Something Exquisite
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Written by S. Nicks

I knew that I had come Face to face with a stranger With someone that I knew was Crazier than you were But you do not run the race How will you know? If you do not run it Then you cannot win it, ever If you do not run the race Then you cannot win it, ever How will you know? The passenger takes a train He cannot get off Train keeps on for days Well, it isn't enough (it isn't enough) It isn't enough If you do not run the race Then you cannot win it, ever How will you know? If you do not do it If you do not run the race How will you know? If you do not run it Ah.... And each time thinkin' "Will this be the one?" Great eyes lookin' down And your ways, well, I want to learn them I want my life to concern him Still on the edge of something exquisite Oooh, oh, ten minutes standin' in the room with him She feels a strange misgiving... If you do not run the race Then you cannot win it In the dim light of our rooms She feels a strange misgiving In the dim light of my room I feel a strange misgiving Well, I knew that I had come Face to face with a stranger Someone who was crazier than I was But if you do not run the race How will you know? If you do not run it (do it) Well, the passenger takes a train And he cannot get off Races are run... Oooh, ten minutes standin' in the room with you I felt a strange misgiving Well, in the dim light of my room Still on the edge of something exquisite Sorrow... Brilliant is your color, baby Brilliant is your.... Something exquisite Sorrow.... I know the sound of the warning On the wind.. It's a strange misgiving

 


WEBMISTRESS speculates:

This songs seems very relevant to Stevie and Lindsey. Stevie has said in interviews that in order to deal with her crazy life she had to be a little bit crazy, too - and Lindsey felt so crazy that he even entitled his second solo album Go Insane! I think Stevie is saying that she was probably the only other person "crazier than" Lindsey. The chorus is a familiar theme - love in terms of a competition, in terms of winning, a la Races Are Run, Long Distance Winner, etc. Here, though, she seems to be encouraging someone (herself or Lindsey) to stay in the race, to not give up on love. If you never try to find love, you'll never get it - "ever."

She compares their relationship to a train - since it was so love/hate, Lindsey may have wanted to end it, but couldn't. So, Stevie takes it upon herself to end it (see Street Angel). After that experience, can she still try again at love? Yes - she has to "run the race." And each time, she wonders, "Will this be the one?" Will it work out this time? Then, curiously, she seems to start talking about her old relationship with Lindsey again - perhaps because he WAS the one. He has the "great eyes" (see Blue Denim), he is the one who she wants to care about, who she wants to care about her. She feels like they are thisclose to "something exquisite" but yet they just can't seem to reach it - something always gets in the way.

Still, Stevie has to keep trying, keep believing, and she wants Lindsey to try, too. All this in spite of the fact that she left him! And we get a taste of that irony in the last part of the song when she admits that, although "standing in the room" with him excites her, it also gives her a "strange misgiving" - this love can't work out. Does she heed "the sound of the warning?" No....she still has to try and "run the race."

 

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