Nicolina performed an emotional rendition of Stevie Nicks‘ “Edge of Seventeen” in American Idol‘s Top 20 round.
Nicolina began softly accompanied by just the piano, sounding a lot like Stevie would perform the song as a piano demo. She gradually built up steam and belted out the famous chorus that we all love and sing along to: “Just like the white winged dove / Sings a song sounds like she’s singing / Ooh ooh ooh.”
Nailed it, Nicolina!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIAZakarS74
Family Guy‘s Peter Griffin danced to “Edge of Seventeen” in a flashback scene where Peter has taken his daughter Meg to a Stevie Nicks concert (Season 20, Episode 15).
In the scene, Meg asks Peter at the Stevie show, “What do you think she’s gonna play next, Dad?” Peter replies, “I don’t know, but if it’s ‘Edge of Seventeen,’ back up, I need some twirling room.” Immediately, the distinctive opening bars of “Edge of Seventeen” start, and Peter begins to twirl to the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJrIN7Ag4zE
Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder by Mark David Chapman. His death inspired a number of songs, including Elton John’s “Empty Garden” and George Harrison’s “All Those Years Ago.” But one of Stevie Nicks’ best-known hits, 1981’s “Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White-Winged Dove),” was also inspired by Lennon’s death…at least partially.
“It was like he was the white-winged dove and he left,” Stevie says of John. “You know…one of the really great singer-songwriters in the biggest band in the world had died, and how unexpected and unacceptable that was and also how scary that was.”
“That was frightening for all of us in this business,” she adds. “We all felt, if that can happen to him, it could sure as hell happen to any of us. So there was a fear thing that happened then and it scared everybody.”
“You know…why in the world does somebody do that?” she continues. “Jealousy, envy? Why would you want to take the life of somebody that we all cared about so much?”
Additionally, according to Stevie, the line in the song “the sea does not change” refers to the fact that she found out about Lennon’s death in Australia while looking out on the ocean, while the reference to “the night bird,” she says, “signified death, as opposed to the white-winged dove.”
But Stevie says the song was also about another famous rock star: Her friend Tom Petty. Specifically, she says, it was the lyric “He was no more than a baby then/Well he seemed broken-hearted/Something within him.”
“So that was really a song that kind of blended into two people for two different reasons,” Stevie says. “And I don’t really know or remember why.”
Andrea Dresdale / ABC Radio News / Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Stevie Nicks has had quite a year. On top of the viral resurgence of Fleetwood Mac‘s “Dreams,” her celebrated arrival to TikTok, and her new song with Miley Cyrus, the rock icon’s hit song “Edge of Seventeen” is also featured in the newest season of The Crown.
The coming-of-age anthem soundtracks a blissful montage in Season 4, Episode 3, featuring Lady Diana Spencer (played by Emma Corrin) after she gets engaged to Prince Charles. She and her roommates squeal with joy over the news, then dress up for a night out dancing. The 19-year-old Diana and princess-to-be is on top of the world.
“This is the happiest moment we see Diana in the show and we discussed early on the idea of having a song to run across this montage of Diana celebrating with her friends, heading out on the town and to transition the song to play in the nightclub,” The Crown‘s music supervisor Sarah Bridge tells BAZAAR.com.
Nicks’s 1981 hit was one of the first songs sent to director Benjamin Caron before filming the scene, “and he immediately came back saying he loved it,” Bridge recalls.
“Aside from personally being a huge Stevie Nicks fan, I felt that the song captured the spirit of the euphoric happiness that Diana was feeling in this moment,” she adds. “Her life was changing forever and she was full of hope and happiness—her dreams were coming true.”
“Edge of Seventeen” was Bridge’s number-one choice for the montage, “and Stevie was by all accounts very keen to have the song featured within the show,” she says.
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The track appears again for the end credits of that episode, but only featuring Nicks’s bare-bones vocals. “We were sent the stems [the individual musical elements of a track] for editing purposes and once we received, were listening to the raw beauty of the a cappella. This led to us trying it over the end which felt both beautiful and haunting,” she says.
“The idea of featuring Stevie’s isolated vocals over the end titles felt very significant and connected to the place where Diana found herself at the end of the episode.”
“Edge of Seventeen” is just one of many ’80s jams in this season of The Crown, especially in the moments featuring Diana. “Call Me” by Blondie plays as she answers the phone; “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran plays while she skates through Buckingham Palace; and Elton John’s wistful “Song for Guy” plays when she’s dancing alone.
“Season 4 was a very exciting prospect musically. In part due to us stepping into the ‘80s and of course due to the stories depicted in Peter Morgan’s phenomenal writing,” Bridge says.
