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WEBMISTRESS speculates:
This one is a puzzler. I really have no idea what he's talking about. So I'll take a wild, off the wall shot in the dark until I think of something better.
This song could be about someone (I'm picturing a teenage guy) been driven dangerously crazy by continuous mockery and cruelty from others, a la Columbine.
He's desperate for love and for someone to reach out to him in a tangible way, but all he gets is rejection. Yet he keeps masochistically coming back for more in the hopes that one day it will be different...
And then he snaps. He starts hearing voices - "we come to take you over." These voices "whisper murder" in his ear.
No one suspects how the quiet guy is losing it by constantly being driven to his knees by other teenagers. He keeps his pain hidden, perhaps taking solace in surreal fantasies of having someone who loves him, someone to kiss night after night, but that person isn't real.
Perhaps counselors start noticing something is missing... they try to help him... but he's got nothing left to lose. He surrenders to madness and eventually he gets "taken away" in another sense - by the authorities after he takes his vengence on those who hurt him.
To sum up, here's somebody who's suffering and lonely. He's "one of the quiet ones" and "keeps it [all] well hid", but he still needs contact, needs "something to touch." Instead, he feels like a rejected outsider who nobody cares about.
Let's face it, this is probably not right, but isn't it interesting? Great song.
SCOTT speculates:
Red Rover is a child's game...for the rules on how it was/is played check out the following site: http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/strength_games/redrover.htm
I think Lindsey both sings about the character in this song as well as from the point of view of the character. Verses and bridge are sung about the character, the lines "And I did hear..." are from the point of view of the character as if he's at a party or other social event that he would rather not be at and he has done his duty/mad conversation and now can get the hell out of there.
Could the character be loosely based on Lindsey, certainly. The line "we came around here to see if you were well" may imply what he feels an audience thinks when coming to an FM concert or any concert with nostalgia being the sole reason. The line "nothing to fear in heaven or in hell" ties into this with the type of immortality such nostalgia hopefully brings. Using the child's game Red Rover as a title/chorus is interesting as well as it bespeaks nostalgia as well. The game in itself is rather philosophical since all the players are on the winning team at the end, there really are no losers in this game. You can play this theory in your mind for hours of endless fun or frustration.
BRENT speculates:
I've never speculated about Lindsey's lyrics before, but is it possible that it is about the death of his brother or mother. Perhaps Red Rover was a game they played as children and Red Rover is now symbolic of being called over from life to death.
NICHOLE speculates:
While relistening to this song over the headphones, it really almost feels like it could be about people passed on in his life, and a longing to be with them.
One of the quiet ones
One of the few
Now fall down onto your knees
Show us all what you can doWe came around here
To see if you were well
And there's nothing for you to fear
In Heaven or in HellThat verse feels very much like possible his parents or brother? Someone who comforted him in the past.
The next verse seems like a nod towards someone (Stevie maybe?) that he knows he wants and missed out on. The bathed in blue and white could possibly mean the sort of "glow" that we give angels?
MIKE speculates:
This song is very special. It is without a doubt the most brilliant and magical thing ever written. It makes me feel like I'm dreaming. There is something about it very ethereal and intangible. As a musician I can say that it is very much like what Lindsey often does: Takes a simple idea and expresses it in a very bizarre and unique way: in this case a descending major scale. As for the lyrics, just take them for something that enhances the mood of the song. If you notice, the mood is not quite sad and not quite angry; instead it is very much its own. Treasure, this song you will never encounter anything like it again in this world.
MARK speculates:
I never would have taken this song to be an ode to departed loved ones. Every time I listen to it I hear anger. "Get down on your knees, show us all what you can do." I can't imagine saying that to someone I miss. From the red, white & blue I assumed it has something to do with America, either the macho kind of attitude some Americans have ("we've come to take you over"), or a specific group or individual involved in American politics, who's gotten to the end of his rope and is having to face his bad karma, or her's. Someone who did a lot of sleazy things (kissing those painted lips night after night, being subservient - "on your knees" - either sexually or just a kind of appeasement, excessive flattery) for the sake of getting into a position of power and can't pull it off anymore, because the appeasement was superficial - kissing the lips not the person, and the lips were painted unnatural colors anyway - and everyone could see what was happening and why but didn't shed a tear for this wretched person/group.
