Home » The Wild Heart @ 30: ‘If anyone falls in love… It will be one of us’

The Wild Heart @ 30: ‘If anyone falls in love… It will be one of us’

Following the success of lead single “Stand Back,” which peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart, Stevie followed up her big summer hit with “If Anyone Falls (in Love)” track No. 2 on The Wild Heart. With its distinctive synthesizer arrangement and infectious chorus, the song was another hit for the album, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and No. 8 on mainstream rock. A music video with iconic Stevie Nicks imagery (complete with leg warmers, chiffon skirts, and ballet dancers) and a cameo by drummer Mick Fleetwood accompanied and propelled the single.

Original music video for If Anyone Falls
Original music video for If Anyone Falls

 

Music by Sandy Stewart

“This is the first song that I wrote with Sandy,” Stevie explains. “I’ve probably prayed for so many years that I’d find somebody I could write songs with, and I finally found her. She lives in Houston, and she’s totally crazy. She’s a real brilliant musician and what she does for me is she writes a song, goes in with a band and records it, sends me the track, track sounds great. I go into my bathroom, put it on my stereo, plug in my tape recorder, sing along, record it right there. I play it for everybody the next day; everybody goes crazy, and that’s it, it’s over.”

Inspired by Waddy Wachtel

“There was a time when I was falling out of one love and into another, when nothing else seemed to matter except this person,” Stevie recalls. “I adored him. He was everything I wanted to be; a real rock and roller and a lover of the Stones, small and frail sometimes, but in many ways the strongest person I had ever known. His word was law. I became him. He became me, and no one dared intrude upon this union. He is no longer with me, but his spirit twin never leaves me. I think sometimes I liked being on stage just to watch him. It was music combined with love, combined with the fact that when Waddy was besides me, I felt completely safe. It is to my great sorrow that we are no longer on stage together, but it is to my great joy that he always seems to be with me, even after all this time. ‘Love is a word that some entertain… If you find it, then you have won the game.'” (Timespace liner notes)

Musicians

Roy Bittan: Synthesizer
Bob Glaub: Bass
Bobbye Hall: Percussion
Russ Kunkel: Drums
Waddy Wachtel: Guitar
Carolyn Brooks, Sharon Celani & Lori Perry: Background vocals

Billboard charts

Pop Singles: 14
Mainstream Rock: 8 (September 24, 1983)

Appears on

The Wild Heart (1983)
Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks (remix) (1991)
The Enchanted Works of Stevie Nicks (1998)
Crystal Visions…The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (2007)

Lyrics

I hear a voice
In the room next to mine
Feels good, sounds good
Closes the door from behind
And another voice
Comes through the door

I am dealing with a man
When away from me
Stays deep inside my heart
And he says if anyone falls in love
It will be one of us

If anyone falls in love
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
If anyone falls

And I heard someone say
As my eyes turned away
He said, “I have loved many women.”
“I have many times run away.”

Ooh, I have never known the words
Well, I have tried to be true
Well, I have never known what to say, how to say
Seen anything today
I’ve never seen anything like you

If anyone falls in love
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
If anyone falls

So I’m never gonna see you
(Never gonna see you)
Deep inside my heart
Well, I see your shadow against
Shadow against, shadow against the wall
Baby, I see your shadow against the wall

I hear a voice
In the room next to mine
Feels good, sounds good
Closes the door from behind
And another voice
Comes through the door

Ooh, I am dealing with a man
When away from me
Stays deep inside my heart
And he says if anyone falls in love
It will be done to us

If anyone falls in love (anyone…)
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
(Somewhere in the back…of your mind)
If anyone falls

If anyone falls in love
(You say, anyone…)
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
(In the back of your mind)
If anyone falls

If anyone falls in love
(Well, say anyone…)
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
(In the back of your mind)
If anyone falls

If anyone falls in love
(Ooh, anyone…)
Somewhere in the twilight, dreamtime
Somewhere in the back of your mind
If anyone falls

(Stevie Nicks, Sandy Stewart) © 1982 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) / Admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI) / Sweet Talk Music/Three Hearts Music (ASCAP)

NEXT: Gate and Garden ~ So to the red rose grows the passion… >

References

Modern Records. (1983). Stevie Nicks: The Wild Heart [Press release].
Nicks, S. (1991). [Liner notes]. Timespace: The best of Stevie Nicks [CD]. New York, NY: Atlantic Recording Corporation.
Whitburn, J. (2008). Joel Whitburn presents rock tracks 1981-2008. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, Inc.

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