Thank you all so much. This is the hardest interpretation I've ever done, and I think it's the last of the four I've done. This really was harder than writing any paper (and far more enjoyable.) I really enjoyed writing this. I hope it makes sense, and I'm open to all questions and comments.
After working on this interpretation I'm thoroughly convinced that this song is her best solo song ever, lyrically, vocally, and musically, June 20, 1999)
There's something about the vocal that just gives me shivers, because it's just so real. People will understand that probably more than a lot of other things, because it definitely takes you through your nervous breakdown, and through your recovery and it takes you through your survival ... this was very much meant to be shared and given to people, to have them just love the idea that they have wild heart-Stevie Nicks, The Wild Heart Press Kit, 1983.
Something in my heart died last night
Just one more chip off an already broken heart
I think the heart broke long ago
That's when I needed you
When I needed you most
That's when I needed you
When I needed you most
She compares her heart to one of stone or crystal, but it doesn't mean that she lacks the capacity for emotion. It's actually the opposite of that. Through the years, she has taken so much despair and so much heartache. Her heart has been pushed to the limits and it breaks again and again and the torture of it slowly takes part of it away. It never completely wears away, because it's immortal, kind of like a diamond. She acknowledges that this is not the first nor the last time it will happen. In the Jim Ladd interview, Stevie remarks:
"Probably, what I'm saying ~ One more chip off an already broken heart ~ is probably saying that some of the love that I probably search for always, was what I needed when Lindsey and I were in love. You know, that's when I needed to know it was all right. That's when nobody told me. Sometimes the people who love you the most forget to tell you or show you that they're there for you."
She says in another interview that she wrote these verses when she first moved into her new house in the Pacific Palisades and had no phones, heat, or cooling. It reflects her incredible despair and distress in being alone. She says "something" for she can't really pinpoint exactly what this is, what light has been extinguished, but she loses a certain part of herself.
I run around like a spirit in flight
Fearlessness is fearlessness
I will not forget this night
Dare my Wild Heart
Dare my Wild Heart
She suffers from a little confusion, perhaps a momentary lapse of reason, which isn't always a bad thing. We can't always be entirely rational at any given time. Stevie says that "It's like Bella Donna's heart wild all of a sudden. It has that James Dean/Natalie Wood feeling to it. It's just Bella Donna a little more reckless. She's just more sure of herself now, so she's taking a few more chances." (Rock Magazine, 1983). She loses her fear and becomes courageous, taking her emotions and aspirations into uncharted territory. The flitting butterfly emerges from its cocoon, its protective shell. This was the first tour and album she did after breaking from FM. With Bella Donna, she was also working on Mirage (I think). The possiblities are unlimited. It is as though her spirit is being reincarnated and reborn into something new. She's like the legendary Phoenix, the bird that triumphantly arises from the ashes of its own destruction and defeat. This newfound freedom possesses her, making her willing to accept any challenge, any dare. She feels that she has no required committments, and as Becky said, no roots and no place to land. These lines could also pertain to her performances, "the way she would enchant her audiences by dancing like a spirit" (Eliza).
Where is the reason
Don't blame it on me
Blame it on my wild heart
As to the seasons
You fought from the beginning
Long before I knew it
There was a danger
And the danger was
To fall in love
She releases her hold on all conventions and becomes a little irrational. Her wild heart becomes a separate entity, and her mind can not be held accountable for her actions. In the next few lines, she could be talking about Lindsey. In the Behind the Music interview she talks about how Lindsey didn't not want to be with her because what they had together was very special. But the danger was that they couldn't work together and be together. It destroyed them. Perhaps she realizes that he was fighting all along to keep the relationship working, and she regrets that it had to end. Despite it all, they still share a very special bond, a connection with each other and a love-hate relationships that flows with the seasons of the year in a never ending cycle, just another link in the chain. Later she says about the song "I Can't Wait" that there's always a danger in falling in love. It never works out, but you just have to let your heart go and go a little crazy to love. In Behind the Mask's "Love is Dangerous," she sings that "hearts made of crystal crumble like castles of sand."
If you've read The Thorn Birds, you'll get this comparison. Anyhow, the legend goes that this bird sings only once in its life, a beautiful, melodious tune, right before it dies. It finds a thorn tree, sings and plunges it breast into a thorn, and continues to sing until all the life from it has been drained. You'd think, we as humans would know better, but instead we plunge that thorn into our hearts, knowing the consequences. You purposely go against your mind's judgment.
