Nice vocal and vibe.

[Serendipity]

Ohh I've been waiting for this poll! I have literally just one week ago realised I LOVE THIS SONG! Before......so-so and one too skip. But just the other day, I made myself listen to it on repeat five times and suddenly....here I am singing along and loving it. "Do I love you? Every night....." LOVE IT. Have I said that enough?!

~Nicki

[Karlie]

It's good, but not one of my favorite Stevie songs. 2 out of 5 stars.

[all the same]

Nope. I've never liked Hillary. Oh, wait, the song! Yeah, I totally like it. But Hillary? Nope.

[Richard B]

Do I have the love for Gate and Garden. As previous mentioned, great vibe. Sweet and whimsical...lot's of imagery in the lyrics and even the music. Easy to daydream with.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by Beachwood Mac

It took a while but the song grew on me. I like it. Speaking of Gate and Garden, I hope Hillary is doing well in Louisiana.

Terry

I just noticed this thread. Thank you! I'm doing fine.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

GateandGarden the poster is fab. GateandGarden the song is very good. Nice vocal and vibe.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by all the same

Nope. I've never liked Hillary. Oh, wait, the song! Yeah, I totally like it. But Hillary? Nope.

[GateandGarden]

I've never told y'all my "Gate and Garden" story. I'm to the point where I'd like to forget it, but then I can't because the song still exists (and I still love it) and I have this damn username! I told this story eloquently enough back in Legland at the FMLegacy site last summer I believe, but I don't think I have it in me to be all that moving or articulate this time because I've tried so hard to put it all out of my mind. Back in Legland, Kate ("sarascarlett") actually said that I inspired her to come to truly appreciate the song, whereas she didn't like it before. I do not expect to be able to do that for anyone else!

Here goes:

There is a gate
It can be guarded
Well it is not heaven
And it has a garden
So to the red rose
Grows the passion

A few years ago I met a young lady (just a 'few years older than me') who was very obviously gay. I dare say that she had a thing for me. I was truly "enchanted" by her. Most unfortunately, she was very, very religious to the point of being homophobic as well as generally uptight. We were both very interested in one another, though, and we became fast friends. In no time at all, she was trying to convert me to Christianity, particularly the Weslian (sp?) kind. She spent so much time looking up that she could never truly see what was in front of her. As Ani DiFranco would say, when you spend too much time looking up, you just trip over things. All of her energy was focused on doing what she thought God wanted her to do, and she was very curt and sometimes downright mean and cruel to the people around her because they weren't as important as God. She was so wrapped up in her particularly confining and draining form of religion that it interfered with her ability to get along with her peers and superiors. Sometimes we would go out together and have fun but then it would be ruined in no time at all when she would get all upset, remembering that I'm not Christian and she needed to be working on me, or realizing that she said a cuss word and that was sinful, or she was worried about something and God does not like for us to worry, especially about "Earthly" things. She drove herself nuts. I would try to tell her to just relax and have fun. I felt that what we had was not heaven, but it had a garden. In other words, it was not the ideal situation she sought but there was something to be said for what is on Earth--the people and the general beauty of it all. It's elementary and obvious but I couldn't help but associate the garden with all that is Earth. And needless to say, her gate was guarded, very much so. And...you can all figure out the rest of that stanza and how I think of it, I'm sure.

And the guardian...
Well it's now you know
It's just a few days...away
It's now you know
And it's then
It's just a game...that...we...play

Yeah, this stanza is pretty nebulous. When I hear it, I think of how she and I got along well one day and horribly the next. One day she was doing well and feigning happiness and the next she was yelling at me at the drop of a hat. It really seemed to be a game that we were playing, trying in vain to get along.

