The Nightmare
 

 Written by S. Nicks and C. Nicks
 

 Thrown down through the arms of sleep
She fell through the ivory morning
Deep into the waters
Of the one she called love
She paled in the wake
Of what some call a dream
But you cannot know a dream
'Til you've known the nightmare

When I stood with you against the storm
And I tried once again
Well, I said, "I'd like to leave you
With something warm"
How many times
Drowning in the sea
Drowning
That was when the dream took her prisoner
And she knew the dream was over
But the nightmare was not over
Still some call that a dream

Well, you cannot know a dream
When you turn away
You don't know
You'll never care
The night is not your friend
And you have not had her
And when the nightmare ends
But you never understand
When you're gone
She wakes up calling out
Oh, calling out
As children may cry as she will

Any time...oh, anywhere
Blinded by the light of the day
She has known the nightmare

So about the moon and her sisters
How dare he take them prisoner
Well, if she had flung out her heart against him
Then in all of her wisdom
Oh, well, that was a mystery

That was when the dream took her prisoner
And she knew the dream was over
But, well, the nightmare was not over
Well, somewhere in her ancient ways
She walks through the night
And then she tries to get through the day
Some will never know
Or share any kind of dream

The nightmare
This is not the world
This is not the world
The nightmare
This is not the world
This is not the world
The nightmare
This is not the world
This is not the world
The nightmare
This is not the world
This is not the world

She wants him to fight...any time, anywhere
She wants him to stand up
She wants him to win

Blinded by the light of day
Blinded by the light of day
Thrown down through the arms of sleep
She fell through the ivory morning
Deep into the waters of the one that she called love
Well, she was blinded by the light of the day
Blinded by the light of the day
Well, she has known the nightmare
Well, how dare he take her prisoner?
Because she was blinded by the light of the day...

 

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

Like Lindsey's On the Wrong Side, this song is very self-referencial. First, there's the reference to Dreams in the first verse, contrasting the "dream" with the "nightmare" it's become - and with Stevie and Lindsey, the good never came without the bad. The second verse references Storms very specifically - the lines "I'd like to leave you with something warm" are word-per-word identical. Then, we recall Sara with the "drowning in the sea" of love reference. Finally, her lines that "the dream was over" contrast with "the dream is never over" from Straight Back.

I think there is a reason for all this self-referencing - and no, I don't mean lack of creativity! I think she is trying to show how she and Lindsey may be over, but she feels like what they had - "the dream" - has "taken her prisoner" and made her keep reliving the turmoil over and over again, turning the whole thing into a "nightmare." In each of the above songs, she's had to relive it, and those were just a few. She just has to try and keep living - and despite what we, the audience, think, we can never really "share" the dream because it's not part of the "real world"...it's part of that rock'n'roll world that's so different from everyday life. Still, through all of this confusion and craziness, she still wants Lindsey to fight and win. P.S. Isn't it interesting she wrote this with her brother? Too bad I dislike the song so much. 

 

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