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WEBMISTRESS speculates:
Another sad song about regrets and saying goodbye. The imagery used here about "the sands of time like shattered glass" can also be found in one of my favorite Stevie demos, She Loves Him Still. I believe this is about the child that she aborted. In this scenario, "The tower" could be the hospital building where she had the operation done. She could have fallen asleep in tears when she was undergoing anesthesia. Later, when it was all over, she could have woken up in tears when she realized that now, only she remained. It was her choice, but it was a devastating one nonetheless.
ERICA speculates:
I really think this one was about Stevie's abortion. I think she went through hell after that abortion, and did regret it. I don't think she wanted the abortion, but I think she felt at the time...with the drugs...the broken relationship with Don...AND the fact that he left her when he found out...and knowing she had to be on the road 24/7 were contributing factors. I believe the tower in this song represents the abortion clinic, maybe. I myself picture towers as dark, looming buildings that symbolize doom. Maybe that's what Stevie saw the clinic as to her. She went to bed many times with tears because of what she did. She said goodbye to her baby, which she named "Sara," by the way...remind you of anything? And she is still saying goodbye to her baby. When she speaks of holding herself and knowing that there were two and now only one remains...she is speaking of the child that lived inside of her, and how she is the only thing left. When I think of an hourglass, I think of the figure of a woman...and the sands in the hour glass fall downward...and maybe that's how she saw her baby at the time.
NICHOLE speculates:
This song is mentioned in Stevie's WTC journals on nicksfix, in regards to many people's children being taken away by the towers. Although I do feel that the original meaning of the song was for her literal baby, it is possible in my mind that the song will come back as "Goodbye Baby" on the new album with the new meaning to the rest of the world, hiding the original messages.
I just want to add that while Stevie may have done this song with the guise to be for the WTC victims, after hearing it once, there is no way on earth that you could convince me that she's changed her perspective of it. (Assuming we are right with the whole abortion deal...). She seems a tad too emotional for it to be about the WTC. I guess we'll have to wait for an interviewer to bring it up.
RACHEL speculates:
I think this song is about WTC and the children left behind. But, I also believe that when she was writing this that she is also referring to her friend Robin's son who was left behind when his mother died.
SUSAN speculates:
I think 'goodbye baby' is about the abortion as well. It's the same song as the demo, 'The Tower,' so i don't think it has anything to do with the WTC (kinda like even though 'Peacekeeper' doesn't directly apply to our current situation, it fits). Just thought I'd add my 2 cents!
SARA speculates:
I think Goodbye Baby is about Stevie's baby, Sara, with Don. And how Stevie still loves the baby and never really got over the abortion and having to let go of her child. I think the abortion really affected Stevie in a lot of sad ways. Stevie went through a lot for the child and she couldn't even have it. And Goodbye Baby is maybe her way of "TRYING" to let go even though she knows in her heart that she never will because she still loves it very much! I think Stevie really wanted to have "Sara" but after Don left her and her being on the road all the time she saw the abortion as her only option...
WWDOVE1 speculates:
I do agree with everyone's speculations on this song, but I can also she how it could be her goodbye song to Lindsey.
And I who went to sleep as two
Woke up as one, now only you remaincould easily be Stevie and Lindsey going to sleep as a couple and waking up separated.
Goodbye, baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes, I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one dayI think this is Stevie's way of saying, yes I broke up with you, but I felt the tears and pain
for all of the years
And I who never, never said goodbyeEven though they were broken up, they were never apart and had to say their real goodbyes.
DEB speculates:
"I who went to sleep as 2, woke up as 1 now only you remain." Stevie went to sleep as 2 with the baby and then woke up as 1 after the abortion. "Only you remain" could actually be the memory of the baby that stays with her and she is sad because her soul is actually gone.
