After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album Buckingham Nicks to little success, Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, helping the band to become one of the best-selling music acts of all time with over 120 million records sold worldwide. Rumours, the band's second album with Nicks, became one of the best-selling albums worldwide, being certified 20× platinum in the US.[2]
In 1981, while remaining a member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks began her solo career, releasing the studio album Bella Donna, which topped the Billboard 200 and has reached multiplatinum status.[3] She has released eight studio solo albums and seven studio albums with Fleetwood Mac, selling a certified total of 65 million copies in the US alone.[2]
After the release of her first solo album, Rolling Stone named her the "Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll".[4] Nicks was named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time[5] and one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time[6] by Rolling Stone. Her Fleetwood Mac songs "Landslide", "Rhiannon", and "Dreams", with the last being the band's only number one hit in the US, together with her solo hit "Edge of Seventeen", have all been included in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[7] She is the first woman to have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: first as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and then as a solo artist in 2019.[8]
Nicks has garnered eight Grammy Award[9] nominations and two American Music Award nominations as a solo artist. She has won numerous awards with Fleetwood Mac, including a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978 for Rumours.
The albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Bella Donna have been included in the "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums" chart by Billboard.[10] Furthermore, Rumours was rated the seventh-greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time",[11] as well as the fourth-greatest album by female acts.[12]
Beauty and the Beast
Stevie Nicks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And you are something to see
You don't even know how to please
You say a lot but you're unaware how to leave
My darling lives in a world that is not mine
An old child misunderstood out of time
Timeless is the creature who is wise
Oh who is the beauty who the beast
Would you die of grieving when I leave
Two children too blind to see
I would fall in your shadow I believe
My love is a man who's not been tamed
Oh my love lives in a world of false pleasure and pain
We come from difference worlds we are the same my love
I never doubted your beauty I've changed
I never doubted your beauty I've changed
Changed who is the beauty
Where is my beast (my love)
There is no beauty
Without my beast (my love)
Who is the beauty
Who my love
Ah
Oh la bete la bete
Where is my beast
My beauty my beauty
My beautiful beautiful beautiful
Beautiful beast
In Stevie Nicks's song Beauty and the Beast, she sings about a relationship where the two people are vastly different, but she still loves him unconditionally. The song starts off with Stevie explaining that she knows this person very well, but he doesn't know how to please her. She goes on to say that he's living in a world that's not hers, and he's misunderstood and out of time. The person Stevie is describing sounds like someone who's just not quite in tune with the world around them, and therefore, he struggles to connect with others.
However, Stevie's compassion for this person is evident in the chorus when she asks, "Who is the beauty who the beast?" meaning who is the one who really has it all together? She admits that she would fall into his shadow and die of grieving if he were to leave. Stevie acknowledges that her love is a man who resists being tamed, living in a world of false pleasure and pain. Despite their differences, she never doubted his beauty, and ultimately, he has changed her perception of what true beauty is.
The overall theme of the song is about embracing people's differences and seeing the beauty within them, even if they might not see it themselves. It's a song about unconditional love and acceptance, even when it's not easy.
Line by Line Meaning
You're not a stranger to me
I know you well and we are familiar to each other
And you are something to see
You are a sight to behold and captivating to the eyes
You don't even know how to please
You lack the ability to satisfy or please someone
You say a lot but you're unaware how to leave
You talk excessively and don't know when to stop or exit the conversation
My darling lives in a world that is not mine
The person I love is in a different world from mine
An old child misunderstood out of time
They are a mature adult who is often misunderstood and doesn't belong in this era
Timeless is the creature who is wise
An intelligent entity does not age with time, making them forever young
And timeless is the prisoner in disguise
A person may be confined, but their spirit remains eternal and unbroken
Oh who is the beauty who the beast
The roles of beauty and beast are ambiguous and can be anyone
Would you die of grieving when I leave
If I were to leave, would you mourn for me until your death?
Two children too blind to see
We were naive and unaware of the reality of the situation
I would fall in your shadow I believe
I am willing to be in your shadow and follow you
My love is a man who's not been tamed
The person I love is wild and untamed
Oh my love lives in a world of false pleasure and pain
The person I love lives in a world of pleasure that is untrue and pain that is unreal
We come from difference worlds we are the same my love
We may come from different worlds, but our love unites us and makes us the same
I never doubted your beauty I've changed
I have never questioned your beauty, but I have changed
Changed who is the beauty
Beauty is ambiguous and can change
Where is my beast (my love)
Where is the person I love?
There is no beauty
True beauty does not exist without the beast
Without my beast (my love)
Without the person I love, there is no point to beauty
Who is the beauty
The roles of beauty and beast are interchangeable and unclear
Who my love
Who is the person I love?
Ah
An expression of sentimental yearning
Oh la bete la bete
Oh, the beast, the beast
Where is my beast
Where is the person I love?
My beauty my beauty
The person I love is beautiful and precious to me
My beautiful beautiful beautiful
The person I love is beautiful beyond words
Beautiful beast
The person I love is both beautiful and beastly in a unique way
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEVIE NICKS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind