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Bella Donna
Page Jumps:
Bella Donna
- Rolling Stone 1981 - "'Bella Donna' is a term of endearment I use," she continues, "and the tide is about making a lot of decisions in my life, making a change based on the turmoil in my soul. You get to a certain age where you want to slow down, be quieter. The tide song was basically a warning to myself and a question to others. The term 'come in out of the darkness' means save yourself and come back. It is about a beautiful woman becoming old and not beautiful, skinny and too tired."
- US Magazine 1981 - "That song was my way of saying to myself, 'I'm 33 years old now. It's time to stop being a maniac and start living my life,'" she explains.
Kind of Woman
- Rockline 1981 - While Lindsey was out on tour with the Everly Brothers Stevie would sit at home in the evenings and imagine how it would feel if Lindsey were to meet another woman. The result of those feelings is this song.
Think About It
- Rolling Stone Interview 1981 - "Think About It" was done for Christine McVie in 1974 as her seven-year marriage to John was ending.
After The Glitter Fades
- Radio One Interview broadcast in London - mid 1990's - and; The Shoreline Concert during the 1998 Enchanted Tour - Stevie spent her last $100.00 on a blouse to wear on the Buckingham Nicks album cover. When she arrived at the studio she was hoping that they would not ask her to remove the blouse. Lindsey had informed her prior to the photo shoot that he didn't want her to wear any blouse at all. When Stevie arrived they took a few pictures of her with the blouse on and then asked her to take it off. She was understandably upset and an argument between her and Lindsey broke out. He accused her of acting like a child. Stevie said that she felt as though she had no choice. She was too ashamed to show the picture to her father so she kept it under her bed for a long time. After the photo shoot was over she went home and wrote the words to this song. Stevie said she felt that even though she had faced the reality of what it might be to be a rock 'n' roll star, and even though she had seen how hard
it would be, it would never stop her from loving it.
Edge of Seventeen
- 1981 - Edge of Seventeen was written following the assassination of John Lennon and the death of Stevie's uncle. Stevie was seeing Jimmy Iovine at the time, Jimmy became very distraught upon hearing of the death of John Lennon, Lennon had taken Jimmy under his wing and taught him how to record. Stevie said a terrible sadness set in over the house. She said there was nothing she could do and nothing she could say to help so decided to return home to Phoenix. Upon arriving home she went to visit her uncle, who was very sick, and learned that he was dying. Only Stevie and her cousin John were present when her uncle passed away, around sunset. She said she did run out into the hallway and up the stairs, but nobody was there. The title of the song came after a conversation Stevie had with Jane Petty, Tom Petty's wife, Stevie asked Jane about how she had met Tom, and Jane's reply included the words 'Age of seventeen.' Jane was a Southerner and had a very strong drawl, Stevie thought she had said EDGE of Seventeen. This is one of Stevie's showstoppers, and always her final song before the encore.
- Rolling Stone 1981 - "Edge of Seventeen" (title courtesy of Tom Petty's wife, Jane), a song about her feelings toward these tragic deaths. "The line 'And the days go by like a strand in the wind' that's how fast those days were going by during my uncle's illness, and it was so upsetting to me. The part that says 'I went today... maybe I will go again... tomorrow' refers to seeing him the day before he died. He was home and my aunt had some music softly playing, and it was a perfect place for the spirit to go away. The white-winged dove in the song is a spirit that is leaving a body, and I felt a great loss at how both Johns were taken. 'I hear the call of the nightbird singing..... come away ... come away....'
- Liner notes: Timespace 1991 - I had lived up in the hills with Jimmy Iovine for almost six months. He was coming to the end of Tom Petty's album. It seemed I had waited a long time and since no one really knew where I was, I was starting to get very edgy to do something. I was also starting to feel very unimportant and very sorry for myself. I was ready to begin Bella Donna and it seemed like it would just never happen. Jimmy had told me many times about his incredible friendship with John Lennon, how John had taken Jimmy in and taught him how to record. He was his teacher. I was entranced because I could not imagine these two together. Anyway, it was a real life fairy tale and I believed it. Then one gray day the fairy tale ended, Jimmy's friend was dead. But Jimmy's love for John did not die. A terrible sadness set in over the house, there was simply nothing I could say. So I went home, Jimmy would have to go this one alone. I went home to Phoenix to visit my uncle (who was sick with cancer), not knowing that no one but his son, John, was there. I sat at his bedside while John sat on the floor beside him ... and we stayed there. My father did not come nor my mother nor my aunt. I sat there and held his hand and sometime right about sunset he turned his head slightly to John, and then to me, and his hand slowly let go of mine. I did run out into the hallway ... but no one was there ... and the white winged dove took flight ... 'Well I hear you, in the morning ... and I hear you, at nightfall ... sometimes to be near you ... is to be ... unable ... to hear you Goodbye to you both I said ... There was nothing else left to say."
