STEVIE NICKS INFO

Category: About the Song

  • Outside the Rain… The Heart Skips a Beat

    Outside the Rain… The Heart Skips a Beat

    “Outside the Rain” is Track 9 on Bella Donna, following “Leather and Lace” and preceding “The Highwayman” in the album’s running order.

    Stevie has never publicly shared the story behind “Outside the Rain,” but it appears to be about her relationship with drummer Mick Fleetwood. The strongest clue of this came from her concert performances of the song, during which she modified the lyric “Well, it’s just one more link in the chain” to “Well, Mick said, ‘Stevie, it’s just one more link in the chain. Baby, don’t break it.”

    Stevie wrote several songs about her romantic relationship with Mick Fleetwood around this time. These songs include “Angel,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Storms,” and “Watch Chain.”

    Considered a deep-cut in Stevie’s vast catalog, “Outside the Rain,” has started Stevie’s live shows on several concert tours. It has often segued into the Rumours track “Dreams.” It’s clearly one of Stevie’s favorites to perform onstage. With a possible connection to Mick, we can see why!

    Lyrics

    Outside the rain
    And the heart skips a beat
    So you’re lonely
    Creature of the night
    It’s been almost a week
    Can you love me only

    Look at me, for a very long time
    Long enough to know
    Love is a word – I’ve been trying to find
    Words don’t matter
    They don’t matter at all

    Maybe it’s only a dream
    I don’t want to feel that
    Well it’s one more link – in the chain
    I don’t believe that

    So you’re still lonely
    You say that it’s been forever
    Maybe you never knew me
    Maybe you thought that
    I’d never change but
    You know I’m changing
    You’re wrong

    And it’s been like dying
    No love’s that hard to find
    And I’m tired of
    I’m tired of trying
    Outside the rain
    And the heart skips a beat
    So you’re lonely

    Look in my eyes
    Touch my face
    Baby, there’s no one
    That can take my place

    Look in my eyes, touch my face
    Baby there’s no one that
    Can ever replace that heartache
    Take away that heartache

    Love is a word that some entertain
    If you find it
    You have won the game

    Somebody said
    “Outside the rain”

    (Stevie Nicks) © Welsh Witch Music (BMI) admin. by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

  • How Still My Love: ‘One of my most romantic songs’

    How Still My Love: ‘One of my most romantic songs’

    “How Still My Love” is Track 7 on Bella Donna (1981), Stevie Nicks’ first solo album. Stevie describes it as her “sexiest song.”

    [“How Still My Love”] was really probably one of my most romantic songs. I was feeling really romantic at the time; it’s my sexiest song. I love to sit and play it. It’s the one song I said had to be on [Bella Donna], and it was the one that went in and out and in and out and off and on and off and on the album in the last four months, incredibly, until finally, I knew that it would come around to people realizing it’s really such a neat song even if it’s for yourself to enjoy it” (Nicks, 1981).

    “I really don’t write extremely sexual songs, never have. I’m always going to write about the bouquets and the flowers. But ‘How Still My Love’ really is a sexy song, and being that it’s one of my few sexy songs, when we do it onstage it’s fun. It’s kind of woozy and it’s slow, but it’s got a really great beat — kind of a strip-tease, a little burlesque, a little Dita Von Teese-y.

    “The title actually came from two different books I saw in some hotel, one was called How Still My Love and one was called In the Still of the Night, and I used both, but I never even opened up the books [laughs], so I have no idea what they were about. Whenever I come into a room with a library, in a hotel or whatever, I pull them all down and just sit — I get a lot of ideas that way” (Greenblatt, 2009).

