Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /home/penguin/mysql_connect.php on line 14
The Penguin Discography: Running Through The Garden




  - Advanced Search

    Song Title »
Running Through The Garden
    Authors »
Ray(mond) (Louis) Kennedy, Gary (Tolbert) Nicholson, Stevie Nicks

    Year Written »
2003

    Lyrics »

Until she herself
Became the deadliest poison
As she grew older
Until she herself
Became just as fatal
As her garden

And so you run toward
What you know is wrong
But there are too many flowers to cut down
For the love I have for your life
For the love I have for your life
Turn around

Never did I mean to
Imprison you
Here in my garden
Like I am imprisoned
For the love that I have for your life
For the love that I have for your life
Turn around

Until she herself
Understood her garden
Leaving her heart broken
No future at all
Until she herself
Became the toxic garden
Always frightened
No future at all

And so you run toward
What you know is wrong
But there are too many flowers to cut down
For the love I have for your life
For the love I have for your life
Turn around

Never did I mean to
Imprison you
Here in my garden
Like I am imprisoned
For the love that I have for your life
For the love that I have for your life
Turn around

So you run toward
What you know is wrong
But there are too many flowers to cut down
For the love I have for your life
For the love I have for your life
Turn around

    Fan Interpretation »

Translated by Suzy Vermoesen

Song Inspired by : 'Rappaccini's daughter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

'Rappaccini's Daughter' is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's (author of The scarlet letter) most famous short stories.

The tendency of this story is that nature not only stands for innocence and the divine, but also hides darkness and danger.

The story starts as a fairy tale. Giovanni is studying in medieval Padua. From his window he watches docter Rappaccini studiously nursing his exceptional plants in the garden . The boy notices that Rappaccini anxiously avoids to touch the plants or to inhale their scents. Fortunately his beautiful daughter Beatrice takes care of the plants lovingly and without fear.

Giovanni becomes spellbound by this unspoilt scenery but also has his doubts. The flowers that he throws Beatrice wither in her hands.
His professor warns him about Rappaccini's experiments, of which his daughter seems to be the most successful one.

Beatrice, embodying the garden of Eden, is herself the serpent in her own paradise. Whoever comes too close to her will die of the
deadly poison she exhales. The more intense her feelings for Giovanni become, the bigger the danger.

A suitable subject for Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks. She frequently uses her distinct fascination for fairy tales and myths in her
song lyrics, in which the adventures of witches ('Rhiannon', 'Sisters of the moon') and magicians ('Sorcerer') blend with that
what intrigues people endlessly : the love that never lasts but leaves its traces for eternity.
Any fan knows that Lindsey Buckingham was the brain behind the unique Fleetwood Mac sound, but Stevie Nicks has single handedly
marked the image of Fleetwood Mac more than any other member of this British-American band.
Underneath her whirly dresses hides a woman who sees a song or poem in every experience. Not seldom will one of her lovers
find himself in a song years later, sometimes loving, sometimes mercyless, in beautiful but raisorsharp words.

What Nicks does with 'Rappaccini's daughter' in 'Running through the garden' is almost self-evidently autobiographical.

The woman in the song is trapped in her self-spun web of fame,commitment and addictions - in the eighties Nicks first beat a cocaine
addiction and then tranquilizers. She chases her lover from her paradise because she knows that he will find only disaster. She wants him
to lead a normal life at a safe distance of the deadly flowers that blossom there and the poison they are spreading.

Nicks' vision regarding the combination of a woman rock star and a longterm relationship is a pessimistic one.

Whether her affairs were with a musician, a top producer, the husband of her recently deceased friend or the mailman, the end was
predictable. None of them could live with her tumultuous and unpredictable life on the road.
In 'Running through the garden' the music speeds in a fast and nervous pace. Disaster approaches and Nicks cannot conjure her lover
fast enough to leave her garden. Buckingham (the major,abused,wounded love of long-time ago) chasing her with the guitar and backing
vocals, renders the song a legendary ambiguity. One that they will probably fight out in their music for the rest of their lives.

(The interpretations to these lyrics were compiled through discussions on the message boards of the Penguin, The Ledge. It is entirely possible that the artists had something completely different in mind.)

    Tabs »
If you would like to submit tabs for this song, click here.

    Performances »
Running Time 4:33
Sound Clip Listen.
Performers Stevie Nicks (Vocals), Stevie Nicks (Additional Keyboards), Lindsey Buckingham (Vocals), Lindsey Buckingham (Guitars), Lindsey Buckingham (Percussion), Lindsey Buckingham (Korg Triton 7 Keyboards), Lindsey Buckingham (Yamaha Motif 8 Keyboards), John McVie (Bass), Mick Fleetwood (Drums), Mick Fleetwood (Percussion), Lindsey Buckingham (Produced By), Mark Needham (Mixed By)
CommentsMixed at Cornerstone Recording and Conway Studios
Appears On
Say You Will (2003)
Fleetwood Mac

    Comments »

(C) 2003 Welsh Witch Music, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Gary Nicholson Music, Me Own Songs (ASCAP). All rights on behalf of Welsh Witch Music, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC and Gary Nicholson Music administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. (BMI)

    Reviews »
Add your review of Running Through The Garden here.

5/5.05/5.05/5.05/5.05/5.0
Amazing
Review written by Anonymous, December 18th, 2008

THIS SONG IS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hear Stevie's most passionate vocals in a while and instruments are amazing.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ALL FLEETWOOD MAC FANS OLD OR NEW LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Last Modified »
2008-11-24

    Discography Credits »
Interpretation prepared by De Standaard (Belgian Newspaper).