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WEBMISTRESS speculates:
In this song, Stevie writes about a man who wants to "run away from the eyes that speak trouble", but he can't shake this woman who makes him "lose [his] composure". It's difficult on the heart, because nobody knows whether it's on or off...and they "need to know." Stevie seems to already know it's doomed - "Soon you will be gone" and all this swirl of emotions - all these "violet and blue morning[s]" will be gone, too.
Still, despite all of this, the love is still there - "her heart is in his hands." Even later, after they've tried to shut each other out, "with the touch of your hand, it starts again" (like "It all begins again" in Fall From Grace). They just can't get over each other. So, they go back to the music and "the road" - together but apart. Gee, I wonder who Stevie drew on for inspiration for this song?
SEAN speculates:
There is a line in this song that i just love.."soon you will be gone..take your violet and blue morning with you'' i think stevie is writing about a one night stand here and shes talking to a lover who has left before the morning comes,and she is saying..look, if your going to leave me, do me a favor and take the sadness im going to feel in the morning (when your gone) with you
There are some really obvious things about this song that should be considered, if only because they are kinda fun. First, the "oohs" in the song are the same in "Midnight Wind" with John Stewart from some years earlier. Then of course there's the "I need to know"...which is a reference to the Tom Petty song she sings in almost every concert. And in the Red Rocks concert (and on other live recordings) she finishes her version of "I Need To Know" with "take your violet and blue mornings with you!"
"Violet and Blue" could be simply a response to "I Need To Know". Kinda like when Stevie writes songs for movies (for example, her reading of Twister as a movie about people with extreme careers). In V+B she sings, "we both love the road, but the roads are different"...she's always talking about the impossibilty of relationships when the "limousine drives away with Stevie in it and it could be 6 weeks, 6 months" (paraphrased from various interviews) ESPECIALLY when that relationship is with one of the Highwaymen/another rock star.
She loves "I Need To Know" for the obvious reasons that it works both as a relationship song and one about her professional desires "the talk of the town is you might go solo." Are you leaving me or are you leaving the band? However, within the confines of Petty's narrative, Nicks' "Violet and Blue" response is her usual duplicitous, defensive approach (the "i-hate-you-don't-leave-me" thing that sums up most of her songs) mixed with that need she has to protect herself, "I am a rock star and you are NOT leaving ME!"
I am sure there are personal meanings for Nicks, but as a piece it stands quite nicely as a response to "I Need to Know" while contributing to the general vein of her songwriting. Then there's also the whole Tom Petty "thang". These two have been friends for a million years and their professional/emotional intimacy has been a proven muse---His wife as titular inspiration for "Edge of Seventeen", "That made me Stronger", etc.