In dark sorrow
They gaze down into the darkest heart
Stevie calls the song black-hearted, saying that it has an air about it that's so intense that it just wrenches your heart. I don't think she's exaggerating at all. In times of distress and ultimate despair, people tend to think negatively and look down. She weighs her feelings and her emotions and looks into the darkest part of her soul, which can be a frightening place.(Anyone read Conrad's Heart of Darkness ?) She sees her Shadow and her capacity to be wild and reckless.
If I leave you
You say not even you can tear us apart
Say you're leaving
You say you don't even know
How to start...how to start...how to start
Well...believe it then
And don't blame it on my soul
Blame it on my wild heart
Ooo...on my wild heart...Ooo
Stevie explains this very well: "Fleetwood Mac is as elusive as a butterfly. Fleetwood Mac is not dependable. One day I can walk in and I can dislike every one of them intensely. The next day I can walk in and if anybody even says a word to one of them, I'll kill 'em. It's like the love affair between me and Fleetwood Mac is so deep that I don't know really if anybody can ever really rip us apart.. . .somebody looks at you and kind of pushes you up against the wall and says "you say you're leaving me...you don't even know how to start to leave me.". . .It's like I quit everyday. . .I join back up everyday. It's one more link in the chain."
Fire on Fire...rain on my face
Fever goes higher...what can you do
Wild in the darkest places of your mind
That's where I needed you
Where I needed you most
That's where I needed you
Where I needed you most
Eliza made a very smart observation: Stevie contrasts the two elements fire and water in this line, as they may be a part of her, for she is a Gemini. Those born under this star have twin, contradictory spirits. No, it does not mean they're schizophrenic. The elements clash within their souls. Emotions run wild, raging like a fire that the rain can not put out...it can not extinguish the deep-rooted fury that is buried within hear heart. The feelings keeps getting stronger, and what can do when you're going kind of crazy.
Where is the reason
Well don't blame it on me
Blame it on my wild heart
There is a reason
Why even the angels
Don't give up at all
Where are the children
Well are they hopelessly enchanted
Blame it on the angels
Where are the reasons
Don't blame it on our wild hearts
Wild heart...wild heart...wild heart
Ok, I should warn you...if my interp hasn't fallen apart by now, than this is where it happens. The perseverance of the angels could relate to having the strength to make it through times of hardship, of having a kind of grace under fire, under these pressures. Or as my friend Katie would say 'classic Kavitha (my real name) style.' (I need her to define this for me one day) Stevie remarks that we are as hopelessly enchanted as the children are when we realize the power of our wild hearts. I read in a novel of philosophy called Sophie's World (by Jostein Gaardner) that all you need to be a philosopher is the faculty of wonder...and that children just may be some of the best philosophers because they're not fully aware of society's perceptions of the world. Their minds may be far more open, and that's why they believe in magic and fairy tales and are left enchanted. I'm really not sure how this works in with the context of the rest of the song. Perhaps she means that life is never a fairy tale...is she 'blaming' those who enchanted her with these stories? (which she loved anyway.) Does she have a desire to return to a state with no worries, where she can be wild and reckless like a little child and not have to worry about any of the consequences because the angels (parents, brothers, sisters) are looking out for you and your wild little heart? I'm really not sure.
On my...wild heart
On my...wild heart
Even in the darkest places of your mind
Wo...are the children are they hopelessly enchanted
Wild in the darkest places of your mind
No...don't blame it on me, baby
Blame it on my wild heart
Blame it on my...blame it on my...blame it on my
Blame it on my wild heart
(Even in the back of your...even in the back of your mind..)
And the song comes to this climatic catharsis (what in the world did I just say??). A climax can't be a catharsis! Or can it? It just seems to me that the vocal comes to a peak and maintain that peak all the way to end...ok, it's a catharsis (I think I'm the one who is confused...sorry, it's almost 2 am here.). She just sort of ties everything together here, giving more unity to the song even if these lines dont flow with each other as far as words are concerned. Stevie remarks that there are things that you think about in the wildest places of your mind, that you dont ever tell to anyone. And goes on to say that many people dont even have these places (for they refuse to acknowledge such an independednt spirit) and says, "But you see, my audience has it." Doesn't that just makes you want to smile. It's a very subtle jab at any critic who would dare criticize or belittle the magnificent importance and meaning of of this song~ it's because they can't understand it.
Tom Petty called this song an epic...and justly said: "The theme is immortal. Rarely have I seen so much said and so much emotion in such few words."
(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.)
