Amy Lu's View

I’ve never claimed to be a meteorologist, but I think thunder doesn’t only happen when it’s raining.

So just a moment, let me Google that…I’ll be right back.

[Virtual hold music…]

It doesn’t. There can be thunder without rain, at least according to the cursory search I just did. Yes, the search was half-assed and not worthy of a librarian, but since the results confirm my bias it’s worthy of a blogger and I’m going to run with it.

(Not going to get into the details of how/why/when thunder happens without rain, y’all can Google that yourselves if you care).

I only care about thunder without rain because I recently performed the songs “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at our church’s virtual coffee house.

As a child of the seventies, I loved–and still love–that Fleetwood Mac song. I decided to do it for coffee house because I was pleasantly surprised to discover it only has two chords (more or less) and is in my vocal range (such that it is).

Performing the song gave me the opportunity to delve into the lyrics far more deeply than child Amy ever did–remember the interwebs weren’t widespread until I was almost 30. Okay, that does mean that I could have looked into the lyrics anytime in the last 20 years, so I must own not making that a priority.

As I expected, I was bemused my some of the lyrics but also totally blown away by others. Yes, a line by line commentary of my thoughts would be delightfully insightful, wouldn’t it? Here you go:

Amy’s Long And Rambling Dissection of the Lyrical Meaning, Relevance, and Significance of the Song “Dreams” by Stevie Nicks as performed by Fleetwood Mac

Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down (Off to a good start, young Amy understood these lyrics–literally and figuratively, more or less)
It’s only right that you should
Play the way you feel it (Wow, this feels really contemporary, like “You do you!” And I never knew what these lyrics were before looking them up).
But listen carefully (Hmmm, don’t think I literally knew what Stevie was singing here, either…from now on, let’s just assume that I could NOT decipher Stevie’s vocal stylings)
To the sound of your loneliness

Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
And what you had
And what you lost

(Holy crap–that is amazing! Beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking. Did Stevie write this? I don’t think so…[quick Google break]…Wow, Stevie DID write it! Way to go, Stevie! Way to tell Lindsay to go F himself in a gorgeous way. And not to assume that everyone knows the Stevie Nicks/Lindsay Buckingham reference…oh, again, just Google it!)

Thunder only happens when it’s rainin’ (okay, here’s the lyrically infamous and meteorologically dubious but at least decipherable and certainly memorable line that I am certainly not the first person to make fun of )
Players only love you when they’re playin’ (I think even as a kid I wondered what type of players she was referring to–players in a band? Because we love you whenever you are giving us positive feedback, whether or not we’re playing at the time. I can’t speak to sports players, sexual players, gambling/game players, etc…)
Say women, they will come and they will go (So simple, but I never understood “Say women”…I thought it was “Say when, they were coming there going” which is more about lying that being fickle. And how many other people say “Say” as a way to start a thought besides my mother and Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney?)
When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know (Does anyone ever feel clean after being rained on? I always want to take a shower after that. Well, I guess I don’t know yet..)
You’ll know (Is this a promise or a threat?)

Now here I go again
I see the crystal visions (I still think this may be WITH crystal visions)
I keep my visions to myself (Sorry, going to go perhaps a little too serious but this reminds me of when my dad had hallucinations but was savvy enough not to tell others about them)
It’s only me who wants to wrap around your dreams (Love this, don’t know what it means…she wants to protect him unlike those other coming and going women who only love him when it thunders?)
And have you any dreams you’d like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness

Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had (Again, beautiful, poignant–I knew “Rumors” was full of relationship drama but had no idea it was so poetic, and of course loss doesn’t have to be only about ending relationships. Bonus points for successfully using “mad” instead of “crazy” feels–elegant)

And what you lost
And what you had
Ooh, what you lost

• 

• 

I was sincerely, mostly unabashedly into this song while I was singing it. Listening to the recording (fortified by alcohol) I realize my performance was not as good as it seemed to me in the moment, but I played it the way I felt it.

And Chad even played guitar with me (don’t worry, there’s no art imitating life with the Stevie/Lindsay dynamic at play here).