All in all, “Edge of Seventeen” is about the sadness Nicks felt after the death of her musical hero John Lennon and an uncle of hers named Jonathan. Both deaths occurred just days apart in the month of December 1980. Nicks got the song’s title from a conversation she had with singer Tom Petty’s wife Jane Benyo. During the conversation, Nicks had asked Jane when she met Tom for the first time. Jane replied Nicks by telling her that she and Tom met when she was “at the age of seventeen”. Interestingly, because of Jane’s southern accent (which was very thick), Nicks assumed what Jane said was “the edge of seventeen”. She liked the phrase and decided instantly it would make a good title for a song. In 2019, Stevie Nicks made history by becoming the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice

You can't take Stevie's lyrics literally. She is a brilliant songwriter and uses poetic imagery to express her emotions

@dougdrake6637

2 жыл бұрын

Completely true. In this song for instance everyone guesses and no one gets it right. The edge of 17 is actually a takeoff on the phrase age of 17 if you have a Southern accent when you say it. She got it from Tom Petty's first wife Jane when she was having a conversation with her about when it was that Jane met Tom Petty. And the rest of the song is a smash up of thoughts and feelings generated during the week that John Lennon was assassinated which was also the same week that a family member of hers passed away. And you'd never get any of that from just listening to the lyrics

@patkelly8309

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. That goes for so many artists. I think this is a problem a lot of the Reaction channels seem to have. They are looking for a definitive, literal meaning to songs when Art just doesn't always work that way.

@MoMoMyPup10

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it was pretty common to just write good songs about an idea or an image and not a lot of people would read too much into it. It was just a good song. Brad happens to make the mistake of thinking every song is someone's life story. Probably a hip hop thing.

Said it before, I'll say it again: greatest female vocalist in the history of rock 'n' roll.

@RSpracticalshooting

2 жыл бұрын

Without a doubt.

@erroristmusic

2 жыл бұрын

Is this even rock n roll? Fleetwood Mac's music ain't really rock either? Or am i wrong?

@johntremmel3949

2 жыл бұрын

That would be an opinion ! I can think of half a dozen others that come to mind, I use to think that the best voice in rock music female belonged to Dale Krantz who sang for Rossington Collins or Dale Krantz Rossington, since she had married Gary Rossington

@BalbazaktheGreat

2 жыл бұрын

@@erroristmusic Rock 'n' Roll is a pretty broad category, man. Fleetwood Mac is a pretty eclectic band, but it's unquestionably a rock band before anything else. FYI, Stevie Nicks is the only woman to be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame twice.

@puppetmaster8551

2 жыл бұрын

Ann Wilson was a better singer Imo and kinda more rock n roll.

You know what an "earworm" is, right? A song, melody, sound, or phrase that seems to just pop into your head out of the depths of your memory and keeps popping in at random times just to drive you a little crazy with its repetition. Well, this song was the first earworm that I ever actually really enjoyed, popping into my head around 2020 after being an old favorite in the 1980's. I now use this song to drive away any unwanted earworms! Works every time!!!

@michellez1414

2 жыл бұрын

Rhinnanon is my earworm cure!! Twinning!

I love Stevie. Her voice. Her bands. Her songs. Her energy. She's the coolest.

I was in LOVE with Stevie and she is 14 years older than me. When this song came out, she was singing to me! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I ran to the record store to get this 45. I was basically 19 by then, but close enough.

@MetFan37

Жыл бұрын

But wasn't it a bummer to find that the 45 had an entire verse edited from the song?

Stevie Nicks has one of the most unique voices in history.

@EM1R8T1961

2 жыл бұрын

Unique sounding, like if she swallowed a mouthful of razorblades and chased it with copious amounts of coffee and jello. Just saying.

@robbob5302

2 жыл бұрын

Best voice in music, ever. ( imho of course.)

@d34dR0d3n7

2 жыл бұрын

@@EM1R8T1961 And then two packs of smokes. But absolutly worked for her style, both solo and Fleetwood. My type of gal.

The absolute, unequivocal Queen of Rock n Roll. Nobody had or ever will have a voice like hers, let alone the songwriting talents to back it up.

@Blaze_1961

2 жыл бұрын

Ummm Ann Wilson blows Stevie out of the water when it comes to rock and roll. (vocals) Can't argue on lyrics.

