Thinking about "Think About it"

GateandGarden · #1 08-17-2004, 03:25 PM

It occurred to me that I wanted to ask this when I was reading the Bella Donna song survivor thread. I know this song was supposedly written for (and about) Christine, and I've been wondering what the circumstances were. Does anyone know what she had in mind when she decided this was for her?

Hillary

markolas · #2 08-17-2004, 05:28 PM

I heard that she wrote this song before she joined Fleetwood Mac, so it wasn't really about Christine; she just dedicated it to her later. And the dedication seems to fit, given how we now know that Christine apparently was never very happy in Fleetwood Mac.

amber · #3 08-17-2004, 06:42 PM

But wait, Think About It is on Rumours re-issue disk 2. Is that the one you mean? "you'll go on forevor, you're that good" and "I know you'd like to come away but baby you can't come" etc.?
Just fell in love with that - was thinking, what a sweet song to Lindsey...

AMber

Johnny Stew · #4 08-17-2004, 07:21 PM

The 1981 Rolling Stone cover story on Stevie, had this to say:

Quote:

While most of the other material on Bella Donna was written in recent years (the sorrowful, supportive "Think About It" was done for Christine McVie in 1974 as her seven-year marriage to John was ending)....

Stevie & Lindsey didn't join until January '75, so there's no way Stevie could have written "Think About It" FOR Christine in 1974.

So, either the song was written first and THEN dedicated to Christine, or it was attributed the wrong copyright date in the 'Bella Donna' liner notes.

One of the US Copyright entries for "Think About It" is noted as such:

Quote:

"Preexisting composition completed in 1975 by Stephanie Nicks.
Claim Limit: NEW MATTER: "musical revision & additions contributed by Roy Bittan in collaboration with Stephanie Nicks."

And the created date on each of the three entries for "Think About It" is 1975, with a notation on one that says it's a statement re-transfer (which I believe means Stevie was re-applying the song, so that Roy Bittan could now receive credit and financial renumeration for what he added to the song), and it notes that the date on the original application was 1974.

It's a little baffling!

ontheEdgeof17 · #5 08-17-2004, 07:48 PM

I never really thought that the song was ABOUT Christine. My interpretation is that Chris really liked the song when they were jamming to it during the Rumours sessions and was maybe saddened to see it brushed aside. So, when it finally made it to an album, Stevie dedicated it to her since she liked it so much...

-Curt

GateandGarden · #6 08-17-2004, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Stevie & Lindsey didn't join until January '75, so there's no way Stevie could have written "Think About It" FOR Christine in 1974.

Plus, Chris and John's marriage wasn't breaking up in '74, so Stevie wouldn't have been writing a song like that for her at that time even if she had met them at that point, right? Maybe I don't have my dates right.

Hillary

GateandGarden · #7 08-17-2004, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

I never really thought that the song was ABOUT Christine. My interpretation is that Chris really liked the song when they were jamming to it during the Rumours sessions and was maybe saddened to see it brushed aside. So, when it finally made it to an album, Stevie dedicated it to her since she liked it so much...

-Curt

Yeah, it could be something just as simple as that.

Hillary

David · #8 08-17-2004, 10:11 PM

In his '81 Innerview with Stevie, Jim Ladd asked her about the dedication to Christine. Does anyone have that interview handy? Stevie said something about not wanting Christine to be sad over her separation from John & about Chris wanting to leave Fleetwood Mac at that point; & "Think About It" was Stevie's way of telling Chris not to chuck it in.

SaraRhiannon · #9 08-18-2004, 01:20 AM

"I wrote that for Chris when she and John were really seriously getting divorced... on the road, which was one of your larger, unpleasant times. And Lindsey and I were sort of the same thing, except that you know, when somebody else is going through it, too... one person gets strong and the other person gets weak. So you know, Chris and I would be constantly be like, 'Okay, I'm gonna be strong now and you can fall apart, and then she'll be strong and I'll fall apart.' And that was on a particular time when she was falling apart and I was being strong. I didn't want her to quit. And so I was trying in my little philosophic way to give her some strength and hold her up a little bit. You know, people are asking me about these dedications and I just really wanted everybody to know that I wrote that for my friend, Chris... when she was sad."
~Stevie Nicks, 1981

"I wrote Think About It in 1975 for Chris [McVie] and for myself, too... I wrote it for her because I needed to write it for somebody else. She was going through her divorce with John, and in those days there were no wardrobe mistresses or speech therapists or anything, there was just me and Chris. So all she had, really, was me. And so I really had to be her friend and really be strong beside her at that point because she was really going to leave. And I had had my problems with Lindsey and *I* was really going to leave. And so this was just a song to remind her and remind me at the same time that we were giving up a lot if we left. And that it was really something that should be taken to the heart and thought about heavily before we walked out."
~Stevie Nicks, WLIR New York interview, 1981

"This particular song was written because Christine and John were breaking up. And she was very upset. And this was in the very beginning of Fleetwood Mac, and we had no wardrobe mistresses, no makeup artists... it was just us. And so she and I just had eachother to lean on. All over the country, alone. And so I was really her backbone for a few weeks in that period of time. Oh, and it turned around many times... but that was when I wrote that song. I didn't want her to leave, you know? And I was telling myself 'don't leave,' too. We knew... I mean, 'what are you going to do, Chris, what am I going to do? Work in a restaurant?' It's ridiculous. We can't give all this up... the music is fabulous, we can't just give it up because our men are messing up our lives."
~Stevie Nicks, WMMR Pennsylvania interview, 1981

GateandGarden · #10 08-18-2004, 08:51 AM

Sara, thanks for those quotes!

Hillary

MirrorInTheSky · #11 08-18-2004, 09:14 AM

May I just add that the reissue version rocks way harder than the Bella Donna version?? It has such a groove and funk to it....so fun to listen to in the car.

Wild_Heart03 · #12 08-18-2004, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MirrorInTheSky

May I just add that the reissue version rocks way harder than the Bella Donna version?? It has such a groove and funk to it....so fun to listen to in the car.

I've been thinking the same thing for like 2 months!

Don't get me wrong, I still totally love the original, but I just think the reissue version is so much more fun to listen to.

Livia · #13 08-18-2004, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MirrorInTheSky

May I just add that the reissue version rocks way harder than the Bella Donna version?? It has such a groove and funk to it....so fun to listen to in the car.

I love them both - but I know what you mean! I love the part on the reissues one "Well, I know you'd like to come awaaaaaaaaay...(and then speaking in that sexy way) but, baby you can't come."

Johnny Stew · #14 08-18-2004, 04:16 PM

There are a lot of aspects that I like about the 'Rumours' outtake, but the 'Bella Donna' version is tops for me.
I like Jimmy's production on it, and I especially like the additional lyrics.

**jbrownsjr** · #15 08-18-2004, 05:48 PM

I love the Bella Donna version the most.