Who wrote Stand Back?

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Julian Lennon’s first solo album was recorded in early 1984, then released in October of the same year.

And its two singles are the only I remember. They were nice songs, including the title track Vallote which "coincidentally" reminds us of John. Never heard any other Julian song on radios.

[Macfan4life]

I have always been curious about the Prince contributions to Stand Back. Stevie said that she felt like she was ripping off Prince so she called him down to listen to it and he added some parts and then left. She was asked by MTV in 1983 why Prince was not credited on the album and she said he wanted it that way. Many years later she stated she gave Prince 50% royalties off the song.
Do you think Prince was paid for his parts in studio? Why would he not want credit yet accept royalties on the song. Stevie was high during many interviews so who knows if she was telling the truth. Prince was also a very damaged person from his constant bullying as a child which made him sort of toxic.
The best royalties story is Eddie Van Halen and Michael Jackson. Eddie had a reason not to be given royalties or credit because he did not want anyone to know about him working with Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones wrote in his book that not only did Eddie play the guitar solo but when Michael left the studio for a bit Eddie changed arrangements on the song which Quincy thought was a gamble because Michael may not like people messing with his music. But Michael liked the changes. Eddie thought no one would find out because he thought he was playing on a "children's record." When members of Van Halen found out about it they were pissed. David Lee Roth was furious that he gave away one of his best guitar solos for free. It also started tensions in the band. Not that Eddie Van Halen needed money but would it not be right for Michael to give Eddie royalties anyway? Sort of what Stevie said and allegedly did? Vincent Price was paid money for his talking parts on Thriller. When it because huge he asked for royalties and Michael Jackson refused.
I am always fascinated by royalties stories. What did Chris Nicks do to deserve writing credit on The Nightmare? Was it not so nice of Stevie to give writing credit on No Questions Asked to the woman that gave Stevie the tape recorder?

[HomerMcvie]

Wasn't Prince also the one who told his security, "keep that crazy bitch(Stevie) away from me!"?

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Eddie had a reason not to be given royalties or credit because he did not want anyone to know about him working with Michael Jackson.

At the end, it was never a secret, was it? I think I heard it on the radio when the song became popular, or shortly after. I never knew it was supposed to be a secret.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

At the end, it was never a secret, was it? I think I heard it on the radio when the song became popular, or shortly after. I never knew it was supposed to be a secret.

He thought no one would hear the song. He did not know or expect it would be a #1 song. Its not Jackson that was keeping it a secret. Eddie thought he could sneak in, do it for free, and leave and it never be known. But the album and song exploded and it was revealed but not by Eddie. The band Van Halen felt betrayed and it was the beginning of the end of that line up. Crazy to think a simple guitar solo could hurt a band with his own name. Roth thought it would hurt their fans crossing over to pop. Roth was also against any keyboards on 1984 and fought Eddie the whole way. But once the album and song Jump went to #1 Roth soaked up the riches and new fame and suddenly did not have a problem with keyboard playing in the band.
Another good example of royalties is SDMHA. Tom Petty and his band resented Stevie using their song at first because they thought it hurt their album sales. But a few years later Tom was ok with it and joked that the song bought him a new house

[BrownEyedGirl26]

Originally Posted by reebokandlace

In a recent interview regarding SNL Stevie says:


“You know, we practiced and practiced, and everything went well. At the time, I had my friend who wrote ‘Stand Back,’ and she was gonna do the second song, which was called ‘Nightbird’ — and she freaked out and had terrible stage fright, so she couldn’t do it,” Nicks says.


I looked at the liner notes for the Wild Heart album and it says (S. Nicks) wrote the song…… so who is this uncredited friend? I thought she wrote Stand Back in the car when Kim was driving and they were listening to “Little Red Corvette” and she “desperately needed a pen and paper so she could jot down the lyrics”


So who is this friend who wrote Stand Back???

I am so confused.

Just add this question to the long list of questions, us long suffering true fans would like her to answer.

[BrownEyedGirl26]

Originally Posted by David

I think Stevie wrote the words and her musicians worked out the music to follow the “Little Red Corvette” chord modulation. I think one of her keyboardists created the main synth hook that you hear in concert with the drums, but I think Prince added the sixteenth-note synth bass and the octave tremolo on the chorus, which turn the song into a little bit of a funk-dance track (right up Prince’s alley).