@puppetmaster8551

2 жыл бұрын

Ann Wilson has a better voice especially when it comes to actual rock n roll

@jammybadger6514

2 жыл бұрын

I like Stevie but PJ Harvey sings better and for me a much better song writer. And much more rock based than Stevie especially her first 3 albums.

@Habeev07

Жыл бұрын

@@Blaze_1961 Stevie is the Queen of R&R. Cant deny Ann's power of vocals and all but Stevie still earns the title.

i always interpreted the lyrics as Stevie loving on a young man "he was no more than a baby then he seemed broken-hearted something within him all alone on the edge of seventeen" and then "i am a few years older than you" using this interpretation i picture myself as the boy she's singing to. might not be right or even close, but works for me.

@Rhiannon011

2 жыл бұрын

The "17 year old" is her cousin she was singing about. She was with him, as his dad (her uncle) was dying at home, those lyrics are about that situation. Also she is singing about the death of John Lennon in this song.

@EM1R8T1961

2 жыл бұрын

@@Rhiannon011 her Uncle's son would be her cousin, at least where I'm from.

@Rhiannon011

2 жыл бұрын

@@EM1R8T1961 Oops!😲 You are totally correct. I do apologize for that error, Stevie Nicks "cousin". I corrected it above.

@robbob5302

2 жыл бұрын

Cooperstone If it works for you, stick with it!

@chriswildhaber35

2 жыл бұрын

Haha me to.

The song is about the loss Stevie felt when her uncle, who was a couple of years younger than her, died in the same week that John Lennon was murdered, whom the song is also about, but sung metaphorically. The title comes from a misunderstanding between her and an old friend, when her friend, Tom Petty's wife, told her they first met at the age of seventeen. Stevie thought she said "edge" and it inspired her to write a song about her uncle and Lennon.

@BlowinFree

2 жыл бұрын

It was about Tom petty and his wife actually

@robertsaul234

2 жыл бұрын

@@BlowinFree she's told the story about her uncle and Lennon many times.

@richardcollette9884

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertsaul234 Its about both.

@robertsaul234

2 жыл бұрын

@@richardcollette9884 I never said it wasn't.

@davidellis7786

2 жыл бұрын

I heard that before but totally forgot it, thanks for remembering that

she is so fucken amazing!!!!!! all these yrs later she STILL rocks!!!!

the guitar chug famously sampled by Destiny's Child on "Bootylicious", absolute classic tune

@RSpracticalshooting

2 жыл бұрын

Fuck you're right! I never noticed that.

@armadillotoe

2 жыл бұрын

Sampling is stealing.

@jammybadger6514

2 жыл бұрын

Well spotted

@dggydddy59

2 жыл бұрын

Played by sideman extraordinaire Waddy Wachtel I believe.

@sparks5063

2 жыл бұрын

Whenever I heard this come on the radio back in the day, I always thought it was Eye of the Tiger from Rocky lol

One of my very favorite songs. I love Stevie's voice.

Now we're talking..that screeching voice is hauntingly beautiful..get yourself some Fleetwood Mac rumours songs on thanks guys love it.

I rarely pay attention to song lyrics through the first few times a I hear a new song. I just "hear" it. If my mind is analyzing the meaning of the lyrics I don't hear the music; I'll read a book for words. Just let it be music, with Stevie's voice as just another instrument. Over time I absorb the lyrics and the song takes on its deeper meaning. But it's the musicality that owns me first. This is one of my favorite Nicks' song (perhaps my #1 favorite).

Stevie Nicks wrote this song about the death of her uncle and the death of John Lennon. The line about the "Words from a poet and a voice from a choir" refers to Lennon. Speaking about the song in commentary for her Live In Concert video recorded on her Bella Donna tour, she explained: "I was in Australia when John Lennon was shot. Everybody was devastated. I didn't know John Lennon, but I knew Jimmy Iovine, who worked with John quite a bit in the '70s, and heard all the loving stories that Jimmy told about him. When I came back to Phoenix I started to write this song. Right when I got to Phoenix, my uncle Bill got cancer, got very sick very fast, and died in a couple of weeks. My cousin John Nicks and I were in the room when he died. There was just John and I there. That was part of the song when I went running down the hallways looking for somebody - I thought where's my mom? Where's his wife and the rest of the family? At that point I went back to the piano and finished the song." Stevie came up with the title when she asked Tom Petty's wife Jane when the couple met. Jane said, "At the age of seventeen," but she had a very strong southern accent and Stevie thought she said "the edge of seventeen," which makes a great song title. Telling the story in a 1981 interview with Los Angeles disc jockey Robert W. Morgan, Nicks said she told Jane: "It's got to be 'edge.' 'The Edge of Seventeen' is perfect. I'm going to write a song." Miley Cyrus dropped her track “Midnight Sky,” which samples Stevie Nicks' classic song “Edge of Seventeen.” Now, Stevie Nicks herself has joined Cyrus on a remix of the single called “Edge of Midnight.”

