Let's Talk About...BELLA DONNA

[Dodfather]

Since picking up a copy of Bella Donna on vinyl a week or so ago (sleeve not in the best condition but plays perfectly) I've been listening to the album over and over, and over...

Of course I've always loved it but, like anyone, I tended to skip to my favourite tracks on the cd. Granted, this album has more than most and so I'd usually let it play. I'd more often than not just skip the first 2 tracks on it. Now though, since it's vinyl and that ismore awkward, I've been listening to the whole album through.

So that has inspired this Let's Talk About... I can't believe I skipped over Bella Donna so often! It's like I'm rediscovering it as a song in its own right, and I'm loving it! Now I'm keen to know as much about this song as possible, so who can help me out?

I think that 'you can ride high atop your pony' is a great line to kick off Stevie's solo career, it's just what she had been doing for the past few years after all! Then again, since it was written several years before the album's release then maybe not. I certainly think it was placed there with that purpose though, especially as Stevie goes on and on about how she's the Godess of Sequencing.. (or perhaps Sequinsing?)

I've been looking around and can;t find out much about this particular track though, more just about the album itself as a whole. I suppose this is the curse ofhaving the album named after it aqnd online search engines.

What/who is it about? One of many questions...any info would be great!

Also, on a sidenote, does anyone else think that the back cover tambourine picture is much better than the cover shot anf that the album artwork should have been switched?

[skuncles]

First off let me say that when I first got into Stevie's music (around '82 or so), I was not a big fan of the "Bella Donna" album at all. It took awhile, but it soon became my favorite album of hers, not a song on there I ever skip. One album that I have never gotten tired of listening to from start to finish.
Anyhow, as for the title track, the song is all about Stevie herself. As is often the case with Stevie's lyrics whenever she says "She" or "the woman" in her songs, it's her she's referring to. The term "bella donna" has a double meaning in the song, it means both the "beautiful woman" as well as the deadly poison. But the song is about her experience up to that point in the rock and roll lifestyle. The song continues the theme she first wrote about in "Sisters Of The Moon" (which is about the same subject). In "Bella Donna" she says "And your face becomes thin, and you never thought it would...." She has said that during that period she was losing a LOT of weight, at one point her father told her she was getting way too skinny. "No speed limit, this is the fast lane, it's just the way that it is here..." again it's the rock lifestyle. Stevie has said she felt that things were getting very big very fast and it was hard to keep up with everything. Go back and reread the lyrics and you'll see how it all falls in together.
By the way the song was written specifically for the album. It's not one of her songs that was ever offered to Fleetwood Mac. As for the album's artwork, the two photos (front and back) go together. There were several ideas for the front cover, but in all of them there was the tambourine and roses, the idea for the back cover is that "the woman" has picked up the tambourine and is looking thru to the other side, "coming in out of the darkness". It was very important to Stevie that it say "come in out of the darkness" in her own handwriting above the photo, so people would know it was Stevie herself that was saying this.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by skuncles

First off let me say that when I first got into Stevie's music (around '82 or so), I was not a big fan of the "Bella Donna" album at all. It took awhile, but it soon became my favorite album of hers, not a song on there I ever skip. One album that I have never gotten tired of listening to from start to finish.
Anyhow, as for the title track, the song is all about Stevie herself. As is often the case with Stevie's lyrics whenever she says "She" or "the woman" in her songs, it's her she's referring to. The term "bella donna" has a double meaning in the song, it means both the "beautiful woman" as well as the deadly poison. But the song is about her experience up to that point in the rock and roll lifestyle. The song continues the theme she first wrote about in "Sisters Of The Moon" (which is about the same subject). In "Bella Donna" she says "And your face becomes thin, and you never thought it would...." She has said that during that period she was losing a LOT of weight, at one point her father told her she was getting way too skinny. "No speed limit, this is the fast lane, it's just the way that it is here..." again it's the rock lifestyle. Stevie has said she felt that things were getting very big very fast and it was hard to keep up with everything. Go back and reread the lyrics and you'll see how it all falls in together.
By the way the song was written specifically for the album. It's not one of her songs that was ever offered to Fleetwood Mac. As for the album's artwork, the two photos (front and back) go together. There were several ideas for the front cover, but in all of them there was the tambourine and roses, the idea for the back cover is that "the woman" has picked up the tambourine and is looking thru to the other side, "coming in out of the darkness". It was very important to Stevie that it say "come in out of the darkness" in her own handwriting above the photo, so people would know it was Stevie herself that was saying this.