LISA speculates:
I was thinking about this song, especially when I heard Stevie do it live with Fleetwood Mac, at the Meadowlands. It came to me at that moment when I was crying my eyes out, for my own miscarriages, that this song could very possibly be about Robin. She died very soon after the birth of Matthew. Maybe Stevie wrote in her poetry what Robin herself was feeling and never had a chance to express... at that devastating time. I believe in my Heart of Hearts this song is about Robin. My second thought was that it could possibly be about her abortions. She has had more than one. Perhaps Lindsey starting a family affected her more than any of us could ever know.. but we know..because we feel it. But still, we are happy that he finally found happiness and had a family - all of us who love him so much as well. This song hits everyone who loves her, very deeply.. There wasnt a dry eye in the Continental Arena in New Jersey that night. And I felt her pain, as deep as I felt my own. God how she affects us all, and makes us also think of our own lives and tragedies. It is very hard for me to listen to it without breaking down even now on the CD. I agree with you Nancy [Webmistress]. The abortions were Stevie's choice alone. A miscarriage is quite different.. Those of us who have survived them, don't have a choice... But both I believe take one's Soul away until we are reunited with our lost babies in Heaven. It's always with us... Always. :( I send this message to share my feelings with my fellow Sisters and Brothers out there. Just like I say on my Website WINDCHILD, We are all Stevie's Windchildren, Every one of us.
SHANNON speculates:
I think in the beginning it could be about her lost children but later I think baby is refering to the lover. Maybe this was a letter to the fathers and the child but I feel that we are not supposed to know unless Stevie decides to tell but no one should ever ask.
ISIS speculates:
I think the song is a goodbye song to Lindsey. He wrote "Say Goodbye", for her and she wrote "Goodbye Baby", for him. Twas I who went to sleep as two woke up as one now only you remain. One day Lindsey was not there.
ANNA speculates:
When I think of this song Goodbye Baby, and the tower mentioned in the song, it completely blows my mind. Stevie was in New York on 9/11. 9/11 was Robin's birthday. It was Stevie's choice to go to New York by herself, as she stated in her journal, she wanted to go ahead of her entourage. New York and the rest of the world died a terrible death that day. Stevie was understandably beyond coping with it all, and wanted to stop the tour and come home. But it was Don Henley who told her that if there were paying fans coming to her shows, she'd better not show up at home. And her mother told her cheerfully to do her best and make people feel better. What a responsibility!
Here is my major point: The happenings on the day of 9/11 were very serendipitious, mystic, what is the word I am looking for, when everything in your personal life comes back to you through public means. The tower...to me, one of the world trade centers; In a short matter of time, gone. Her child--one or more of the children taken in the tragedy, and of course, her own children. What blows my mind COMPLETELY is that Stevie wrote the demo The Tower long, long ago. BEFORE 9/11 ever happened. Everything about 9/11 and the demo The Tower fits together like peanut butter and jelly. Isn't it amazing that she called the demo The TOWER?!
Knowing that it all fits together makes me all the more devastated. I think she decided to use the demo The Tower for Say You Will because of 9/11. But also because of the way this song told her own personal story of her abortions. If so, she hit home with me, and I will never be the same. It makes Stevie Nicks even more important in my life. Added to the fact that it was Robin's birthday.
I read an article that FM went to a midwest city, can't remember which one, but Matthew Anderson was there, and the article said she sang just for him. Oh, and yes, Lindsey and his kids. I think that definitely affected her. So Stevie had songs on Say You Will about 9/11 and her personal grief: Illume, and Goodbye Baby. And it's amazing how Stevie's personal tragedy mirrored that of the public's tragedy. It's like it's all the same. It makes you want to tell the world to stop, let her rest. Let her have some peace. Whenever I see Stevie singing into the mike with her hands outstretched as if she's about to hug everyone, it's like she's saying "here is me, all of me, I am doing this for you, I love you. It's a high price, but I wouldn't have it any other way."
One thing I want to know is why did Don Henley leave her? Why did their relationship break up? I just can't understand her love life. If anyone can tell me..it would be great.
