When Stevie Nicks sat down in the makeup chair for her Rolling Stone shoot with the brilliant Annie Leibovitz, no one could have known such magic would follow. Sure, the photos themselves were ethereal, with Nicks in a flowing white dress, slouchy boots, and cockatoo companion, of course. But it was her guttural singing along with an impromptu demo before the shoot that has especially stood the test of time. Luckily, the cameras caught this all on video, and the clip continues to delight fans.
The year was 1981, and Nicks was doing promotional photos for her first solo album, Bella Donna. She plopped down for a dash of rosy powder, and as her eyelids were getting lined, she started to sing, as though she couldn’t keep it caged. For one, it wasn’t her style. If Nicks had something on her mind, it often came out as an echoing, heart-wrenching war cry. It never mattered if she was on stage or behind it.
‘Don’t blame it on me’
The makeup artist seemed to realize in real time that she was witnessing the genesis stage of a brilliant piece of art. The music kicks in, and she locked eyes with Nicks, even doing a little dance, as if to say, “I hear you; keep going.” “Don’t blame it on me,” Nicks sang, with a tiny smile as she continued her eye contact. “Blame it on my wild heart.”
In a piece for The New Yorker, Amanda Petrusich wrote, “Nicks, in which she sits on a stool having her makeup done, wearing a white dress with spaghetti straps. She begins to sing. Soon, someone is messing with a piano; one of her backup singers joins in with a harmony. The makeup artist gamely tries to continue with her work, before giving up. While the studio recording of ‘Wild Heart’ is saturated, almost wet, this version is all air, all joy.”
Petrusich shared her perception that Nicks simply couldn’t help herself. “What affects me most about the video is how profoundly Nicks appears to love singing. Her voice has an undulating, galloping quality. It is as if, once it’s started up, there’s no slowing down, no stopping; the car is careering down a mountain, with no brakes. You can see on her face how good it feels just to let go.”
Evolution of a song
A shorter version of the same clip was posted on Threads by filmmaker Ryan Booth, who shared how much it means to him and anyone else who has ever been behind the camera or in front of greatness. “Every time I stumble on this video of Stevie Nicks backstage at a Rolling Stone photoshoot as she ad-libs a yet-to-be-written ‘Wild Heart,’ I download it. I have dozens of copies at this point.”
Booth explained in the comments that Nicks’ Fleetwood Mac bandmate (and complicated ex) Lindsey Buckingham recorded the demo. “It’s a demo of a track Lindsey had laid down earlier that day. In another version, you can more clearly hear her say ‘we were singing to this in the car on the way over.’”
The track wasn’t just any track, and the people singing harmony weren’t just any backup singers. The music was from an early demo of Buckingham’s “Can’t Go Back,” which at the time had the title “Suma’s Walk.” (It was all an evolutionary soup for the song “Wild Heart,” which would appear on Nicks’ second solo album.)
Magic harmony
Booth shared, “The woman singing harmony is the dark-haired woman who you can see when the cam pulls out wide. Lori Perry.” He reiterated what Nicks reportedly said. “You can hear Stevie say that ‘we were singing this line in the car on the way over,’ and ‘this is the chorus – we’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.’”
Many in the comments expressed that this raw version was better than what appeared on the studio album. “This version of Wild Heart is so much better than the one that was released. IMO. These vocals are the magic of this song and they got lost in the final recording.”
In comments on the YouTube clip, a few pointed out how beautiful Nicks sounded and what a special moment it must have been for everyone in the room. “There will NEVER be a rock singer that can outdo Stevie’s alto vibrato and harmonization. You can’t learn that. She was born to give us this gift. Ps…if she was singing looking me right in the face like that, I’d be a blubbering mess.”