Here’s what I heard about Stevie and Sandy. When that falling out happened, the story goes that Sandy had finished recording her first album (Modern Records) and Stevie had added a lot of backup vocals and duet vocals. But for some (stupid) reason, Sandy took off a lot of her vocals and just kept “I Pretend,” “Saddest Victory,” and “Cat Dancer” backup vocals. So Stevie got very annoyed and basically said, “Fine. You want to do your solo album by yourself, go ahead.” Stevie then started planning another tour leg for 1984. She had originally planned to have Sandy open the shows, but when they had this fight, Stevie reached out to Julian Lennon to open the show at Dodger Stadium and the shows after that.

But that was the story going around in 1984 — Sandy wanted her album to stand on its own two feet and just use Stevie a little bit, whereas Stevie wanted to basically make a Sandy Stewart + Stevie Nicks album. Sounds like a young artist wanted her efforts to be prominent and the mentor superstar wanted to push a team effort to draw enormous attention to it.

It was unfortunate for us that we never got to hear both of them harmonizing together! Keep in mind that Stevie started singing with her grandfather, AJ Nicks when she was very young and loved to sing two part harmonies with him.

I hope Stevie has at least one copy of both of their vocals, from their recording sessions together!

[bombaysaffires]

someone posted the link to this interview of Stevie talking about Prince and how Stand Back happened and then the fact that he was now mad at her and not talking to her because she wouldn't go out with him....She also recounts the infamous falling asleep on his kitchen floor story.... Personally I've always believed Thousand Days was about her relationship with Prince, and the part "you've been asleep/well I've been asleep for how long she says" was her on the kitchen floor

the interview was from the Mark and Brian show in LA and I am reminded by this clip how stupid and obnoxious they were... I'm really shocked she spent and hour with them but..

Prince/Stand Back story from her starts at 1:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntul_GT28TU&t=902s


The story about Prince using his engineer to avoid Stevie.... starts at 4:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KG3e7GuC80

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Julian Lennon’s first solo album was recorded in early 1984, then released in October of the same year. So depending when Stevie went on tour, Julian could have either: a) toured the recorded album before it was released; or b) started touring with Stevie once the album was released.

Thanks for the info! Using your dates, I checked out Julian’s Wikipedia page, and then his his touring schedule, and it seems he opened for Stevie during her RAL tour in 1986, either before or after Roger Daltrey and Peter Frampton opened for her. Julian was touring at that time for the release of his second album, the Secret Value of Daydreaming. The first album, Valotte, is the only one I remember any songs from- Valotte, Too Late For Goodbyes, and one of my favorites, Say You’re Wrong.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

someone posted the link to this interview of Stevie talking about Prince and how Stand Back happened and then the fact that he was now mad at her and not talking to her because she wouldn't go out with him....She also recounts the infamous falling asleep on his kitchen floor story.... Personally I've always believed Thousand Days was about her relationship with Prince, and the part "you've been asleep/well I've been asleep for how long she says" was her on the kitchen floor

the interview was from the Mark and Brian show in LA and I am reminded by this clip how stupid and obnoxious they were... I'm really shocked she spent and hour with them but..

Prince/Stand Back story from her starts at 1:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntul_GT28TU&t=902s


The story about Prince using his engineer to avoid Stevie.... starts at 4:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KG3e7GuC80

I am the one that posted that interview link from 1994. She states Prince wont talk to her and she does not know why. She never says that Prince wanted to go out with her. The radio guys were making jokes so maybe that is what you heard?
She claims she slept on the kitchen floor because the air conditioning broke and that was the only cool place. Now THAT is a joke. I don't think Prince wanted anything to do with her. She has said he showed interest in recording with her but because she was constantly using drugs there never was collaboration or even friendship. I checked the Wild Heart tour dates and sure enough she had the night off the next day after Minneapolis and the Chicago date was 2 days later. So when she said she needed to catch a plane to her next show that was true.
Prince also confronted her for leaving the premiere of Purple Rain for the bathroom. She probably could not sit through a movie without another bump which really annoyed Prince. Oh the irony that it was him that died of a drug overdose yet she survived.
As much as Stevie was insane back then, Prince was a horrible person. The mixture of these 2 could never have worked especially at that time.
Stevie flirting with Prince in 1982 is funny when Prince tasked his assistant to keep her away from him. Stevie was still a prize back in 1982 but the insanity from the heavy drug use just put him off. Mirage Tour and Prince's 1982 tour were both in Texas at the same time which put them close together for that event.