DANNY speculates:
Stevie has done her best work in songs that tell the story of Sara, this is one of her good ones, and I believe it is about Sara. Notice, in the song, the music sounds like a lullaby and what a better way to remember a child than by writing it a lullaby.
DEE speculates:
Probably one of my favorite songs from SYW...besides EFO and especially after seeing Stevie sing it live......shivers down my spine!! I've had my ideas on the meaning behind this song since I first heard it. I think all the theories here are fantastic, but I've always thought...or wanted to think that the song was about Lindsey. I totally agree with whoever said Lindsey wrote Say Goodbye for Stevie and she wrote this for him, because when they're on stage singing these songs, they came across to me as odes to one another. Mutal goodbyes of respect towards past emotional baggage, without all the bitterness. {Once you said goodbye to me, yeah/Now I say goodbye to you} Some parts I'm not quite sure, so I'll clutch at straws, others seem too self explanatory.
"Don't take me to the tower/And take my child away" At first, I had images of Rapunzel come to mind, but I've never thought this song to be about a literal child until I read everyone's posts here. I see the tower as a prison and the child representative of one's livelihood or spirit being taken away by the entrapment and isolation. Maybe the whole idea of marriage, or a relationship in general is now too confining a notion to contemplate. Or the tower could be symbolic, like in the tarot, of the destruction of something sacred (for argument's sake, the S&L relationship), there is a loss of security. The relationship was the rock, the stable being and "Twas I who was the hourglass" is the fragile and broken remains...the rock becoming the sand, that as time past, eroded away at the glass and shattered it to pieces. Irreparable.
"And I {Stevie} who went to sleep as two/Woke up as one, now only you {Lindsey} remain." "You'll close your eyes and travel back"... thinking back to the good times, "to the time when the light went fading fast" the light...the thunder, the spark everything up until the end when all that remains of the memory is "the words you'll never, never forget, oh no" Stevie's goodbye words..."As you {Lindsey} slipped away..." I think that's Stevie pulling away again, willing Lindsey to "slip" away and be his own person, just as she needed to be hers.
Then the chorus is Stevie saying that she wants him to understand what she's doing and why and that she doesn't want him to be consumed by her goodbye and decison to leave. Him feeling badly about the whole thing; she seems to want that to be the last thing to happen. I think the not wanting to forget her, is to hold the good memories and that she's always still there, even if they're not together. Then undertones of "Destiny Rules" seep through here and the "I'll be with you one day" I take to be in the afterlife; their happily ever after, that the spirits won't allow for in this time and place."And I who went to sleep in tears/Woke up in tears for all of the years" refers to all bad moments, throughout, when the whole idea of remaining in the relationship was too overwhelming. I think they were tears shed at the time as well as years later, over regret, and what might have been and was leaving really the best thing to do. "And I who never, never said goodbye" {S&L having split despite still having to work together}, "As I slipped away..." again, Stevie "pulling" away, and "slipping" into the unknown and into her own shining star!
DANIELLE speculates:
Goodbye Baby, sounds to me like it is a song about her abortion. But it is like she did it to voice her opinion like she wanted this baby. For example..
"Goodbye, baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes, I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day"When she says 'Yes, I was outspoken' it could mean that she wanted to keep this baby, but Don didn't want it, so she felt she had no other choice. Also, in the first line where she said,' don't take me to the tower and take my child away' it's like she's saying I don't want to do this, but it's a choice I have to make. Almost as if theres nothing left for her to do, and it's just not the right time for a baby, although she wants to keep it. It's a beautiful song, listening to Stevie's songs is like listening to her biography. She is an inspiration to me. I hope that one day she will be able to make peace with all that has gone wrong in her life.
PRIESTESS OF NOTHING speculates:
From the moment I heard it I thought it was about Robin, or being sung from Robin's perspective. Her baby was born just a couple days before she died...and her death was absolutely devastating to Stevie
I also thought the verse about going to sleep as two and waking as one was Stevie being so upset about her friend dying when she went to sleep and waking up and she's gone - or Robin "going to sleep" and leaving Stevie.