Someone...steals it away
Scares you to death
You don't give in to yourself
You give in to your friends
Don't send an answer

I don't take this very literally (well, I suppose it's obvious enough that I don't take much of the song very literally) but it reminds me of the brevity and uncertainty in the relationship, and also how I "gave in" to so many things that I normally would not give in to. She said some awful things about my parents because she considered it their fault that I "turned out gay" and I compromised a lot of pride to put up with her unkind and judgemental statements. I really wasn't fair to myself, because I let her say a lot of things that I would not listen to for a moment if they'd come from someone else's mouth. I've pretty much never let anyone else tell me I was going to hell, but I let her speak her mind because I cared about her so much that I just wanted her to have her say and I figured if I didn't comment and I changed the subject then it would be okay. I think "you don't give in to yourself, you give in to your friends" applies to her as well. Somewhere down the line, she gave in to what someone else told her about how she must live her life. Someone told her that she needed to spend her entire life questioning her every thought and action and trying to determine whether or not it was sinful. That is pretty time-consuming. Of course, someone also told her that she was to push away any homosexual thoughts she might have. She couldn't give in to herself.

I love the line "don't send an answer." That was my attitude during our relationship, for the most part. I didn't want her giving me answers about how I should be living my life, and I didn't want to tell her what I really thought about anything, either. Many significant subjects were dangerous ones. It was best if we didn't offer answers, just questions. We could get by only if we just let our questions float around the room. We couldn't send answers because that would require judging one another. But as a devoted fundamentalist, she seemed to be incapable of not sending or unsending her answers, since she naturally had all the answers for me and everyone else.

Well it's now you know
It's everywhere
You say...you seek the truth
I say all is fair
Don't send an answer

This corresponds with my last paragraph. The more we tried to avoid the topics of religion and sexual orientation, the more apparent it became that they were the uh, pink and black elephants in the room. (Horrible reference, eh?) She was always after "truths," the kind that I believed we could never find as mere mortals. She was sure there were truths out there that needed to be accepted or one would suffer a pretty fiery fate. I always wanted to say, "All is fair"--you have your beliefs and I have mine...can't we just accept and love one another and move on?

Do I love you...everynight
Well I always did
Nobody knows...nothin' 'bout it

Well, this is pretty straightforward. There was a time that I really loved this person, though I wonder now what it was that I found in her to love. It was very strange--I tried to tell her once that I cared for her and what became of her and she actually told me that it didn't matter to her that I cared because she needed only one entity to care for her--God. It truly didn't matter to her if any humans cared about her, she claimed. And yet, she would often get mad at me and when I asked her why she was upset, she would tell me that she felt insecure that I thought she wasn't good enough for me and that I didn't respect her, etc. One moment she claimed to not give a damn about anything in the material world and the next she was worried sick that I didn't like her. The fact that I liked liked her was something that I meticulously kept to myself. I could see no purpose in telling her that I had any romantic feelings at all. I often dreamed that she could be my first girlfriend and that we could show each other what love was all about and various other predictable cliches. I'm glad that 'nobody knew nothin' 'bout it," because that would have been pretty bad if it had gotten back to her.

So, hopefully in my ramblings you've all seen how "Gate and Garden" is the story of a repressed homosexual. Just kidding! I'm sure that was the last thing on Stevie's mind when she wrote it. It epitomizes that short-lived and traumatic relationship of mine, though. This has got to be the most personal story I've told in the most detail in this public forum so far. Eh, nothing about this relationship is sacred; it was an emotionally abusive mess, basically. I'm glad to be rid of the bitch.

[skcin]

Originally Posted by dissention

It's got a slightly ethereal vibe to it and her voice is truly at it's peak. I don't care how inane "There is a gate/It can be guarded/Well, it is not heaven/It has a garden" is, because it's sung so beautifully.

That's it. You nailed it. Her voice is stunning. I love the way she sings really rich & low on "scares you to death" too.


And Hil - wow, that's heavy. I love that so many of Stevie's songs apply to our personal lives - they take on many meanings for each of us, not just what she originally wrote about.

[Mari]

wow, that's quite a story, Hillary. Makes me want to listen to the song tonight (when I get home from work) and maybe give the Wild Heart a second chance

[GateandGarden]

Thanks for reading that long-ass post of mine, Paula and Mari.

[TheBlueLamp]

It doesnt make a whole lotta sense to me, but I think this is one of Stevie's most gorgeous songs. Definitely a top 20 song for me.