“Show Them the Way” (2020) is a standalone, digital-only track by Stevie Nicks.
Release
“Show Them the Way” was released to digital streaming services on Friday, October 9, 2020.
About the Song
“Show Them the Way” was inspired by a dream that Stevie had while in Chicago editing the PBS concert special Stevie Nicks Live in Chicago in 2008. After spending all day in the studio, Stevie went home and watched the Democratic primaries and documentaries about the civil rights movement. “I was like a student of history,” Stevie said. (Bell, 2020).
In the song, Stevie describes performing at a political benefit attended by historical figures Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, John Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy. The song includes several verses and is anchored by the inspiring chorus: “Please God, show ’em the way / Please God, on this day / Spirits all, give them the strength / Peace can come if you really want it.”
Recorded remotely in the fall of 2020, the song features Dave Stewart on guitar and Dave Grohl on drums.
“I’m so proud of [‘Show Them the Way’] and in this time of strife for all of us (2020’s COVID-19 pandemic and the civil and political unrest in the U.S.), I’m hoping that the song might be something that will make people feel better and give them some hope.
“I made a video for this song that’s mostly photographs, but I shot a small portion of it in my entryway. I put on my boots for a couple of hours and for those hours I felt like myself again. I feel like Cinderella putting on her glass slippers. At five-foot-seven, I feel incredibly powerful, at five-foot-one in a pair of bedroom slippers or tennis shoes, I don’t feel so powerful” (Player, 2020).
“I did hold [‘Show Them the Way’] back for almost 13 years, and then I thought I wanted it out three weeks before [the 2020 U.S.] election, hoping that it might become like a theme song — something that maybe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could play, something that was written for all the people that are running to take this country back. It’s the first time that I’ve really written a song that was not just a really good song, but it was a really good song with a purpose. And so I’m hoping that they keep playing it, and then it actually does what I sent it out into the world to do” (Parker, 2020).
Dedication
On December 2, Stevie released a lyric video for “Show Them the Way” (Piano Version) and dedicated it to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I dedicate this lyric video for “Show Them The Way” to our new President and Vice President ~ Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ~ and to all of the brilliant people they have already gathered to go on this adventure with them.
“This is the original version of the song. In the rock and roll version, I asked my producer, Greg Kurstin, to write a bridge in the middle of the song~ because I had one more thing to say. I sat at my desk and wrote the new words down on paper~ I wanted to make the prophecy~ before the end of September~ before the election~
…That they would win…
“When Greg sent me the new bridge~ I went to my living room and sang the new words…
Please God,
Show him the way~
Please God
Show her the way~
Oh Please God
Show them the way~
Please God~
I think God heard me. And now I can breathe again…finally.
Good luck to you both. I know you will do great things. I feel it in my bones~
With love,
Stevie Nicks”
Show Them the Way (Official Music Video)
Show Them the Way (6:31)
Show Them the Way – Acoustic Piano Version (6:22)
Show Them the Way (Piano Version) (Official Lyric Video)
Stream / Buy
Versions
Show Them the Way (6:31)
Show Them the Way – Acoustic Piano Version (6:22)
Produced by Greg Kurstin
Music video directed by Cameron Crowe
Lyrics
Please God, show ’em the way
Please God, on this day
Spirits all, give them the strength
Peace can come if you really want it
I had a fragile dream in a gray house in the Hamptons
I’d been there before, singing songs and doing benefits
Was in a room alone putting on my makeup
Like so many things that come to me, the dress came across the Persian carpet
As I fell into the dress, a thought came to me
Into my heart, I have a dream
And a door opened
I turned to face the music
I was ready for the Kennedys
I don’t know if it was 1960 or 1963
Everything was timeless, even me
I wasn’t old, I wasn’t young, I was just part of their dream
A shadow walked with me down the hall, it was Martin Luther King
All in shadow, all before me, overwhelmed by
Destiny, someone said, “Sing us a song
There’s a piano” and handed me a drink
The room was full of hope, a song would set them free
And I said
Please God, show ’em the way
Please God, on this day
Spirits all, give them the strength
Peace can come if you really want it
I sat at the piano, stared out of the shadows
I sang the words, “I have a dream”
He wasn’t my old friend John, I didn’t know him then
But he smiled at me, and I sang these words
Whatever it takes
Whatever it takes to be free
No, I didn’t know these men
But they knew me
It was all symbolic, nothing was as it seemed
They all left us in a single shot but they didn’t take the dream
They were there in that house, discussing the future
And drinking champagne, I was just a piano player
The voice, part of their dream
I was thirty five and maybe I was fifteen
It was just another night in the presence of Martin Luther King
I was just a dreamer, I was ready for the Kennedys
And I said
Please God, show ’em the way
Please God, on this day
Light the fire, start it over
Tell the world about the dream
Start it up and make it real
Please God
Show him the way
Please God
Show her the way
Please God
Show them the way
Please God
Back in the room where it all began
My heart began to heal, I believe it
I remember the beauty of the Hamptons
Shadows playing in the sun
A voice said, “The dream is not over, no
The dream has just begun”
I spun around to see another shadow
Slipping through the door
And my eyes opened wide, “What is this all for?”
And the shadow said, “Don’t forget it, don’t forget
What we were fighting for, don’t forget it”
And I said
Please God, show ’em the way
(It’s just another night)
Please God, on this day
(Martin Luther King)
Spirits all, give them the strength
(Sing us a song)
Peace can come if you fight for it
(Don’t forget it)
Think we’re just in time to say
(Ooh, and said, oh said)
Please God, show ’em the way
(All in shadow)
Please God, on this day
(All before me)
Spirits all, give them the strength
Peace can come if you fight for it
Think we’re just in time to say this
Set them free…
Room was full of hope
Please God, show ’em the way
(I believe it)
Please God, on this day
(Don’t forget it)
Spirits all, give them the strength
(Don’t forget what
We were fighting for)
Think we’re just in time to say
Peace can come if you fight for it
Peace can come if you try harder
Peace can come, ooh, if you really want it
The dream
Don’t forget it, please God
Show them the way
(Stevie Nicks/Greg Kurstin)
Musicians
Stevie Nicks: Lead vocals
Greg Kurstin: Keyboards
Dave Stewart: Guitar
Dave Grohl: Drums
Sharon Celani, Lori Nicks: Backup vocals