And he says, "What do you love to do?
Outside your world, who spends time with you?
From whom do you learn when you're not workin'?
Sweet girl"

"Where would you go if you had the time?
Crossing some crazy state line somewhere?
To whom do you cry when people are unkind?
Sweet girl"

But I chose to dance across the stages of the world
Everyone said I'd never learn
And I still hear your words
"Well, I waited all my life for you
Sweet girl"

I did try to come back and listen
You never knew it
That I didn't wish it
And I did hear every answer, every question
It's all about protection

Still, through the sunlight days I wait
Track a ghost through the fog
Sun is burnin' me
And you come runnin' out in the wind with me
The ocean is your blanket

But I chose to dance across the stages of the world
Everyone said I'd never learn
And I still hear your words
"Well, I waited all my life for you"

I watched you fly through the world in a golden ball
Many are the cities that I never saw at all
Sometimes I feel I was always on call
Sometimes even I am allowed to fall

He says, "Come down here for a minute
Well, come down here for a minute"
He says, "Come down here for a minute
Sweet girl, sweet girl"

Demo Version Appears on Enchanted (1998)

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

This song is all about fame and its personal cost. Outside of work, who is Stevie? Who does she learn from? What does she do? Where does she go? Who does she cry to? She doesn't know. Work - her music - is what she chose to do and it's all she has. She chose to perform - to "dance across the stages of the world" no matter what anyone else thought. Then Lindsey enters the equation. Like The Chain, which she wrote, his words still echo in her head. She says even after she broke up with Lindsey, she tried to understand him even though he never knew it. She learned something - "it's all about protection" - the reason they can't let the walls down. Then the bridge - my favorite part. She's still searching for that ghost through the fog (see Angel), still looking for Lindsey to join her in the wind. Again, she uses water to convey that sense of complete love (see Crystal, Silver Springs).

But she jumps back from that image to the chorus. Did she trade success for love? Stevie has said in interviews that success precluded her from settling down - and part of that means marrying someone she truly loves. Instead, she flew through the world, touring it as a star with Lindsey in a "golden ball." But with all that touring, she "never saw" the cities, just passed through them. She never got to enjoy the simpler things in life. She was "always on call" for FM. She always was in the spotlight, but sometimes even she makes mistakes, and should be "allowed to fall" when she does. It ends with a plea for her to come down out of that place where she can't enjoy her life and be simply the "sweet girl" she is deep inside.