    Lyrics

    Still the same old story
    What price glory
    You make it easy
    In the still of the night
    In the still of the night
    How still my love
    In the still of the night
    How still my

    Doing all you can for me
    They say you’re not the man for me
    Don’t make it easy
    In the still of the night
    In the still of the night
    How still my love
    In the still of the night
    How still my love

    Standing in the doorway
    Watching out to sea
    Calling out to me
    You go your way
    Go on go on
    But you don’t forget me
    Oh no you don’t forget me
    Oh no my lonely one
    You’re doing all you can for me
    They say you’re not the man for me
    Don’t I make it easy
    In the still of the night
    It’s me talking to you

    How still my love
    In the still of the night
    How still my love
    In the still of the night
    It’s me that’s talkin’ to you
    In the still of the night

    (Stevie Nicks) © 1979 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) admin. by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

    Reference

    Nicks, S. (1981). Breaking the chain

  • The Queen and the Highwayman

    The Queen and the Highwayman

    For Bella Donna‘s ruby anniversary (40th), we click our heels three times and look back at another track from Stevie Nicks‘ classic debut solo album. Closing out the seminal work is “The Highwayman,” which was inspired by Alfred Noyes’ romantic poem of the same name. The song itself is about Eagles’ drummer Don Henley, with whom Stevie had a relationship in the mid-’70s. Fittingly, Don provides harmony vocals on the track.

    “‘The Highwayman’ I wrote probably in 1975, probably,” Stevie recalls. I basically wrote it with the idea of the old poem ‘The Highwayman.’ The Highwayman comes riding, riding and Bess, the lady at the inn is waiting, and she’s set up with a rifle that’s gonna go off as soon as he comes through the door, and she can hear the hoofbeats.

    “I mean, The Highwayman was like the wonderful person that stole from the rich and gave to the poor, right? He was the romantic figure on the horse with the cape. Well, I paralleled that to today’s male rock and roll musician, which they’re all highwaymen. No other way to look at it. They steal from the rich and give to the poor sometimes. And they are that romantic on-the-road figure, you know? They could just as well be in coaches with seven black horses leading them.

    “Basically, Don Henley is The Highwayman. I used him as my idea, The Eagles, you know, on the road because this was before I was, you know, I could only look in awe at all these men because I’m a songwriter and what I really wanted to do was I wanted to be accepted by these people as a lady songwriter and not as just a girl. And I never really got accepted as anything else but a girl by any of them, right? But I wrote this song and Don sang it with me. We did a demo of it. And I call him the old Highwayman himself.

    “So it’s a story, you know? It’s basically about a girl who sort of has a dream that’s a premonition, and she’s like a asleep in a rocking chair and she wakes up and she realizes at the end of the song, it says ‘A dream as the thunder wakes her / And the highwayman disappears / Or a life already lived before in eyes wet with tears / Today and still today they ride / Will they ever win? / He the glory she the love / Still They try again’ — and that’s Don and I. I mean, we just try again, you know, over and over. And it is very much like the old, elegant, sort of… It’s very romantic. I’d love to do a video to this song because it’s a perfect… I mean, it says, ‘She in the distance sees him against the sky / A pale and violent rider / A dream began in wine.’ And I see him riding against the moon on his horse just a black charger, you know, going away.”

    Recording

    “Don played drums, and we have this videoed. We videoed the whole thing with just a kind of a cool home-video camera. So I have Don Felder playing bottleneck slide, and Don playing the drums, and Davey Johnstone playing the acoustic guitar, Benmont playing organ, and all these wonderful people. It was like staring out and looking at The Eagles standing in front of me ’cause if you see Don Henley and Don Felder, that’s enough of The Eagles to look like The Eagles. A lot of these recording sessions were very romantic because I would just be standing there in the middle of this room singing and looking at these incredibly famous people, who I had sung along with for years before I had ever achieved any success. So I was unknown completely when I was really, really involved with their music.

    “So to be sharing my first album with them was like I can’t even tell you. It was like being homecoming queen. I mean, it was just the neatest thing that ever happened to me. And Don Felder played wonderful guitar on it — he knows it too. He knows he was wonderful. They all know they were wonderful because they felt it, you know. They walked out of the room, I mean, grinning, all of them.”

