You don't have to know a lot about me to know that I LOVE Stevie Nicks. Tuesday May 26 is her birthday and we are going to celebrate here this weekend.
Whether with Fleetwood Mac or on her own no single artist has ever influenced my writing more. To this day if I am going to write something new about witches I put Stevie and let the words flow.
We first hear of Stevie Nicks in the 1975 self title Fleetwood Mac album. Stevie and then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham had joined the band bringing Rhianon with them. Stevie had heard the story of Rhianon from a book, and only later heard of the Welsh Goddess. She would often introduce the song as "This is a song about an old Welsh witch..."
Stevie went on to record her first solo album. The enchanting Bella Donna. While many of us were already in love with her from Rumours and Tusk, this solidified her hold as the Queen of Rock.
"The Edge of Seventeen" came about because Stevie could not understand Tom Petty's wife's thick southern accent. Either way it gave us one of the enduring Stevie Nicks images, the White Winged Dove.
Fleetwood Mac was at their height when 1982's Mirage was released. The album had a number of hits but the most Stevie of all the songs was "Gypsy". Mirage my have been the swan song of the Fleetwood Mac that was, but Stevie never rose higher.
Shortly after the Mirage tour came to an end Stevie threw herself right into the recording of what would become, in my humble opinion, her greatest album to date. This is the album I had playing on cassette when I wrote the first draft of the witch class. This is the album I listened to on CD when I made my 2nd Ed. Netbook. And this is the album I listened to on MP3 when I wrote The Witch.
The Wild Heart is one of the best albums ever. My memory of this album is I got it for my 13th birthday just as soon as it was out.
Featuring keyboards by none other than the Purple One himself, Prince, "Stand Back" is not very witchy, but I love it all the same.
"Nightbird" the song that launched a 100 characters. I wanted my witch character to be as awesome as this song and to look like Stevie. It was 1983, but it is still just as true today 32 years later.
This version from "Solid Gold" is still one of my favorites. In an age when artists were just lip-syncing their own songs Stevie was singing hers. She is joined here by her longtime back up singer, best friend and sister-in-law Lori Nicks singing the parts that Stevie over-dubbed on the album.
Stevie has spent years trying to escape the image of the "Witchy Woman" only to embrace it full on in season 3 of "American Horror Story". The finale for "Coven" was an episode featuring what can only be called a Stevie Nicks video. The song and the episode was called "The Seven Wonders". The album was Tango in the Night from 1987. The last Fleetwood Mac album I ever bought on tape. Yeah. We used to buy tapes.
You can watch the American Horror Story: Coven version below.
There are so many more of course. But that is good for tonight.
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