Something Exquisite

.

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."