    Lyrics

    Alas he was the highwayman
    The one that comes and goes
    And only the highway-woman
    Keeps up with the likes of those
    And she in all her magic
    With hands as quick as light
    Took him to be a challenge
    And went into the night

    And he in all his glory
    Was far ahead of her
    But she was never sorry
    For wishes that would burn
    Enter competition
    She chases beneath the moon
    Her horse is like a dragonfly
    She is just a fool

    And she wonders is this real
    Or does she just want to be Queen
    And he fights the way he feels
    Is this the end of the dream

    And then he sees her coming
    Heartbeats on the wind
    Considers slowing down
    But then, he could never win
    And she, out in the distance
    Sees him against the sky
    A pale and violent rider
    A dream begun in wine

    And she wonders is this real
    Or does she just want to be Queen
    And he fights the way he feels
    Is this the end of the dream

    A dream as the thunder wakes her
    And her highwayman disappears
    On a life already lived before
    In eyes welled with tears

    Today and still today they ride
    Will they ever win
    He the glory
    She the love
    Still they try again
    He the glory
    She the love
    Still they try again
    He the glory
    She the love
    And still they try again

    (Stevie Nicks) © 1975 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) admin. by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

    Reference

    Nicks, S. (1981). Stevie Nicks Interview.  Denis McNamara, interviewer, WLIR 92.7 FM.

    Nicks, S. (1981). Breaking the chain

  • Revisiting the Glitter

    Revisiting the Glitter

    “After the Glitter Fades” is Track 5 on Bella Donna, Stevie Nicks‘ first solo album, which happens to turn 40 this month.

    Stevie wrote the song about the highs and lows of stardom, a premonition of things to come in her life and career. “‘After the Glitter Fades’ was written in 1972; it was copyrighted in 1975. Which is a strange sort of premonition to have in 1972 because that was two years before Fleetwood Mac. And I mean that was when the Buckingham Nicks album had been dropped, so we were going nowhere fast. And I seemed to have some idea what was going to happen, that I was really gonna face some really serious glitter and see some serious glitter fade.”

    Stevie actually had country singer Dolly Parton in mind when she wrote the song. “I wanted [Dolly Parton] to do ‘After the Glitter Fades’ ’cause I really thought it would be perfect for her. And it got sent to her and I don’t think Dolly ever really got it. I think if she’d ever got the song, she would have wanted to do it.”

    Lyrics

    Well I never thought I’d make it
    Here in Hollywood
    I never thought I’d ever
    Want to stay
    What I seem to touch these days
    Has turned to gold
    What I seem to want
    Well you know I’ll find a way

    For me it’s the only life
    That I’ve ever known
    And love is only one
    Fine star away
    Even though the living
    Is sometimes laced with lies
    It’s alright
    The feeling remains
    Even after the glitter fades

    The loneliness of a one night stand
    Is hard to take
    We all chase something
    And maybe this is a dream
    The timeless face of a rock and roll
    Woman while her heart breaks
    Oh you know the dream keeps coming
    Even when you forget to feel

    For me it’s the only life
    That I’ve ever known
    And love is only one fine star away
    Even though the living
    Is sometimes laced with lies
    It’s alright
    The feeling remains
    Even after the glitter fades

    For me it’s the only life
    That I’ve ever known
    And love is only one fine star away
    Even though the living
    Is sometimes laced with lies
    It’s alright
    The feeling remains
    Even after the glitter fades
    Oh you know the feeling remains
    Even after the glitter fades
    Oh the feeling remains
    Even after the glitter fades

    (Stevie Nicks) © 1975 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) admin by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

    Release

    “After the Glitter Fades” was the fourth and final single from Bella Donna. Coupled with “Think About It,” the single reached No. 32 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

    Billboard Chart Peak
    Pop Singles 32
    Adult Contemporary 36
    Country 70

    Reference

    Nicks, S. (1981). Interview with Stevie Nicks.  Denis McNamara, interviewer, WLIR 92.7 FM.

    Nicks, S. (1981). Interview with Stevie Nicks. WMMR 93.3 FM.