For some reason half of my initial post is missing from this thread! Weird! Anyway, I wanted to add that I'm aware the song is about Stevie herself, as has been said she usually is referring to herself when she says "she".

Anyway, I think that this song is explorign very similar territory to After The Glitter Fades and Sorcerer (which was of course written in the 70s). Bering written in 1980 it may possible to expand this theme though..

'you won't fall, cos the whole thing's phony'... She has experienced the fakery of the rock industry while riding high with Fleetwood Mac. The deadly posion of the belladonna (which I had mentioned before but it isn't there) is a great shorthand for the double edged sword that is fame. The dangerous artifice and so, although you're not falling... just what are you really riding or flying on? Those are my main thoughts.

[Old Man Wise]

Being a fan of FM since 1977, I looked forward to BD almost as much as I looked forward to the release of TUSK. I remember seeing the promo poster of Stevie in white in a record store and wishing I had that poster in my room.... it took some time, but I do have that poster now.
When I finally purchased the LP, it was love at first hearing. I NEVER would consider skipping over a song... I played it as it was supposed to be played... one track after another... it told a story... Stevie's story... and I loved each and every song.

Even today... it is my favorite Stevie LP. The packaging was beautiful, like the music itself. YOU CANNOT GET THE FULL IMPACT OF THE ARTWORK from a small CD booklet! Even the LP itself had pictures on each side!

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by Old Man Wise

Being a fan of FM since 1977, I looked forward to BD almost as much as I looked forward to the release of TUSK. I remember seeing the promo poster of Stevie in white in a record store and wishing I had that poster in my room.... it took some time, but I do have that poster now.
When I finally purchased the LP, it was love at first hearing. I NEVER would consider skipping over a song... I played it as it was supposed to be played... one track after another... it told a story... Stevie's story... and I loved each and every song.

Even today... it is my favorite Stevie LP. The packaging was beautiful, like the music itself. YOU CANNOT GET THE FULL IMPACT OF THE ARTWORK from a small CD booklet! Even the LP itself had pictures on each side!

This intrigues me..what do you mean? Like a picture disc? My vinyl copy doesn't have a picture on it. It does however have a coloured (green/yellow/orange) label on the vinyl with each sides tracklisting. I've never seen pictures on Bella Donna vinyl - what are they like?

[holidayroad]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

This intrigues me..what do you mean? Like a picture disc? My vinyl copy doesn't have a picture on it. It does however have a coloured (green/yellow/orange) label on the vinyl with each sides tracklisting. I've never seen pictures on Bella Donna vinyl - what are they like?

My LP has a picture of 3 white roses on each side of the label. I also discovered I had 3 LPs of Bella Donna! (Guess I didn't want to be without a backup!) I'd forgotten that since I usually listen to a cassette.

[skuncles]

All of Stevie's albums have custom labels. Bella Donna has the roses, The Wild Heart is purple with the heart (if I recall). Rock A Little has the lace or whatever it is that covers the back of the album, OTSOTM has the black and white checker board. TimeSpace has the logo.
They did the same for Tango as well, one side has the song listings (for both sides) the other side has a shot of band.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by skuncles

All of Stevie's albums have custom labels. Bella Donna has the roses, The Wild Heart is purple with the heart (if I recall). Rock A Little has the lace or whatever it is that covers the back of the album, OTSOTM has the black and white checker board. TimeSpace has the logo.
They did the same for Tango as well, one side has the song listings (for both sides) the other side has a shot of band.

