The Wild Heart @ 30: 'So to the red rose grows the passion'

Gate and Garden 1983 — “There is a gate ~ it can be guarded”

One of Stevie’s more obscure songs is “Gate and Garden,” Track 3 on The Wild Heart. Stevie has seldom discussed the song in great detail and has never performed it in concert, but the breezy tune appears to be about secret escapes and getaways.

“It’s all through my diary, ‘what are they gonna ask me about this?’ ’cause I don’t know what ‘Gate and Garden’ is about,” Stevie ponders. “I guess it’s my idea about my escapes, of the places that I go, the things that I do and think about—that is my private, silent, secret garden world that belongs to nobody else. That’s where and what that place probably is for me. Everybody should have their own secret, peaceful garden.”

Musicians

Dave Monday: Guitar
Brad Smith: Drums & percussion
Sandy Stewart: Keyboards, synthesizer
Benmont Tench: Organ
Waddy Wachtel: Guitar
Sharon Celani & Lori Perry: Background vocals

Produced by Jimmy Iovine. Recorded at Goodnight, Dallas

Lyrics

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

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
Someone steals it
Someone steals it away
It scares you to death
You don’t give into yourself
You give into your friends
Don’t send an answer
How many times have you said

Do I love you
Well, I always did (every night)
Nobody knows nothing ’bout it, no
Wo, do I love you
Well, I always did
Nobody knows
Knows nothing ’bout it

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
How many times
Have you said

Do I love you (every night)
Well, I always did
Nobody knows nothin’ ’bout it
Wo, do I love you
Well, I always did (every night)
Nobody knows nothin’ ’bout it
They know nothing ’bout it
They know nothing’ ’bout it

Do I love you…ooh-hoo
Wo, do I love you…ooh-hoo
Wo, do I love you…ah-ha
Wo, do I love you…oh-ho
Wo, do I love you
Do I love you…ooh-hoo
Wo, do I love you
Ooh-ooo-hoo
Do I love you…oh-ho-ho-ho

Ooh…