    Nicks, S. (1981). Interview with Stevie Nicks. WIOQ 102.1 FM.

  • Lady

    Lady

    “Lady” is a track from 24 Karat Gold — Songs from the Vault (2014), Stevie Nicks’ eighth solo album. 

    “Lady” dates back to the early 1970s when she and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham were living in producer Keith Olsen’s house. According to Stevie, it was the first song she had ever written on a piano. At the time, she and Lindsey were recording as the duo Buckingham Nicks, struggling to succeed as recording artists in Los Angeles. In the song, Stevie reveals her fears, restlessness, and uncertainty about this time in her life, pondering, “What is to become of me?”

    “I think ‘Lady’ was written at the end of 1971 or beginning of 1972,” Stevie recalls, “when Lindsey and I got our first piano. I think it was the first song I ever wrote on a piano.” 

     

    Lyrics

    Come lately
    I just keep on waitin’
    I see nothin’ out there
    The sun keeps throwin’ out
    The light from the clouds
    But there’s no light in here

    I know that things have gotta change
    But how to change them isn’t unclear
    I’m tired of knockin’ on doors
    When there’s nobody there
    You know I’m tired of knockin’ on doors
    When there’s nobody there

    And the time keeps goin’ on by
    And I wonder what is to become of me
    And I’m unsure
    I can’t see my way
    And he says Lady you don’t have to see

    And the time keeps goin’ on by
    And I wonder what is to become of me
    And I’m unsure
    I can’t see my way
    And he says Lady you don’t need to see
    And he says Lady you don’t need to see

    Come lately
    I just keep on waitin’
    I see nothin’ out there
    The sun keeps throwin’ out
    Its light from the clouds
    But there’s no light in here

    I know that things have gotta change
    But how to change them isn’t unclear
    I’m tired of knockin’ on doors
    When there’s nobody there
    You know I’m tired of knockin’ on doors
    When there’s nobody there

    And the time keeps going on by
    And I wonder what is to become of me
    And I’m unsure
    I can’t see my way
    And see says Lady you don’t need to see

    And the time keeps goin’ on by
    And I wonder what is to become of me
    And I’m unsure
    I can’t see my way
    And he says Lady you don’t need to see

    And the time keeps goin’ on by
    And I wonder what is to become of me
    And I’m unsure
    I can’t see my way
    And he says Lady you don’t need to see
    And he says Lady you don’t need to see
    And he says maybe you don’t need to see
    Oh, no…

    (Stevie Nicks) © 2014 Welsh Witch Music (BMI). Administered by Songs of Kobalt Music Publishing (BMI)

  • Sister Honey

    Sister Honey

    “Sister Honey” (3:52) is Track 3 on Rock a Little (1985), Stevie Nicks’ 3rd solo album. 

    During the “Sister Honey” writing sessions, Stevie drew a picture of a female figure that would become the Sister Honey portrait. “There’s a song called ‘Sister Honey’ that I wrote…with a man whose name is Les Dudek; he’s a guitar player. And he and I wrote this song called ‘Sister Honey’ and right when we were writing it, I started drawing Sister Honey. So Sister kind of came out of this song, and I did it [in my room] and even when it was dark, I would just kind of zero in on throwing color in and mushing it around, and I’d go up to the light for a while and go work on her. And she just grew and she became a person.”

    1985 Sister Honey drawing

    Lyrics

    Sister…

    Alright, baby
    Alright
    (Alright)
    Alright, baby
    Ooh, alright

    Well, I think you will like Sister Honey
    She will help you make up your mind
    And even if you don’t need her
    Tell her you need her
    She needs you brother
    (Sister)
    She needs you brother
    (Sister)

    Strange fascination
    Some kind of temptation
    To know Sister
    Never having allowed yourself
    Do you understand the word pleasure
    (Sister)
    Well, you say it’s just never crossed your mind
    (Sister)
    And she believes you

    Can we still be friends
    The answer’s always yes
    Even best intentions turn around one day
    Saying