@julieholbrook5302

2 жыл бұрын

That is her storyline. It makes zero sense. The lyrics literally detail how she and Lindsey met. We may never know. I do not buy that tale for one minute.

@cullinaaronkress

2 жыл бұрын

The last part is a real bummer.

This was Stevie's transition from bandmate to solo.. Also she went from 70s rock queen to the 80s in the MTV generation. Her sound changed drastically, just as music did from 1979 to 1981.

@mikefetterman6782

2 жыл бұрын

Now you know why she is the queen of rock and roll.

@ericsierra-franco7802

2 жыл бұрын

This album made her a superstar!

HA! Brad...it's all over your face when you're wrestling with the meaning of obscure lyrics, and the song comes to an end... ...and you still haven't puzzled it out! My friend, that's what gives these songs replay value!! On a different day (depending on your current circumstances), something completely different, and often unexpected, will pop into your mind. Just go with it!

@dggydddy59

2 жыл бұрын

He ought to just quit even trying to figure out song lyrics. They don't necessarily mean only one thing for starters. Even the really obvious ones go over his head besides.

Duet with Stevie & Don Henley (Eagles drummer, lead vocals) Huge hit “Leather & Lace” is classic

I absolutely love the melody of this song. This is not even the type of music I generally listen to, but the soul is pulled in by her words and mesmerizing vocals.

Brad & Lex, you'll love her "Stand Back, duets "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and "Leather and Lace" (with Don Henley). She is one of the few women in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame twice (Fleetwood Mac and solo).

@timpeltier2901

2 жыл бұрын

I thought she was the only one.

@wolfmanscott8669

2 жыл бұрын

Insider is good too if your gonna talk duets with her and Tom, as well as i will run to you, needles and pins, and The apartment song.

@surlechapeau

2 жыл бұрын

@@timpeltier2901 Tina Turner and Carole King solo. Tina with Ike Turner, and Carole for songwriting with Gerry Goffin.

@jbjacobs9514

2 жыл бұрын

That kind of makes me sad. She deserves it in spades, but Pat Benatar isn't in there once and she's in twice? Hmmm. I mean, I get it, but I guess just weird that so many get in and yet not one of the greatest singers of a generation?

When my younger sister was 16 years old, this came out. We were already both fans of Fleetwood Mac and then Stevie Nicks had this huge smash hit on her own. And I can remember the video on MTV playing constantly. But my sister had the record and she just played it over and over and over again. And it was on the radio all the time as well.

@michaelasay8587

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Steve, saw her do this in 97 in SF.

@stevedahlberg8680

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaelasay8587 Sweet!

I've always loved this song. Stevie's voice is so powerful and beautiful. I also love this guitar riff that goes throughout this song, it was also sample by Destiny's Child for their hit, Bootylicious. Stevie even made a cameo in the DC video! Stevie is such a boss! Love her! 💖💖

That hypnotic riff was contributed by the studio and touring guitarist Waddy Wachtel…it’s not done on bass but on guitar. Waddy has been Steve’s “side-man” and good friend for decades……and a very cool dude.

@easyrolling

Жыл бұрын

Waddy is THE MAN .. so many artists use him.. legendary session guy

Stevie Nicks is sooooo bad ass. No to Brad on the interpretation. And it's a guitar picking that single note (and a couple others) throughout.

@SeeJayPlayGames

2 жыл бұрын

Girl HAS a guitar and didn't know that... OMG. That tells me just how much she's picked it up. Like, little to not at all. :(

Stevie is that woman 💯♥️♥️♥️

She fell in love the first time she saw the one, and they ended up together even tho it was when she got older. And she is acknowledging her progression in life.

If you want to see another side of Stevie review the live version of Gold Dust Woman with Bob Welch. It’s intense and great.

Not only is this HER best hit, it's one of the BEST songs in the history of Rock!

