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WEBMISTRESS speculates:
What does the space needle represent? I'm guessing fame. It's what causes her to be hot in the winter and cold in the summer - it turns everything upside-down. Fame has also disillusioned her and everyone around her, hardened by the rock'n'roll business. She can see her own disenchantment mirrored in their faces, just as they can see it in hers.
The years that have passed have not only aged her mentally, they've aged her physically - along with everyone else. She is still beautiful, of course, but she is no longer youthful. She says that "when it began, I was standing at the crossroads." This echoes Touched by an Angel. In that context, she was talking about the Fleetwood Mac reunion tour. I think here, however, she is referring to the beginning of her rise to fame. That was the point where her life changed, and the choices she made then have taken her down the road she's on now.
I think when she's talking about "getting out of this town" she means getting out of the craziness and harshness of the celebrity atmosphere - the Hollywood type cynicism that is so destructive. She is no longer afraid of leaving that behind, that's not what matters to her now. She doesn't want to get trapped into that lifestyle, and she'll avoid it "if it's the last thing" she does.
The "tar people" are a bit of a mystery, but I'm guessing that tar is representative of the people who are made ugly and harsh by staying "in the business" too long, until they're not even human anymore. Also, this could be a reference to being "tarred and feathered" - or being rejected and condemned - by the public or even one's peers. Becoming like that - a "tar person" - is what happens when a person stays in that hard living too long. Their humanity and beauty is stripped away.
The black needle - or fame - keeps the sun out, keeps happiness out, until she is wasting away and she no longer has the spirit to write out her feelings or to even meet her own spiritual needs. Her disillusionment with fame has made her lose hope. It seems like she thinks she took the wrong turn at the crossroads.
SEAN speculates:
''Tar people'' was the old term for heroin users or junkies.. heroin is sometimes called ''black tar'' or ''tar''.
GREG H. speculates:
I remember the long, cold winters
I remember being hot all the time
I remember the black Space Needle
Casting its black shadow down through timeHeroin can be shot through needles, and sometimes takes a black colour. This could be the "black Space Needle," and Stevie uses the Space Needle in Seattle to emphasise how large and powerful this narcotic was to her when she saw others using it.
I remember the loss of enchantment
In everyone I'd see
And seeing my own face in each one of their faces
Looking back at meDuring Stevie's time in rehab, she said she saw people coming and going, waving and saying "Hi" and "Goodbye" as they came and went. Since it's only proper to make eye contact, she was *probably* looking at their faces during this. And of course, Stevie saw herself in each one of them: the hopeless person being brought in, and the "cured" person leaving. She went through what the newbies have been going through, and hopes to feel the relief of being sober.
Beautiful faces, not so beautiful anymore
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
That was then, this is nowThe faces that were once beautiful are now tarnished from the effects of the drugs. Stevie is, as well. Before the drugs and the rock star glamour, she was "standing at the crossroads," i.e., she was very popular, famous and respected (but we already knew that). That was then, and this is now. She's trying to regain that as a consequence of the drugs she took.
Through the long, hard summer
I remember feeling cold in the heat
I remember an icy feeling working through the streetsThis could be referring to withdrawl and the feelings of being rather cold even though the temperature doesn't agree. The icy feeling working through the streets could be a metaphor, however, for the heroin working through the veins.
I remember the loss of enchantment
Everyone I'd see
I'd see my own face in each one of their faces
Looking back at me
My own face, in each one of their faces
Looking back at me
Beautiful faces, not so beautiful anymore
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
That was then, this is now.One day comes, and then it goes
It's all the same to me now
Another day here is like another day closer to
Getting out of this town.This could refer to the people/Stevie feeling like it's all the same. Actually, it probably does, if it's part of the lyrics. Another day in rehab has just become a day closer to leaving and hopefully being back to normal. The days come, and then they go, with no variation in the routines.
One thing I said I would never do
Was come from a place of fear
But fear is nothing, nothing to me now
I no longer care
Fear is nothing to me now
I no longer careShe doesn't come from a place of fear. In fact, she has experienced fear, in seeing everyone going through their own personal troubles and reflecting upon her own and how drugs have affected her. After this, she can't be afraid of anything else. She no longer cares.
Beautiful faces, not so beautiful anymore
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
That was then, this is nowWe've got to get out of this place
If it's the last thing we ever do
A haunting song from the rock and roll past
Ooh, they said that, tooAs the days go by, the rehab-ees just want to get the hell out of there, if the dependancy upon the drugs is strong enough. They just want another hit or they just can't take it. Stevie has had many an interesting moment as an effect of the drugs ("Red Rocks" or the Mirage concert, for example), and it's apparently having some toll on her for the better.
Now we are dying, jut like them
It's a stranger deja vu
Ooh, the tar people are back again
Sad, very true
Well they're back again, sad very trueThe drugs are killing the rehabees slowly, as they were Stevie, causing a feeling of deja vu. But the once free druggies are back because they're back on the addiction. It's sad, and very true.
Beautiful faces, not so beautiful anymore
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
That was then, this is nowSometimes I feel like how could this have happened
How could this.. happen to me?
Sometimes the sun shines behind the black needle
But is is never sunny
Ooh it is always black, there is always a shadow
A shadow following me
My music is lost, I am very thin, I am always in need
My music is lost, I am very thin, I am always in needHere comes the realisation that from now on, people are going to see Stevie as "that coked up singer." How could this have happened to her, of all people? Sometimes, drugs were fun... they made you feel happy when you were depressed... but it will always cast a shadow behind you. You won't forget it, and neither will anyone else. Her musical talents were lost, she lost weight, and she was always in need of someone to mentor her.
Beautiful faces, not so beautiful anymore
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
I was hopeful, that was then, this is now
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
I was hopeful, that was then, this is now
When it began, I was standing at the crossroads
That was then, this is now
This is now
This is now
This is now
This is now
NowShe was hopeful that the drugs wouldn't go this far. But that was then, and this is now. They did go that far. Now, after rehab, she's been quite successful.
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