    Ow, nobody’s right, baby
    Oh, all the time
    And a fool never knows what he’s leaving behind
    So take some time to know the real story
    ‘Cause a soul that’s true is your ride to glory
    Don’t let that golden hair get in your way, baby
    (Sister)
    (Sister)

    Can we still be friends
    The answer’s always yes
    Even best intentions turn around one day
    Saying

    (Alright…)
    (Sister)
    (Sister)

    Come back solemn stranger
    It’s your last chance
    She’s almost gone now

    And she’ll go fast like a jet plane
    And then fast like a star stream
    She’ll hit you with a fury
    Whispering the words one more time, baby
    (Alright…)
    One more time
    (Sister)
    (Sister)

    And she says don’t let that golden hair
    (ooh woo)
    Get in your way
    (ooh woo)
    And she says don’t let that golden hair
    (ooh woo)
    Get in your way
    (ooh woo)

    (Sister)
    (Sister)

    ‘Cause she’ll go fast like a jet plane
    And then fast like a star stream
    She’ll hit you with a fury
    Whispering the words, well, one more time now
    Just one more time

    Well, I think you will like Sister Honey
    She will help you make up your mind

    (Stevie Nicks/Les Dudek) © 1985 Welsh Witch Music (BMI)

    Musicians

    George Black Synth bass, guitar, and background vocals
    Sharon Celani Background vocals
    Les Dudek Guitar
    Charlie Judge Synthesizer
    Michael Landau Guitar
    Marilyn Martin Background vocals
    Lori Nicks Background vocals
    Stevie Nicks Lead vocals
    Rick Nowels Synthesizer
    Jamie Sheriff EMU programmer
    Maria Vidal Background vocals
    Waddy Wachtel Guitar

    Production Credits

    John Kovarek, Robert Feist, David Leonard, and Gabe Veltri Recording Engineers, Music Grinder, Village Recorders, Westlake Sunset Sound 
    George Black and Rick Nowels Mixer
    Rick Nowels Producers
    Rick Nowels, George Black, and Charles Judge Arrangers

    Release History

    References

    Nicks, S. (1985). [Liner notes]. In Rock a Little [CD]. Los Angeles: Modern Records.

    Nicks, S. (1985). Interview.

  • If Anyone Falls

    If Anyone Falls

    “If Anyone Falls” is from The Wild Heart (1983), Stevie Nicks‘ second solo album. Riding high from the success of Bella Donna (1981), Stevie began working with fellow singer-songwriter Sandy Stewart, a partnership that would continue Stevie’s string of Top 40 hits.

    Sandy had written the instrumental track on a synthesizer. She had been working on demos with producer Gordon Perry, but couldn’t come up with lyrics for this particular track. So she gave the track to Stevie, who added lyrics that would become the song “If Anyone Falls.”

    Somewhere in the back of your mind…

    • Second single from The Wild Heart
    • Inspired by guitarist Waddy Wachtel
    • Reached No. 14 on Billboard Pop Singles chart

    “[If Anyone Falls] is the first song that I wrote with Sandy, Stevie recalls. “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 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.

    Stevie shot a music video for “If Anyone Falls” and remembered having trouble with some of the dance moves. “The director wanted me to dance with this guy and throw my head back, and I couldn’t do it. We had to call in a backup singer to do it. I called her my stunt neck.” 

    The music video also featured a cameo from Mick Fleetwood, who was returning the favor of Stevie appearing in his music video for “I Want You Back” (1983). 

  • My Heart

    My Heart

    The catchy “My Heart” appears exclusively on the U.S. Barnes and Noble and international editions of Stevie Nicks‘ In Your Dreams (2011).

    Co-written by Michael Campbell, who provided the music track, Stevie originally recorded “My Heart” for Trouble in Shangri-La (2001). Although the track was completed, it was not used for the final release. The Shangri-La version is similar but contains additional lyrics and a different melody in the verses. The song is speculated to be about her longstanding relationship with former Fleetwood Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham.

