|
Discography Listings:
A |
Written by Stevie Nicks.
The song starts very slowly, and very quietly. Her voice slightly trembles as she sings the first lines. "It was one for you, it was three for me", I believe Stevie is commenting on the three sides to her career. On the cover of the Wild Heart album, there are three images of her. Maybe she is the solo star, the poetic soul and the "baby egg" of Fleetwood Mac. All three are just as powerful. It was one for most others, or maybe to the person she is talking to, they have the one success. No one else could divide themselves up so well, making sure that nothing touched each other causing ripples.
Her success as a singer, when it started, immediately put her on top. She had money and fame, all those things she had worked so hard to get were now hers. A decade later, all that was sweet about fame suddenly turned sour. She gives an image of it all in little pieces: her heart and her life.
Stevie was humble about her success. She didn't ask for more, she simply took all the good and bad that came to her. As she did this, she never stopped and put herself on hold to heal after all that happened. In a decade, not only did she acquire success with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, she also lost her best friend Robin Snyder Anderson to cancer, lost Lindsey Buckingham as her lover and as a band mate and lost Jimmy Iovine as her lover and producer. All three left her and she still pushed through it all and continued to put out records and tour. There was a price to pay now.
Stevie said that she was really sick of the rumours that had been thrown around behind her back. People took it upon themselves to conclude who Stevie was, what was wrong with her and did so without ever asking her. In all of this, Stevie had her image. She had a part of herself she thought she had shown to the world and to the people around her. Never did she realize that this image would soon be changed. Through her words she told people who she was, but they didn't read the words, the just watched her and changed the words so that they suited themselves. Stevie doesn't complain, doesn't blame anyone. "I just threw the cards.", no matter what happened or what anyone said, she didn't stop or quit.
And its alright baby...I'm doing the best that I can
She repeats over and over that she's going to do the best that she can. Finally life couldn't go on for her anymore unless she stopped and examined everything that happened to her. Not even escaping to music or a new album or to drugs, she looked into herself. It would be easy to feel sorry for herself and quit altogether, but she says she's doing the best that she can. No real answers but real effort to live not so selflessly.
Fate causes fortune meaning her own destiny was one that brought her a lot of money and fame. When fame and fortune come to you, you can sometimes lose the original dream. Her original dream was to make music, write songs and to stay true to Stevie Nicks. She wrote the music and made beautiful music, but in a fast-paced money-hungry way that wasn't so much her fault, but the fault of the roller coaster she was riding on and all the people around her who handled Stevie Nicks. She never strayed too far away from her message but everything that went around it--too much money and too much drugs all caused everyone to miss what she was saying and to look too deeply at what she was doing.
In my distress...well I wanted someone to blame me
The "real" Stevie Nicks had been silenced. The fear, anger and hurt had been pushed aside. All of the sudden she felt that maybe she had no control over her life, it was now everyone elses life. They were the ones who controlled her anymore.
When reality strikes you, it is painful and hard to take. It's easier to ignore the truth when all you see and hear is blame and accusations. Then you can push aside the truth a little longer and only dwell on the blame and accusations being thrown on to you. She wanted to change though, but still, tragedy was all that she knew anymore. No truths or revelations about herself, just numbness of ignoring all of it. When people spoke behind her back and on the press, she could be bitter or nonchalant and go on with life. What she really needed to do is search herself to tell the truth.
Stevie no longer had nothing to numb the feeling. She depended no longer on drugs or on music to get her away from it. She finally looked in the mirror--to the other side and saw that all these years she was hurting herself. She will do the best that she can, because fortune took all the original dreams away, took her own soul away. Who is "he"? Someone calls her and relays the rumours she hates so much. " You are doing fine." is what he tells her and she hears that and can say, " well now I will be, Im going to change."
She tells him she's ok, that she is fine. Now she is fine because she saw the light so to speak. He tells her what he has heard, assuming its true and then tells everyone else that she is fine. She paid the price letting everyone say what they want to say without putting up a fight. She paid the price for hurting so much and never stopping to heal. "A wound gets worse when its treated with neglect."
"Escape from Berlin", is the subtitle. Maybe she is comparing her pain to how those people felt in Berlin. Trapped and silenced, too many rules and not any time to be free. No freedom at all. Stevie didn't put this song on her Enchanted box set, even though this song rings an honesty and bluntness that Stevie usually stayed away from. Using imagery to describe how she feels, Stevie never really put out on the line her pain as she does in this song. She sings with anger, spitting and screaming the words that probably never left her heart. Shes doing the best that she can now, because you can't change the past; just change the future. She would never let herself get that lost again
Transcribed to HTML by Marty Adelson.
"Well, that's really the story of my life. That's the story especially of the last three years of my life. And I...I think I wrote that song really because sometimes I get tired of people telling me their opinions of what I do. Because I want to say, you have no idea what I live with. You have no idea what my life is like. You have no idea the responsibility that I feel to people, or the guilt that I carry around with me, or how much I want to please everybody, and how hard I try to please everybody and make everybody happy. It's very difficult. I mean it is aging. And uh...'Doing the Best I Can' sort of says get off my back, basically. I'm doing the best that I can. And I have been doing the best I can for as long as I can remember. So, either give me a break or leave me alone. And it's a very serious song. I mean there's, I mean it's sad, I me I mean there's, I mean it's sad, I mean...in my distress I wanted someone to blame me. In my...you know...in my own way, disaster was the only thing I could depend on. I mean that's...that's pretty down in the very depths of despair. Which is where I pretty much was when I wrote this song. Which meant I cannot take all of this advice and go on living with all of you. You've got to let me grow up and leave me to my own decisions. I'm a grown up. I'm not a child." - Stevie Nicks, 1989
It was very nice...it was everything
So here it is...in little pieces
Maybe next time I'll think about how I'm feeling
Cause I'm doing the best that I can
No one says anything to anyone
You watch after her... and your word is law
She thought she was out there...but nobody saw
I didn't win or lose...I just threw the cards
But I paid a price for it.
And I'm trying hard to change...I'm doing the best that I can
Well because fate causes fortune and fortune takes it away
Well its alright, baby...I'm doing the best that I can
But I covered my tears...
Silent all day
It's out of my hands here
In my devastation...I wanted so to change
In my way...disaster was the only thing that I could depend on
Yes its alright baby...I'm doing the best that I can
Because fate causes fortune and fortune takes it away
And then fortune causes nightmares...nightmares that make you crazy
Its alright baby...I'm doing the best that I can
Its alright baby...I'm doing the best that I can
Oh he says, " Well I hear you're doing fine and you're doing the best that you can."
Well he says, " Well I hear you're doing fine and you're doing the best that you can."
Yes its alright, baby...Im doing the best that I can
Oh he says " I hear you're doing fine and you're doing it the best that you can."
Oh and he says " Ooh I hear she's doing fine and she's doing it the best that she can."
Oh and I paid a price for it
Im doing the best that I can.
All Rights Reserved.