It definitely resonates more of that life lost to me, rather than about an abortion. I honestly think that's too personal of a subject for her to be so open about.
One of my best friends just died of cancer in December [of 2003] so I can totally feel it this way. Leaving someone behind.
KATHY speculates:
The first time I heard this song, Robin's baby popped in my head. It sounded like the song could be about him. So that's what I interpreted it to be about. But then I came on here and read how mostly everyone thinks it's about her abortion. And I was told by someone that when Stevie sung this song at the concert (somewhere around Houston) that she often touched her stomach and would reach up towards the sky, so that makes me kind of lean towards thinking it's about her abortion. But Priestess of Nothing could be right, by saying that might be a too personal subject for Stevie to write about. But when reading Stevie's journal entries from 9/11 at nicksfix.com, I remember an entry that had to do with a lot of people losing their children, and she had wrote the first verse of Goodbye Baby in that entry (not saying she wrote that song at that time, just that she wrote down a verse there). So that makes me wonder if the song could have anything to do with 9/11. I think it could very well be any of those three.
TRISTYN speculates:
I really believe with all my heart that Stevie didn't write Goodbye Baby about one thing. I think she wrote it about her abortion with Don Henley's baby, her relasionship with Lindsey, about September 11, and about Robin and her baby. No one really knows the story behind this song except Stevie maybe one day when she decides to write a book she will tell us the meaning to this song, until then I really don't think any interviewer is brave enough to ask this queen of rock what the song is really about. Don't worry the meaning will come out sooner or later, all we have to do is wait.
FROG speculates:
About what Tristyn said about "Goodbye Baby" possibly being about September, I have to disargee, as I know that "Goodbye Baby" was originally written during the early 80's (I think) as a demo, which was called "The Tower".
However I do agree that I think this song is about many different things, and not one specific topic. I think that it was written mainly about Robin's baby and death and Stevie's aborted baby.
"PRIESTESS OF NOTHING" said that they think it is written as if from Robin's perspective. I agree, it seems like it is talking about her child being taken away from her, and her knowing she will die. Also written about Stevie and how she willing gave consent to abort her baby. Although perhaps later regretted it.
Many people say that these lines:
"And I who went to sleep as two
Woke up as one, now only you remain"
could be about Stevie's baby and she went to sleep as two but then only she remains. But then wouldn't it say "now only I remain" as she is the one remaining, and her child is the one dying. For this reason, I believe it is about Robin and her child. It sounds like she is writing it from Robin's perspective and saying "I went to sleep/died, and now only you will live on"Then in the lyrics it says:
"You'll close your eyes and travel back
To the time when the light went fading fast"
This makes me think that the child will close his eyes and think back to the time when time was passing by quickly, and death was near. But he lived.These lines:
"Goodbye, baby
I hope your heart's not broken
Don't forget me
Yes, I was outspoken
You were with me all the time
I'll be with you one day"are clearly about either Stevie losing her child, but one day she will see him/her again. Or, they could be about Robin and how she will one day see her son again. The broken heart part could be about Robin's son's pain as he knows his mother died, or it could be Stevie trying to say sorry to her aborted baby.
The continual use of the phrase "slipping away" shows death, and fading away....This can describe Stevie's child, or Robin.
However, within the lyrics of this song, I don't see how it can be related to Lindsey.
HE AINT LOVE U speculates:
"Goodbye Baby" has nothing to do with 9/11 because it was written YEARS before it even took place, and was originally titled "The Tower." And as far as this "book" everyone thinks Stevie is going to write, well ... she may write one, but don't expect her to reveal any shocking secrets; I don't think she's into that sort of thing. Her life is her own, and the finer details she's not willing to tell, I'm sure.
How does anyone really know she had an abortion?
Want to speculate about "Goodbye Baby"? E-mail me and I'll post your comments.