    My Heart (2023 Remaster)

    My Heart (Trouble in Shangri-La outtake)

  • Juliet

    Juliet

    “Juliet” is Track 10 on The Other Side of the Mirror (1989), Stevie Nicks‘ fourth solo album. The song first surfaced as the instrumental track “Book of Miracles” on the b-side of Fleetwood Mac’s “Seven Wonders” single (1987). An early version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Juliet” (Run-Through) appears on the Deluxe Edition (1987) of Tango in the Night.

    Bruce Hornsby (“The Way It Is,” “Mandolin Rain”) sang and played piano on the completed Mirror version of “Juliet.”

    Hear the evolution of “Juliet” below.

  • Kick It

    Kick It

    “Kick It” is a sleeper track from Street Angel (1994), Stevie Nicks‘ fifth solo album. Partly inspired by Oscar Wilde’s 1888 story “The Happy Prince.” Stevie had adapted lines from Wilde’s public-domain work for the song. It’s not surprising that Stevie’s has derived inspiration from classic literary works. In addition to Wilde, Stevie has paid homage to Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe, among others, in her songs.

    In “Kick It,” Stevie sings about “A strange kind of love affair / A symphony of sorts / A strange kind of love affair / A declaration of war,” which could be Fleewood Mac, drugs, fame, or all of the above. At the time, Stevie was at a crossroads in her life, having estranged herself from Fleetwood Mac and beaten a powerful addiction to Klonopin. Stevie was ready to kick both habits, so to speak, and focus again on making creating great music.

    Lyrics

    I’ll stay with you one more night
    I’ll bid you no goodbyes
    Not until tomorrow’s light
    Then I’ll say goodnight
    Well, I would really rather die
    Than make you stop
    I think that is the meaning of love

    I think that is the meaning of love
    And I prefer to kick it
    Yes, I think that is the meaning of love
    And I prefer to kick it
    Kick the habit

    Well I’m waited for in Egypt
    It’s just something I must do
    Yes, I can see you’re waited for all over you
    All day and all night
    All over the world
    It’s your world It’s your world

    I think that is the meaning of love
    And I’m prepared to kick it
    Yes, I think that is the meaning of love
    And I prefer to kick it

    So what is this (what is this)
    When you can (when you can)
    What is this
    What about me
    What is this (What is this)
    I understand (I understand)
    What is this I’m lonely I’m lonely (I’m lonely)

    It’s a strange kind of love affair
    A symphony of sorts
    Strange kind of love affair
    A declaration of war
    No, I won’t be here tomorrow night
    You won’t see me smiling
    Tomorrow when it’s very dark
    No crying

    I think that is the meaning of love
    And I prefer to kick it
    Yes, I think that is the meaning of love
    Surrender

    Well, I think that is the meaning of love (think that’s the meaning of love)
    I think that is the meaning of love (love, love)
    And I prefer to kick it
    Yes, I think that is the meaning of love (love, love)
    But, I prefer to kick it

    Well, I loved you more than life itself (love, love)
    (Nothing like forever more)
    But I’m prepared to kick it
    (Something like dying)
    Yes, I loved you more than life itself (love, love)
    But I’m prepared to kick it
    I think that is the meaning of love
    And I’m prepared to kick it

    (Stevie Nicks/Mike Campbell) © 1994 Welsh Witch Music (BMI)/Wild Gator Music (ASCAP) (Stevie Nicks/Mike Campbell) © 1994 Welsh Witch Music (BMI)/Wild Gator Music (ASCAP)

    Musicians

    Michael Campbell Electric Guitar
    Sharon Celani, Sara Fleetwood, Lori Nicks Vocal Harmonies
    Andy Fairweather Low Electric Guitar
    Cat Gray Synthesizer
    Ethan Johns Drums, Percussion, Slide Guitar
    Bernie Leadon Guitar
    John Pierce Bass

    Reference

    Wilde, Oscar (1888). The Happy Prince.