July 28, 2008 Earworm

I've given much love to Lindsey Buckingham throughout the earworm pages - and no, Toonces, not because of the jeans - while giving scant attention to his muse and, one would think, albatross, Stevie Nicks.

Yes, I know... but...

Okay, let's just get it out of the way...

"Stevie, love the Frankenboots but I'm going to ask you one more time to put my mom's sheers back up in the front room window. And Ronnie Spector called and she wants her vibrato back..."

Poor Stevie, our Welsh witchy gold dust woman, went solo and all those grating tendencies were allowed to run rampant. Worse, the push for those solo hits allowed for some of the ghastliest sell out sounds outside of Jefferson Starship. Blow abuse and weight gains and all the other excesses associated with two decades not known for discretion took its toll. And then, as VH1 told us, "tragedy struck".

Still, the girl could write a great song and, in her hippy-dippy LA chic pre-solo period, had a place on my bedroom wall where her California glow amplified the sun coming in from the window. Stevie needs someone looking after her and if it wasn't Lindsey or the other Mac's, the best parental guidance came from Tom Petty and arguably her best record was their first duet, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", an accidental record. Petty had written another song for her but had a change of heart at the last minute, prompting him to offer up "Stop Draggin'..." as a replacement. As recording commenced, all involved realized that the song worked best as a duet. Thankfully, Don Henley wasn't around at that moment...

Of course, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" sounds like a Heartbreakers record that just happens to feature Stevie Nicks which is probably why it has aged as well as it has. With that said, it would be easy to discount Stevie because of it but anyone who has heard the Petty demo knows that it's Stevie who makes the whole thing pop.

Stevie would "duet" with Tom and crew on "Run To You" for her next album but it would be overlooked for single release. Instead, "Stand Back" would be chosen and my recent discovery of that songs inspiration and the source of that songs uncredited yet most royal synth work left me almost as slackjawed as I was when I saw the pre-aerobic tread mill video for it. But that's another story and/or fodder for your google itch.