Boo! Mine doesn't, it's obviously a much later pressing, although you wouldn't think it to look at the sleeve. There's no picture on the label at all. It's just 3 colours running together.

[GypsySorcerer]

I LOVE this song. I see it as one of her "commentary on fame" songs, like Sisters of the Moon or Garbo. I love how the song begins slowly and kicks up at the end. Her vocal on this is divine. "And the woman may be so awestruck, and the woman may truly care, but the woman is so tired....oohhhhhh....so the woman disappears." One of my favorite moments in any Stevie song.

[David]

It's a good song because, for some reason, it's believable. It feels genuine. The narrative voice seems actually tired of something or other when she says she's tired. She seems to be at a crossroads.

Ambiguity abounds.

You are in love with . . .
And I'm ready to sail
It's just a feeling

The speaker is in love -- with what, I suppose it doesn't matter. Things are looking up, perhaps after a long dry, confused spell. "Ready to sail" signals hope, activity, life getting under way once again.

But "it's just a feeling." Some hesitation? Something fleeting, something likely to fade -- again?

Musically, the track owes much to Roy Bittan's arrangement with its lack of arpeggiated figures & its minor 7ths. It's the very foundation on which the guitar parts rest. It's a beautiful melding of music & melody line with the songwriter's themes. Even the opening ascending motif: like climbing to the top of a hill to get a good look around (to see oneself & one's life more clearly).

I think it's the most interesting thing on the album.

[skuncles]

[QUOTE=David;844581]It's a good song because, for some reason, it's believable. It feels genuine. The narrative voice seems actually tired of something or other when she says she's tired. She seems to be at a crossroads.

Ambiguity abounds.

You are in love with . . .
And I'm ready to sail
It's just a feeling

The speaker is in love -- with what, I suppose it doesn't matter. Things are looking up, perhaps after a long dry, confused spell. "Ready to sail" signals hope, activity, life getting under way once again.

But "it's just a feeling." Some hesitation? Something fleeting, something likely to fade -- again?

QUOTE]

See I always thought this was one of her more direct songs, up there with "Silver Springs". "You are in love with... (fame, the rock and roll ride)", "I'm ready to sail (free on her own as a solo artist)", "It's just a feeling (this whole fame thing)".
In interviews about the album she says the song is about the worldwind ride of fame she was on. And it all makes perfect sense.

[skuncles]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

Boo! Mine doesn't, it's obviously a much later pressing, although you wouldn't think it to look at the sleeve. There's no picture on the label at all. It's just 3 colours running together.

You may have a European copy. In other parts of the world her albums were put out by EMI not Atlantic/Modern. So that might be why.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by skuncles

You may have a European copy. In other parts of the world her albums were put out by EMI not Atlantic/Modern. So that might be why.

It says Atlantic/Modern on the sleeve but who knows...never mind!

[daniellaaarisen]

I think David is right-- "Bella Donna" is totally believable and so, so beautiful. I think it focuses on Stevie's inability to fool herself sometimes. She knows she will not fall (because the whole thing's phony) and she cannot scare herself (swingin' from the trapeze). She managed to make it into the fast lane even though she "never thought [she] could". In feeling like the "moon that she loved" and the other nighttime references, I think she's implying that her understanding of what is naturally beautiful (NOT artificial, like fame) is not quite gone. Yet she states that "the woman may truly care" but "the woman is so tired so the woman disappears". She considers herself the same person as before her rush of fame but she also acknowledges that her new lifestyle keeps her from living like it.

She fights for the Northern star. She fights for a way back, a foolproof direction. A balance?

[galestreet]

She fights for her destiny. She is so clear focused here and never looks back. I love being a part of that world, And I'm ready to sail...It's just a feeling...Sort of captures your soul Bella Donna...