- The Sun 1991 - Jimmy was absolutely best friends with John Lennon," she says. "So when that happened, a hush came over the house that was so overwhelming that there was nothing that I could do to help. There was nothing I could say, there was no way I could comfort him." Unable to help, Nicks flew home to Phoenix. "I went straight over to my uncle's house, and my uncle died that day. He died right there with me holding his hand, just me and my cousin, who's a little younger than me, sitting there on the bed and on the floor next to him." "I have to deal with it every single night when I sing it," she says. "That's why I can [sing it]. When that song starts, I go back to that week. And it's not like I try. I don't make a physical effort to do it. In my mind, my little timespace, I'm back in the house at Encino finding out that news, and when I sing it to everybody, I try to make them understand in a way what I was talking about without actually telling them."
"That's why I can sing 'Edge of Seventeen' just like I wrote it yesterday. Because it will never, ever lose the intensity. I will never forget how I felt when that happened to me. And when people read this, they're going to understand that this hasn't been so glamorous, and each one of these songs was one more chip off an already broken heart."
Leather and Lace
- Radio interview 1981 - Waylon Jennings, a famous country singer, was going through a difficult time with his then wife Jessi Colter. Waylon approached Stevie and asked her to write a song called Leather and Lace for he and Jesse to sing as a duet. Stevie said at the time, that it was one of the hardest songs she had ever written. Stevie was seeing Don Henley at the time and enlisted his help. Henley being a perfectionist, would have Stevie do the song over and over telling her to start over or telling her if she was on the right track. Stevie said, "He made me finish it because I almost gave up many times." Then when it was finished her and Henley did a simple demo of it and Stevie thought it was wonderful. She then found out that Waylon and Jessi were breaking up and Waylon told her he wanted to sing it by himself. Stevie felt that after all her hard work in trying to convey how very hard it was for two people to be in love and be in the same business, that only 4 people in the world could sin g this song either Waylon and Jessi or herself and Henley. In the end Stevie and Don Henley recorded the song and Waylon and Jessi got a divorce.
- HighTimes 1982 - "Waylon Jennings asked me to write a song called "Leather and Lace." That's his title. So I did and I spent a lot of time on the psychology of the man and the woman in the music business both being stars in their own right and trying to live with each other. This is a long time ago. This is what I was searching for even then. I mean I was writing about Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, but I was writing about me and Lindsey. I was, at that point, going out with Don Henley and I was writing about me and Don. I was writing about the few couples that I knew and what they went through to try and work it out. I guess Waylong and Jessi broke up around then. I felt in my heart that either I had to do this song with Don, or Waylon had to do it with Jessi, or Waylon and I had to do it. Those were the only three possibilities for that song to be done. It was the most disciplined song I had ever written and I had to finish it."
Outside the Rain
- 1981 - Outside The Rain was the only link between Fleetwood Mac and me. It was the song that Fleetwood Mac would have done if they had been involved in this record. It was sort of the Dreams or Sara. It was those chords. I thought that it was really important that there be that link in the chain since the rest of it was very much me and very much not Fleetwood Mac. I wanted there to be the link, because it's important to me that Fleetwood Mac is still a part of my life and that they understand what I'm doing.
The Highway Man
- 1981 - This song was written as a comparison of the life of a HighwayMan and the life of a rock 'n' roll star. "The only person who can put up with a rock star is another rock star and it was the same for those HighwayMen."
- 1981 - My first knowledge of anybody else outside of Fleetwood Mac was the Eagles of whom you have to realize, I've been singing along with forever on the radio. And who am I to meet the Eagles? 'The Highwayman' is the highwayman of the road, the one that's always on the road, that sometimes gives to the rich and sometimes keeps it. It says 'She considers slowing down but then he would never win. Enter competition she chases beneath the sky the pale and violent rider.' It's like you kind of have to let them be their dramatic selves and go with it and not try to be anything else except an intelligent woman with them. That accidentally happens to be songwriter because if you ever want to sit down and work with them that's the only way you can be."
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