“Cheaper Than Free” is Track 13 on In Your Dreams (2011), Stevie Nicks’ seventh solo album. It follows “Italian Summer” in the running order.
About the Song
Stevie Nicks and Dave Stewart wrote “Cheaper Than Free” in Los Angeles and Nashville.
The promotional video for “Cheaper Than Free” features Stevie Nicks, Dave Stewart, members of Nicks’ recording band, and a cameo appearance by actress Reese Witherspoon, who inspired the title of the song. “Reese Witherspoon was in the studio watching me and Stevie record, and when I said I was coming to Nashville for the first time she said, ‘Oh, you can stay in my condo,’” Dave Stewart recalls. “Stevie said, ‘Yeah, that would be cheap,’ and Reese said, ‘What’s cheaper than free?’ I turned around and said, ‘Hey, that’s a great song,’ and Stevie and I wrote it.”
But writing the actual song would be much more involved, as the love song was co-written long-distance between Dave in Nashville and Stevie in L.A. “I’m sitting there in the control room, and Dave and Stevie are on the phone together writing the song,” Blackbird Studios owner John McBride recalls. “They’re writing the lyrics right there in front of us, and 10 minutes later, we’re recording [the band tracks]. The whole experience of being in Dave’s world was like that. It’s crazy, but it’s crazy in a great way.”
On April 13, 2011, Reprise Records released the video for “Cheaper Than Free,” three weeks prior to the release of In Your Dreams.
Lyrics
What’s cheaper than free
You and me
What’s better than alone
Going home
What does money not buy
You and I
What’s not to feel
When love is real
What’s faster than a fast car
A beating heart
What’s deeper than a deep well
The love into which I fell
More important than freedom
Being needed
More exciting than high fashion
High passion
What’s brighter than a smile
You child
You child
What’s brighter than a smile
You child
You child
You child
You child
What’s warmer than a sun-drenched land
Your hand
Your hand
Your hand
(Stevie Nicks/Dave Stewart) © 2011 Welsh Witch Music (BMI) Admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI) / Fab World Music (BMI). All administrated worldwide by songs of Kobalt Music Publishing.
Video produced and directed by Dave Stewart and Paul Boyd for Weapons of Mass Entertainment. Edited by Shane McClafferty.
References
Evans-Price, D. (2011, May 28). Dave Stewart finds inspiration in Nashville, Reese Witherspoon on Blackbird Diaries. Retrieved from www.billboard.com
Schultz, B. (2011, August). Dave Stewart: the blackbird diaries documents wild ride in Nashville
Electronic Musician. 27.8: p28.
Warner Music Group. (2011, April 13). Stevie Nicks: Cheaper Than Free. Retrieved from www.youtube.com