“Beautiful Child” is Track 17 on Fleetwood Mac’s 12th studio album Tusk (1979).
About the Song
Stevie wrote “Beautiful Child” about her brief relationship with late Beatles road manager Derek Taylor in 1977.
“[‘Beautiful Child’] is from an experience that sent me in tears — it’s real sad.” (Scottsdale Daily Progress, August 1977)
“This is one of my very favourite ballads. It’s so from the heart. It was written about an English man I was crazy about who was quite a bit older than me — another one of my doomed relationships. He used to read poetry out loud to me in his beautiful English voice, and I would sit at his feet, just mesmerized, and he would say, ‘You are a beautiful child,’ and I’d say, ‘I’m not a child anymore.’ He was married, so we stopped because it was going to hurt a lot of people. The song is like a straight retelling of the last night of that relationship. Every time I sing it I’m transported back to the Beverly Hills Hotel and walking across the grounds to get a cab after saying goodbye” —Tusk Deluxe Edition (2015) liner notes.
Lyrics
Beautiful child
Beautiful child
You are a beautiful child
And I am a fool once more
You fell in love when I was only ten
The years disappeared
Much has gone by since then
I bite my lip, can you send me away
You touch
I have no choice
I have to stay
I had to stay
Sleepless child
There is so little time
Your eyes say yes
But you don’t say yes
I wish that you were mine
You say it will be harder in the morning
I wait for you to say, just go
Your hands, held mine so few hours
And I’m not a child anymore
I’m not a child anymore
I’m tall enough
To reach for the stars
I’m old enough
To love you from afar
To trusting… yes?
But then women usually are
I’m not a child anymore
No, I’m not a child, oh no
Tall enough to reach for the stars
I will do as I’m told
Even if I never hold you again
I never hold you again
Sleepless child
There is so little time
Your eyes say yes
But you don’t say yes
I wish that you were mine
Well, I wish that you were mine
I wish that you were mine
(Stevie Nicks) © 1979 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) Admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI)
