STEVIE NICKS INFO

Category: About the Song

  • Sorcerer

    Sorcerer

    “Sorcerer” is one song in Stevie Nicks’ vast catalog with an interesting and unusual recording journey.

    Stevie wrote “Sorcerer” back in the early 1970s, as she and Lindsey Buckingham started to navigate the Los Angeles music scene and business. Buckingham Nicks rehearsed the song but did not include it on their debut album.

    In 1983, Stevie rehearsed the song again for The Wild Heart sessions, recording a version that later surfaced on the deluxe edition of The Wild Heart (2016).

    In 1984, Stevie gave the song to Marilyn Martin to record for the Streets of Fire motion picture soundtrack. Martin’s version, with Stevie on backup vocals, featured a piano-driven arrangement and alternate lyrics.

    Streets of Fire Stevie Nicks Sorcerer Marilyn Martin 1984
    Streets of Fire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984)

    Stevie finally recorded the song for herself on Trouble in Shangri-La, staying true to the original Buckingham Nicks demo with the help of Sheryl Crow. “Sheryl challenged me to explore different areas of my voice,” Stevie recalls, noting the soulful falsetto that she reaches during the song’s initial verses. “It was fun to do, and it wound up working so well within the song’s arrangement.

  • Garbo

    Garbo

    Stevie Nicks wrote “Garbo” about the “infamous photo session for the Buckingham Nicks cover.” Despite her reluctance to pose nude on the cover, which would have shocked her parents, Stevie went along with the idea “for art, for the music.” Stevie later reflected on the awkward experience in the acoustic “Garbo,” comparing herself to female movie stars and pondering whether they had done uncomfortable things for the sake of their craft or careers…perhaps Greta Garbo?

    During the 1998 Enchanted Tour, the only time that “Garbo” has been performed onstage, Stevie revealed how she spent her last $110 on a beautiful blouse to wear for the photo session, only to be asked to remove it later.

    Interestingly, Stevie wrote “Greta” for Street Angel (1994), but it was about a completely different topic!

    Lyrics

    I love to waltz with a man in a dark linen suit
    All alone at a party with someone I knew
    From a time gone by turned into stone

    You could be Garbo or even Marlene
    You could be Marilyn
    Or you could forget

    I play the part but then all of us do
    And I do it so well as I do it to you
    In this town full of strangers
    In this town full of fools
    Venus doesn’t glitter when she stands next to you
    When you’re waltzing through stardom
    You miss what you lose

    Lose yourself in a silvery dress
    For you think you must do what you feel you do best
    And you mustn’t give it up for you’re still but a guest

    You could be Garbo or even Marlene
    Or you could forget

    Forget…
    Forget…
    Forget…
    You could be Garbo…
    You could forget…
    You could forget…

    (Stevie Nicks) © 1982 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) / Admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI)

    Musicians

    Bob Glaub: Bass
    Bobbye Hall: Percussion
    Russ Kunkel: Drums
    Benmont Tench: Organ
    Waddy Wachtel: Guitar
    Sharon Celani & Lori Perry: Background vocals

    Produced by Jimmy Iovine

    Reference

    Nicks, S. (1998). Enchanted: The Works of Stevie Nicks.