@supertrexandroidx

2 жыл бұрын

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one ;)

@willfrancis9100

2 жыл бұрын

Negative

@maggie4396

4 ай бұрын

STAND BACK WAS A GOOD ONE!! THE MUSIC SOUND..SHAKE MY HEAD EACH TIMES! 🤩

@dominicg3316

Ай бұрын

@@supertrexandroidxu can disagree but he is factually right

@dominicg3316

Ай бұрын

@@willfrancis9100no it’s positive

All of a sudden I got when I was 9 playing old school computer games like Archon or Hack... This song would come on... It would put me in heaven... Nice enjoyable feeling filled flashback... Just like it made me feel the same way when I was 9 in '83... Stevie😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯

Saw Stevie back in the 80's with Fleetwood Mac. She sang 'Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You', with just Christine McVie on piano... Her voice gently shook my bones from head to toe. The best live voice I have ever witnessed... Apart from a gig I went to a few years ago, which was Beth Hart. Beth blew my mind for the entire show. Am I The One live from Paradiso has to be one the best live performances ever caught on film. Ooops... I drifted off there for a moment. Two unbelievable singers, and so lucky to have seen them both perform.

@Rhiannon011

2 жыл бұрын

Beth Hart is great. But when she does her live concerts these days she rarely sings my fav song by her "LA song"...great song!

The scream before the solo is over of the best moments in rock history

This IS 80's Stevie Nicks - This song was HUGE and the Video is ICONIC!

Saw her concert, what a show. NEVER thought you two would react to. TYVM

I could listen to her all day every day

School of Rock jukebox scene

@RSpracticalshooting

2 жыл бұрын

Stevie!!!

Stevie the Queen!!

As others have said this song was written after the death of Stevie’s Uncle and John Lennon. For me it is my absolute favorite Stevie song because it got me through the suicide of my younger cousin back in 2015. As his older cousin I took it personally that I didn’t look out for him and notice he needed help. It hits me differently than the rest of her songs just because of the emotion she sings in it surrounding death. I’m glad you two finally listened to it! ❤️

Absolute classic from Stevie! Takes me right back to the early 80's. Whole album is great! 👍🔥🔥🔥

Not the most technical guitar solo ever, but very effective for the song. Music does not have to be crazy hard to play to still be interesting to listen to.

Love this... You should check out "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian - Totally different but AMAZING - Won a Grammy. There's a live version taped at The Old Whistle Test... Good work!

@LynnThompsonAuthor

2 жыл бұрын

I think every teenage girl felt like the one in that Janis Ian song! One of the great female singer-songwriters of the '70s.

See her do this solo, even now, recently, it's fucking amazing...my love of music started here..

Stevie took a lot of inspiration from Janis Joplin. Both Janis and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane were early idols of hers. Seeing both powerful women singers front their own bands before her own career took off, Stevie has said, "I learned that to make it as a female musician in a man's world is gonna be tough, and you need to keep your head held high." Janis was certainly a huge influence on her artistry, creating her own persona to bring it to the studio and the stage. I've had the pleasure of seeing the woman in concert when she was promoting her early solo albums and it's more than a show, it's an EXPERIENCE! Rock on, Stevie!

She is the only female Double Inductee into 'The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame', for Fleetwood Mac and her solo career. (This song is kind of a double hit for her as well. Destiny's Child used large parts of in their monster hit 'Bootylicious'. They even had Stevie Nicks in their official video.)

So many great live versions of Stevie doing this song you have to watch her perform. She is great and still going on her own.

Queen Stevie ~ No words needed 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Song is fantastic

Had a big crush on her when I was a teenager. After this song I thought hmm, this could happen...

My fave SN song, absolute Banger! Played this during an boring Art Show after party once, transformed the whole boring room into a great vibe!🙏

This the first I really loved Stevie. I didn’t get her before. And it’s my loss because her originally and deep spirit is positively undeniable. Thanks.

@ed.z.

Жыл бұрын

Originality.

Watch the official video sometime guys. It's a great live version that really kicks.

Listening to Stevie is like riding a wooden roller coaster.

Stevie Nicks used a lot of the same musicians that toured with Linda Rondstadt in her solo work!

Her fast vibrato is just the best! Love it!

There's a great live version of this you should watch for yourselves. You can see the love between Stevie & the audience & it's beautiful.💙☮💙

THE GREATEST FEMALE VOICE IN ROCK!

This song is all about the relationship drama within the band. Example ...the nightbird was Mic Fleetwood.They have so many cool rock stories.

Her best one is "Stand Back".

Again we had the best music in the 70's.