[blinker12]

As for the original quote that starts this thread, maybe Stevie meant to say “my friend who wrote ‘If Anyone Falls.’” That song was originally a synth instrumental demo that Sandy had written called “The Last American Hero.” One of Stevie’s people heard it, acquired it, and Stevie wrote the lyrics.

I’ve never heard Stevie talk about Sandy having a role in writing “Stand Back” anywhere else, so I think she just misspoke here.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Wasn't Prince also the one who told his security, "keep that crazy bitch(Stevie) away from me!"?

Did this happen? If so, do you have a source I could read? I know she had a first-grade meltdown when she was refused admission backstage at a Wham concert in ‘84 or ‘85 (or ‘86?).

From what I’ve read, it seemed Prince had a crush on Stevie, wanted her in his orbit. Their flirtation/possible romantic relationship spanned a year or two…from 1982-84 ish. Prince gave her the backing track to what became “Purple Rain,” but she couldn’t “dream” up lyrics and a melody over the top of it.

Independent of Stevie, Christine once cited “Raspberry Beret” as one of her all-time favorite songs that she listened to obsessively.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Did this happen? If so, do you have a source I could read? I know she had a first-grade meltdown when she was refused admission backstage at a Wham concert in ‘84 or ‘85 (or ‘86?).

From what I’ve read, it seemed Prince had a crush on Stevie, wanted her in his orbit. Their flirtation/possible romantic relationship spanned a year or two…from 1982-84 ish. Prince gave her the backing track to what became “Purple Rain,” but she couldn’t “dream” up lyrics and a melody over the top of it.

Independent of Stevie, Christine once cited “Raspberry Beret” as one of her all-time favorite songs that she listened to obsessively.

I don't remember. I'm pretty sure I read it on here, probably a decade or more ago.

Do you have a hard time believing it? I mean, the Wham thing... Mama was cuckoo for Coco Puffs, and everyone was figuring it out.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Did this happen? If so, do you have a source I could read? I know she had a first-grade meltdown when she was refused admission backstage at a Wham concert in ‘84 or ‘85 (or ‘86?).

From what I’ve read, it seemed Prince had a crush on Stevie, wanted her in his orbit. Their flirtation/possible romantic relationship spanned a year or two…from 1982-84 ish. Prince gave her the backing track to what became “Purple Rain,” but she couldn’t “dream” up lyrics and a melody over the top of it.

Independent of Stevie, Christine once cited “Raspberry Beret” as one of her all-time favorite songs that she listened to obsessively.

When the Mirage tour ended in Texas in 1982, Prince was on tour and met Prince at some afterparty. Prince's engineer "Peggy" tells a very funny story that she still laughs about today. Stevie was dancing and sort of flirting with Prince with pulling up her dress, etc. Prince ran over to Peggy and instructed her to keep her away from him.
They would meet again 6 months later when Prince thought they were going to work on music. Prince picked her up after her Minneapolis show and took her to his house. But Stevie wanted to party and took drugs. Prince was not into that so she just crashed on his kitchen floor. No recordings ever happened and the next morning Prince drove her to the airport. They met again during the Purple Rain premier which is the last time she saw him and Prince confronted her about leaving the film to go to the bathroom. In the earlier 1994 link Stevie explains that Prince no longer talks to her and she does not know why.

Here is the link about 1982. It puts perspective about Stand Back when she gets so excited when Little Red Corvette came on the radio on her wedding day late January 1983. It was just released as the second single. Stevie had been to the concert and heard it there. Its live performance in 1982 and even 1983 is very Stand Back sounding compared to the album recording. After party begins 2:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KG3e7GuC80

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

When the Mirage tour ended in Texas in 1982, Prince was on tour and met Prince at some afterparty. Prince's engineer "Peggy" tells a very funny story that she still laughs about today. Stevie was dancing and sort of flirting with Prince with pulling up her dress, etc. Prince ran over to Peggy and instructed her to keep her away from him.
They would meet again 6 months later when Prince thought they were going to work on music. Prince picked her up after her Minneapolis show and took her to his house. But Stevie wanted to party and took drugs. Prince was not into that so she just crashed on his kitchen floor. No recordings ever happened and the next morning Prince drove her to the airport. They met again during the Purple Rain premier which is the last time she saw him and Prince confronted her about leaving the film to go to the bathroom. In the earlier 1994 link Stevie explains that Prince no longer talks to her and she does not know why.

So, Prince telling Peggy to keep Stevie away from him was like: “Peggy, that woman is trouble….”—half-serious, half-joking? I can believe that.