The closest you've ever come to me
Was to help me up the stairs
You stood in the middle of the stairway
You nearly dragged me up the stairs
"Well, you've been asleep"
"Well, I've been asleep for how long?" she says
"Why do you question me?"
He says, "You never cared about time before, my friend"

Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
It seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...

Well, you're not my friend, you're not my love
And this is something that we really don't discuss
If there is no time, and there is no place
And if there was, well, you'd never leave a trace
And as all archangels do to you
And as all arch enemies will finally do to you, too
Well, I found you

Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
It seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
It seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...

Quiet, now, songbird, just for one night
Well, I know that you love to sing
And, oh, baby, well, I know that you love to write
Well, you live by the light of the moon
And I live by the light of desire
Ooh, such words to her over the phone
"Just how many people are there with you now?"

A thousand days...a thousand days

Well, I can see the trouble
Well, the sun is here today, now, and I requested a storm
But I like some kind of TIME/LIFE edition
Tradition, competition...
Being the only thing that I really have to remember
The great singers and the great players

And if the sun warms up the rain
And the rain puts out the sun
Why does the greatest love become the greatest pain?
A thousand days

Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
Well, where are you?
Sometimes I hear you crying
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
And I wake up, and still I wake up crying
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
It seems like a thousand days
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
So, where are you?  Where are you?
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
So where are you?  Where are you?
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
Well, sometimes I hear you crying
Seems like a thousand days since you've been gone...
Well, it seems like a thousand days

---

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

Legend has it that Stevie wrote this song about Prince. She got trashed at his house and passed out, and he was pretty disgusted with her. He "dragged [her] up the stairs" and something akin to the "you've been asleep" conversation took place. Their friendship went downhill from there. I don't know if they've mended fences, but at this point, he's "not [her] friend, and [he's] not [her] love". (She uses this line to describe Lindsey in Whole Lotta Trouble. Other lines that echo Whole Lotta Trouble are in the ad libbing at the end: "Sometimes I hear you crying... and I wake up"). The title itself reminds me of 1001 Arabian Nights, which definitely fits with Prince's exotic nature.

In a nice-sounding but enigmatic line, Stevie talks about how both archangels and archenemies finally wind up treating you the same way - Prince was her friend, but he's treating her like an enemy now. She compares and contrasts Prince and herself - they're both "songbirds" with different approaches to life and music, but they're both "great singers and [...] great players". By the way, though this is one of my least favorite Stevie songs, I love that "TIME/LIFE edition" line. The last part talks about how what one loves the most can cause "the greatest pain" - the sun loves the rain but "the rain puts out the sun", and all one is left with is "wak[ing] up crying."

 

PAIGE speculates:

I don't believe that this song refers to Scherezade at all. In English history, Anne Boleyn is referred to as 'Anne of the Thousand Days'. There is, in fact, a 1969 Richard Burton film titled this, which I'd assume Stevie saw, knowing common knowledge of her tastes. I'd also say that the relationship that Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII had was closer to the Prince idea than that of Scherezade.

"Henry VIII of Britain meets the young Anne Boleyn and, opposing the Catholic Church, divorces his wife, Catherine of Aragon, in order to marry her. As the young Anne matures into the role of queen, she becomes more and more seduced by the power of her station. She slowly wins over the people in the king's confidence, but Henry's henchman, Oliver Cromwell, skeptical of the queen's lust for power, escalates charges of adultery against her. Responding, Henry orders his wife's execution, and she leaves behind her only child, who will eventually become Queen Elizabeth I."
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/AnneoftheThousandDays-1001075/about.php

The seduction and power trips could definitely be a part of this song, written in 1994. Both Anne Boleyn and Stevie found fame and power, and suffered greatly for it. It is at this point in her career that Stevie realizes the true consequences of her past.