There is a live performance of her doing this song that is awesome. Can't remember Wich show but the audience sure gives her love.

I absolutely love Stevie Nicks. 70s or 80s or 90s or today, she's just awesome.

The guitar riff was sampled by Destiny's child for their song "bootylicious". Stevie appeared briefly in the video playing a guitar.

Stevie is the goddess Queen of Rock and Roll! ALL bow down before her!

Timeless classic.

Listen to the lyricks at the end when she says "I'm a few years older than you". I think its about forbidden love.

If you want a 60s hippie female voice to check out, you really need to check out Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane/Starship.

Stunning piece of music by a true artist

Queen. One of my idols growing up. Still is )0( 💜🖤💜

my ears get so excited when i hear her!

Queen Stevie is mistress of the universe.

Fun fact, Stevie Nicks was a character in American Horror Story Coven. The one witch, Misty, believed that Stevie Nicks was a witch and the evidence is in her music.

Stevie was inspired by Tom Petty's first wife who told her in a thick Deep South accent that she had met Tom at the "edge of seventeen." Ironically, Stevie herself met Lindsey Buckingham in high school at the "edge of eighteen."

@coreydean6540

2 жыл бұрын

She said "age of seventeen" but Stevie misunderstood it.

@julieholbrook5302

2 жыл бұрын

And, she was a "few years" (year and a half) older than him. And, she met him playing music.

Even though this wasn't her biggest hit (indeed, it never even entered the Top 10), it has gone on to pretty much become her signature song.

YEA BOY!

Stevie is amazing, such a perfect voice and s I beautiful, she just gives off a vibe and energy love her

Nevr saw these two before- but this Lex is a freaking DOLL!! Such a cute freakkng smile as she’s listening to these songs. Just watched the reveiw of this and Should I Stay or Should I go… songs from back in my days. Such a pleasure watching them enjoy

Absolutely perfect shot Brad... 🤪 Hey Man, Nice Shot!!!

I’m a metalhead and think Stevie is a goddess!!

Stevie Nicks says that No. 1....she considers herself a songwriter. This poem/song is one that proves as much....as are many others. Oh, and she can sing, too.

Thanks!

Even though I'm subscribed to your channel, I don't get a lot of notifications when you post. I missed this one, but wanted to say thanks for reacting to this. It's one of my favorites. Her voice is just so original.

MMMMmmm. Stevie. Fell in love with her voice back when I was in HS in the 80s.

I had floor seats and a temperature of 104 when I went to the Fleetwood Max concert. The 80s ROCKED!!! You all missed it. They used to say Stevie Nicks was a witch, lol.

Love Stevie, Love this song.

LEX JUST ENCAPSULATED STEVIE IN ONE SENTENCE!! Is her voice perfect? NO...is it raspy and gritty and real? Absolutely! And is her writing typical and falling into popular norms? Nope...AND THATS WHY WE LOVE HER!!!

There is a live performance video of this song from 1981 that is beyond phenomenal.

Brad is Wilding out. Smn. Lex is that GIRL!!!

Been in love with this woman since the 70's My My she is great!

Have to see this live….Stevie’s AWESOME! Cheers

Lex, I can see you really FEEL the music in these videos.. keep up with your guitar playing and God bless you both. You would have made the PERFECT stoner babe back in the day!!

I can't hear this and not think of 'School of Rock'. Great song! Great movie!!

Classic! ⭐️

Lex would have been a great music reviewer for Rolling Stone magazine back in the 70s and 80s.

Stevie Nicks asked Tom Petty's wife when she met him and she said "at the age of seventeen" but Stevie heard "the edge of seventeen" and she saved that phrase because it sounded cool and used it much later in this song

I love Fleetwood Mac but I also was a teen with Stevie`s solo 80s music so I loved it too! Stand Back,If Anyone Falls,I Can`t Wait and Talk To Me are all Greats! ..Keep On Rockin'

Brad analyzes the music. Lex enjoys the music.

Favorite Stevie song, still in my Playlist

I'm a hardcore metal head. Metallica, gnr, slipknot, wasp, and everything in-between. This is my guilty pleasure, and I had the biggest crush on stevie😎

THE INSISTENT RHYTHM PROVIDED BY THE GUITAR DYNAMICALLY JUXTAPOSES STEVIE'S RAZOR SHARP VOCALS..IT CALLS TO MIND JUST WHAT A POWERED PERFORMER SHE IS AND HOW VERSATILE TOO.

My favorite female singer.