“Fall from Grace” is Track 12 on Trouble in Shangri-La, Stevie Nicks‘ sixth solo album. It follows “Bombay Sapphires” and precedes “Love Is” in the album track order.
About ‘Fall from Grace’
Stevie wrote “Fall from Grace” possibly about an altercation(s) that occurred during Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance Tour in 1997. “That song’s about Lindsey (Buckingham). That’s after The Dance. I wrote that in 1998. So that’s right…1998, 1999…that’s right after The Dance. He tries not to push [my buttons] so much now because I really don’t like it, and I don’t like to be…I don’t want to be angry with him now. But he knows how to get to me, absolutely. But I’m only saving him in that song… It basically says, as angry as I am at you, I’m only really trying to help you. So at the end, when it comes to the end, it’s basically turns the whole thing around, almost like he does on ‘Never Going Back Again’ when he says, you know, ‘I’m never going back again’ and blah blah blah, but then he says, ‘come around and see me again,’ and ‘Fall from Grace’ is kind of like that” (Flick, 2009).
“The original version of the song had all these verses, too many in [producer John Shank’s] opinion,” Stevie recalls. “So we set out to edit the song to fit a workable structure, and it was just breaking my heart to let some of the words slip away.”
Stevie credits actresses Rosanna Arquette and Laura Dern (friends of Sheryl Crow, who were hanging out in the studio with Stevie and producer John Shanks), for saving the verses. “Poor John, they were yelling at him and giving him a hard time. Rosanna and Laura told him, ‘John, put these things back in — you’re screwing up the story!’ It was all done in fun and good spirit, but it convinced me that I had to fight for my words. Before the night was done, we got every syllable in. And it’s become one of my favorite songs on the album” (WEA Records, 2001).
Lyrics
I choose to be his confidant
And to keep him from the fire
I choose to be quietly discreet
If that is his desire
I touch with gossamer wings
To be quiet around you
There is so much going on
You could easily
Wake up with a stranger
It’s not something you plan
One night in a world of pain
And you finally understand
Not all the king’s horses
Not all the king’s men
Could put it back together
You say you wouldn’t do this for very long
The applause from it all is so defining
Well it bounces off the wall at you
When the miracle is happening
High priestess…she’s the keeper of the peace in this
Twice as much, intensified
What people will do
To get…this…high
It’s not something you plan
One night in a world of pain
And you finally understand
Not all the king’s horses
Not all the king’s men
Could put it back together
And now alone in my room
As it all begins again (as it all begins again)
Was I so wrong
Why am I always so intense (always so intense)
In this same place I sit
The same place as before
Well I came all the way here
Just to watch you walk out that door
I didn’t ask when you shook your head
I always accepted what you said
As the truth and the truth only
Well it’s not enough that you depend on me
And it’s not enough that you say you love me
It’s not enough to just save face
Because sometimes
You just fall from grace
Sometimes
You just fall from grace
Maybe I am calmer now
Maybe things are fine
Maybe I made the whole thing up
Maybe it isn’t a lie
Maybe the reason I say these things
Is to bring you back alive
Ooh, maybe I fought this long and this hard
Just to make sure you survive, yeah
Just to make sure you survive
(Stevie Nicks) © 1999 ℗ Welsh Witch Music (BMI)
Fall from Grace
Fall from Grace (Live in Chicago)
Reference
Flick, L. (host). (2009, April 8). The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick [Radio broadcast]. Sirius.
WEA Records (2001, June 3). Stevie Nicks biography [Press release].
TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA: Trouble in Shangri-La | Candlebright | Sorcerer | Planets of the Universe | Every Day | Too Far From Texas | That Made Me Stronger | It’s Only Love | Love Changes | I Miss You | Bombay Sapphires | Fall From Grace | Love Is