Now of course the US isn't the only country with those colors in its flag, but I've never heard the phrase "red white & blue" referring to another country. Kissing those painted lips sounds like doing all the worst things possible to try to appeal to patriotic Americans. Still, the color combination might be coincidental... blue lips for someone who's passed out, and white lips for someone who's dead? If the "Red" means Communist, then maybe it's not specifically Communist, but just the sense of comparing that person to the worst Communist powermongers and their dirty tricks - "whisper murder... keep it so well hid".
The chorus sounds kind of like the Borg from Star Trek (resistance is futile, you shall be assimilated), but is it the "we" from earlier in the song? Is it being sung that way in mockery? I don't know. This song is too ambiguous for any explanation I can think of! I think it's great, whatever it means. One last thought:
red rover n. Popular game where two teams face each other in lines across the tarmac, one member of each team in turn running across and trying to force past the linked hands of the opposing team. Those who are caught join the other team, and this carries on until usu. one hard case is left and has to survive on his own until the bell goes or he gets beaten up for being a smug twat. cf. monkey grip
-http://www.odps.org/slangr.html
Is this what's meant by "one of the quiet ones, one of the few"?
BETH speculates:
I think the Lindsey is singing this song about Stevie. That`s how I feel. And about all people that have gone throw a somewhat same type of relationship ordeal . I don`t know? That`s just how I feel. Plus I have been throw something like that my self to. In an old relationship a long time ago too. Then again I could be wrong. Thank you. : )
MICHELLE speculates:
Why do you come around
So very much?
You know it just brings you down
It's just something you can touchI really see this as a political song. Though it was written before our current political situation, one can assume. I don't know exactly when he penned it, but if it was after Sept 11 or even after 1992, it could totally apply.
This first voice...the attitude of another country: why do you interfere, it just ruins the world's image of you. America can't understand the ways of other governments.You don't belong here
I guess you never did
Whisper murder in your ear
You just keep it so well hidAmerica doesn't belong in these other countries, trying to repair, playing interference. Did we ever? They shout (whisper) murder, talking of the way America involves itself, but no one can see.
Anyone at all
Could see what was missin'
Could see you were dyin'
Though no one was cryin'I think this verse is from the view of the American government, justifying its role in wars, etc. We could see that you were missing civilization, you were dying at the hands of cruel dictators, even though you weren't crying for our help, we needed to come in and do something.
And the lips you were kissing
Night after night
All were bathed in blue
All bathed in white
I don't know about the lips...it seems almost romantic, "kissing" and "night after night", bathed in color. Blue and white, the color of the field of stars on the American flag. But blue also makes me think of night (especially with the line before this) and white of innocence. That verse is anyone's guess.Red Rover, Red Rover, Red Rover
We've come, we've come, we've come, we've come
To take you over
Take you over
Red rover
Take you over
Red Rover. Like the children's game, which someone else has already described. "We" is, again, the U.S. Is he relating the U.S. to children, playing some game? The image of take over is prominant and certainly not something that is foreign to America policies.One of the quiet ones
One of the few
Now fall down onto your knees
Show us all what you can do
The first three lines here seem to be talking about something that is weak and then I think of power, and being powerful, with the last line. Unless "show us all what you can do" means to surrender, which would follow the line before it. But who is the "one"? I think it's really any country that gets in our way and isn't constantly there. Or, "one of the few" is our support. "Fall down onto your knees" - pay homage to us. Or, the "one"s are people...like our military, falling on their knees in front of our flag, for our country, for other Americans.
And then the verses repeat in part...It reminds me of the movie/book (I'm not finished with the book), "House of Sand and Fog", a blatant if not grotesque commentary on America's foreign policy. This seems to have a similar undertone. Whether it does or not, really, only Lindsey knows...
KELLY speculates:
Why do you come around
So very much?
You know it just brings you down
It’s just something you can touchI think he’s talking about himself…maybe he considers himself the “ Guitar god.” Why does he keep trying with Fleetwood Mac, when it continually shoots him down. He will never be able to reach them, touch them, and change them into a direction he wants to travel.
You don’t belong here
I guess you never did
Whisper murder in your ear
You just keep it so well hidHe should have known that he never belonged with this band…and it’s over now…dead. But the façade is still intact, keeping the truth hidden.
Anyone at all
Could see what was missin’
Could see you were dyin’
Though no one was cryin’How could these people not see how badly he was hurting and suffering. *Anyone* could have seen that. He was dying inside and they didn’t care.