“Peter and I spoke very early on (at script level) to discuss his vision for an increase in source music throughout this season, at which point we collaboratively discussed scenes and ways in which we could embed music within the script and consequently throughout the filming. Some of the songs were chosen in the early stages of pre-production and others came later once into the edit.”
The song choices were “naturally influenced” by the characters and storyline, Bridge explains, and this season “focuses heavily on a young Lady Diana and the vast transitions she went through at a very early age.”
She adds, “We witness both her incredible strength of character grow throughout the season intermixed with visions of her vulnerability, loneliness and longing to belong, to be loved.”
“I think one of the most prominent moments that exemplify this is the use of ‘Song For Guy’ by Elton John in Episode 3. A scene in which Diana is feeling utterly alone and despairing, she is losing herself in dance and music—it is a bittersweet moment of sadness and empowerment. We explored several ideas for this sequence but the chosen song just captured all of the emotional energy and movement of her performance.”
Bridge “certainly did a lot of research” on the late princess’s musical taste and favorite artists. “Duran Duran was known to be one of her favorite bands,” she says.
“Working on a period piece is always a fun and explorative journey. Alongside the research, the role of the music supervisor is to explore creative ideas that heighten the narrative at play, that complement the characters and tonally lift the film. We go on an incredibly emotional journey with Diana and sought to score this both with Martin Phipps’s original music and songs that felt true to her character.”
Erica Gonzales / Harper’s Bazaar / Sunday, November 22, 2020
Stevie kept her promise to stay in touch during the pandemic, sharing a great story on her social media sites about the white winged dove that inspired her 1981 rock opus, “Edge of Seventeen.” Most surprising was her admission that she had never actually heard the dove sing until recently.
Read Stevie’s full post below.
In 1980 I was flying home from Phoenix Arizona and I was handed a menu that said, “The white wing dove sings a song that sounds like she’s singing ooh, ooh, ooh. She makes her home here in the great Saguaro cactus that provides shelter and protection for her…”
As you well know, I was very taken with that whole picture and went on to write “Edge of Seventeen.” But over the last 40 years I can honestly say, I have never heard a dove sing~ until now. Several days ago, outside my room, I started to hear the sound of a bird singing the same thing over and over. One little Ahhh~ and then three OOH’s~ over and over again. I thought it was an owl, but a friend said, “No, that’s a dove!” I started to cry. This dove had come here to watch over me.
So we filmed her singing her song and I am sending her out to you.
With love,
Stevie Nicks
p.s. She has been here for days. I think she’s here for good.
https://www.facebook.com/stevienicks/posts/3117031964973536
In 1980 I was flying home from Phoenix Arizona and I was handed a menu that said, “The white wing dove sings a song that sounds like she’s singing ooh, ooh, ooh. She makes her home here in the great Saguaro cactus that provides shelter and protection for her…” pic.twitter.com/UzqvdnVv0p
— Stevie Nicks (@StevieNicks) April 7, 2020
In promotion of her upcoming 24 Karat Gold Tour, Stevie Nicks performed her classic 1981 rock anthem “Edge of Seventeen” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired on Monday. Ellen shared the performance on her official website. The clip is embedded below.
The performance featured the return of singer Marilyn Martin (“Separate Ways,” “Night Moves”), who last performed with Stevie on The Wild Heart Tour in 1983. Joining fellow backup vocalist Sharon Celani, Marilyn will be filling in for Lori Nicks, who decided to sit out for the 24 Karat Gold Tour.
[slideshow_deploy id=’374788′]After the performance, Ellen embraced Stevie and let the audience know about the upcoming 24 Karat Gold Tour. To celebrate the tour, Ellen will be giving away tickets to every show on the tour. Click here to enter for a chance to win tickets to a show near you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MmPqb3SoOI
This rarely-seen video for “Edge of Seventeen” has moments of pure telenovela, which just beg for Stevie’s retrospective commentary. For example, why was brother Christopher shaking Stevie so violently (at 3:38)? Did he want her magical doll? Why is Stevie walking on the beach in her beautiful black dress? Many unanswered questions! So it’s a surprise to see it missing from the Crystal Visions…The Very Best of Stevie Nicks DVD video compilation, when the equally-campy “Scarlett Version” of “Stand Back” was included. Like that video, “Edge” has everything that we love most about Stevie Nicks videos: drama, passion, and endless spinning! Stevie’s lip-syncing skills, still in their formative years, would probably get her voted off RuPaul’s Drag Race, but there is certainly no shortness of creativity, uniqueness, nerve, and talent in this raw, over-the-EDGE performance.
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (#213) and Edge of Seventeen (#229) made the list of The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born! in the October 2005 special issue of Blender magazine. The list ranks 500 songs, culling “the best tunes of the ’80s, ’90s and the totally awesome aughts.”