And the lips you were kissing
Night after night
All were bathed in blue
All bathed in whiteHere, I think he means his ‘love’, music, the band, Stevie…whatever…was over and done…dead…but given the public appearance, again a façade, of purity. I think the term ‘bathed’ is very significant here. Bathed in blue…not really dead. And bathed in white…whatever that is that’s not really dead, but for all intents and purposes IS dead, is then covered up and made to look ‘just fine’.
________________________________________
"Red Rover, Red Rover, Red Rover
We've come, we've come, we've come, we've come
To take you over..."He is the Red Rover. He feels like Fleetwood Mac continues coming and coming and coming (no pun) after him, enveloping him, and taking him over.
"One of the quiet ones one of the few
Now fall down onto your knees show us all what you can do
We came around here to see if you were well
And there's nothing for you to fear in Heaven or in Hell"Is he talking about a diplomatic member of Fleetwood Mac, band or management?? (One of the few who usually remain quiet…maybe they are trying a different approach with him…) Maybe begging or offering things…trying to appease him in order to stay with the band? Maybe under the pretense of just checking up on him…making sure he was well…and making sure that he knows that he has nothing to fear from Fleetwood Mac anymore…no euphoria, no more hellish moments. Everything will be all right now. (or so they tell him...)
I don’t really think he’s referencing himself here, since he was not one of the quiet ones, although I sometimes wonder if the ‘fall down on your knees’, was them (or their quiet messenger) asking him to do so…and telling him that he had nothing to fear for ‘showing them all what he could do’…
(A DIFFERENT) MIKE speculates:
I just have a few comments on how I interpret the meaning of Red Rover. First of all, I'd like to say how cool it is that the songs by Lindsey on Say You Will are all so awesome and ballsy, yet they're a bit more abstract than some of his previous writing. Secondly, "Mike" said earlier that this song was based on a descending major scale - kind of, but parts are more modal sounding, some of the functions don't really fit in the major scale, particular starting with the lines "Anyone at all could see what was missing..."
This song has been puzzling me as well, but I think I may have figured it out to the best of my ability. I'm thinking along the lines of those who said this was a political song. While I don't know any of the dates for the writing of the songs, this album was copyright 2003, so it's quite possible songs could be about our current government; the song Illume was dedicated to September 11 victims. I was at a Fleetwood Mac concert yesterday [June 13, 2004], and Lindsey mentioned a song being added to Say You Will pretty last minute, perhaps it was this - it could have been Say Goodbye, though, which the description he gave of forgiveness, etc., would have been more fitting, so thinking back, that may have been the song, not this.. I could be wrong. I don't believe this is a song about loved ones, or Stevie Nicks, in any way at all.
Anyways, not that I always agree, but it's the tendency for people in the entertainment business, which would include Lindsey Buckingham, to lean towards the left and criticize conservative governments, such as the Bush administration. This songs kind of echoes themes from the Iraq situation, but not necesarilly Iraq. The song, within the verses, has undertones of maybe America bullying around lesser nations, the United States "don't belong here" and "whisper murder" - killing of the citizens in other countries (or, more properly, the opressive regime in Iraq, etc., that killed it's own citizens) but i.e. Bush "keeping it (murder) so well hid." Which fits, per my comment about those in the entertainment industry to be critical about republican governments, sometimes to the point of misinformation, but that's a different discussion.Another indicator of politcal commentary is "all were bathed in BLUE all bathed in WHITE,
RED rover...we've come to take you over." Sounds very much like opinions of our government today, doesn't it? The second verse follow along the submissive-to-America-lesser-government scheme.It would make sense, as Illume is kind of political, and Peacekeeper, with lines like "Take no prisoners, only kill" that songs on Say You Will could have political meanings, it's not too far of a stretch. Not every song Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks write have to be about the other. :) It's so hard to interpret any song by them, unless they specifically tell you what it's about, with all the cryptic language they use, particularly Stevie.
Nonetheless, Red Rover is one of the most amazing pieces of music I've heard recently, and definitely will be on my playlist for quite a while.
BEM speculates:
It seems to me that this song could possibly be about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. We know FM was connected to Clinton and Lindsey could be expressing his feelings about the matter. I believe the words "We've come, we've come, we've come, we've come To take you over" is referring to the Republicans' attempt to oust Clinton from office.
Want to speculate about "Red Rover"? E-mail me and I'll post your comments.