Stevie Nicks is many things to many people. I think some evaluate her performance in all its facets with common sense and reason. But, others are seemingly swept away with hero worship.
To find the best Stevie Nicks songs of all time, I am going to look mostly outside of her life with Fleetwood Mac. But, there will be three songs from that time that she wrote and sang that are special and should be included.
Better After The Big Mac?
That would be a matter of opinion, of course. Before she joined up with Fleetwood Mac, she had achieved very little working with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. They released one album together, which did nothing.
Fleetwood Mac came lurching onto the horizon. They had been struggling since the departure of slide guitar player Jeremy Spencer, and, most notably, Peter Green.
With those two, they had become the best Blues band in the UK. And, when Greenie succumbed to his mental illness and left, there was a real problem. He was irreplaceable. After a couple of false starts, they offered the job to Lindsey Buckingham.
New Directions
He was a good guitarist, no doubt about that, but in a million years, he was never going to be another Peter Green. As I said, Greenie was irreplaceable. But Mick Fleetwood is an astute man, and Buckingham wasn’t trying to be Peter Green.
Mick knew those heady days of the 60s London Blues band were over and let the band drift in a new direction. They became almost a Pop band.
She Was Good Enough
That exasperated their existing fans, but it opened the door to a new audience. Buckingham joined and brought his girlfriend, Stevie Nicks. I don’t buy the story that Buckingham wouldn’t join unless they took Stevie as well. He was in no position to start dictating to Fleetwood Mac. They took Nicks when he brought her along because she was good enough, and she added another dimension to the band. Vocally and visually.
The story of Mac since that time is well-documented, so there is no need to go into the whys and wherefores.
Writing On The Wall?
Stevie started her first solo album while she was still with the band. Was that an indication of her desire to leave, or did she anticipate her days were numbered?
She had seen relationships all over the place, in and out of the band, after the split with Lindsey. But now, she was going it alone.
She did return to sing with them during reunion concerts. And she offered songs for the album Tango in the Night, even though she was in the Betty Ford clinic at the time.
Her Finest Hour?
In my opinion, it was. When her Mac days were finally over, she blossomed as a singer and a writer. She had never been as good as Christine McVie as a singer. Christine had the voice. But Stevie, with her distinctive raw tone, also had the “look,” and she produced some great work with the band.
What had caught the attention was not necessarily that rather nasal voice, good as it could be, but the visuals. Now she was singing for herself, not others, and she could choose her own direction.
In many ways, what had gone before led her to this point. A sort of preparation for what was to come. This was to be her finest hour as a singer, writer, and actor. All that said, let’s take a look at the best Stevie Nicks songs of all time, starting with…
Top 55 Best Stevie Nicks Songs of All Time
1 If Anyone Falls
This was her second single that was taken from her second studio album, The Wild Heart. It was released in 1983.
The song was arranged around a synthesized based song written by Sandy Stewart. It carries a powerful vocal but an even more striking keyboard sound. Very much in the mold of the “Flying Dutchman,” Eddie Van Halen on “Jump.” You decide.
A song that shows quite clearly that Nicks was on the move, upward. A good Stevie Nicks song, with some great backing vocals thrown in. It reached #14 in America. And, to go with it, a well-produced music video. Well, there would have to be, wouldn’t there?
2 I Can’t Wait
Moving forward in time now to 1985 and a track that was taken from her album, Rock a Little. Nicks was a co-writer along with Rick Nowels and Eric Pressly. I have included it early on this list because I think it demonstrates quite clearly what I was saying earlier. She was progressing as a writer.
And she wasn’t afraid to try new things…
Ten years earlier, this would have been a Disco hit. Now, it is just a track with heavy percussion and big production. Heavy drums, programmed by the sound of them, with lots of preset sounds on the synths. Aside from being a dance song, it is also very “electric.” Interestingly, it wasn’t a big chart success. However, it was her first single in the UK chart for four years but only reached #54.
Although the lyrics portray a frustrating experience, she is saying I am not going to wait, it is all positive in its sound. It is a song that carries you along with it whether you like the dance thing or not.
3 Stand Back
Back to her second solo album, The Wild Heart, for this track, released as the first single in 1983. “Stand Back” became one of Stevie Nicks’s most popular songs, and she included it in the set list for nearly every live show.
It was also a regular in any reunion concerts performed by Fleetwood Mac that she was involved in after 1987.
Once again…
She uses a drum machine programmed by David Bluefield to provide the driving rhythm. Russ Kunkel added the drum overdubs and Prince some synthesizer parts. The song only had a limited release in other countries but reached #5 in America.
It is good on the album, but it is even better when played live. This is her version from The Soundstage Sessions live recordings.
4 Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You
A song with a very personal meaning from the Rock a Little album from 1985. She chose it as the closing track, which in light of what the song is about, was a wise choice.
Joe Walsh had lost his three-year-old daughter in a car accident…
Nicks heard the song that Walsh wrote about her, “Song For Emma.” She spoke to him about his loss, and he told her about a drinking fountain he had built for her.
She went home and wrote this song for him to let him know people cared and to give him the strength to carry on. “So, if not for me, then – Do it for yourself – If not for me then – Do it for the world.”
The song was released as a single in 1986. But it didn’t catch the imagination. It reached #84 in the UK and #60 in America.
Space is starting to run short, and there is still plenty more great songs to consider. So, let’s take a brief look at some of Stevie Nicks’s greatest songs of all time that should be mentioned.
5 Rooms On Fire
Taken from her 1989 album The Other Side Of The Mirror. This was a very successful Stevie Nicks song on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached #16 in the UK and America.
This could be an autobiographical song. It is about a young girl who has come to realize that in her life, there will be no lasting marriage and no children.
6 Talk to Me
From the Rock a Little album of 1985. Another track from this popular album, it was a successful release for her in America, peaking at #4. Not so in the UK, where it only reached #64. A mid-tempo Rock track that gives her throaty voice a good workout.
7 Beauty and the Beast
This is a track taken from The Wild Heart album of 1983. This song was inspired by the French classic of the same name and one of Stevie’s favorite films. She said the song seems to apply to her life. The people she meets are either one or the other and, in most cases, both.
There’s a very impressive string arrangement using a full orchestra.
8 Bella Donna
This was the opening track on her first solo album of the same name, released in 1981. A simple bouncy track to open an impressive album. Her voice has that raw nasal edge we have come to expect.
Maybe what we weren’t expecting were the excellent harmony vocals that give the song almost a gospel feel.
While we are considering Stevie Nicks’s songwriting and performance skills, we cannot just overlook the contribution she made musically to the later incarnation of Fleetwood Mac. Let’s look at a few of her compositions from that time.
9 Landslide
“Landslide” was a song on the first Fleetwood Mac album to include Buckingham and Nicks in 1975. Despite the excellence of Rumours, I always thought this was their best album.
This was a song she wrote when times were quite desperate…
She was having trouble accepting that their Buckingham/Nicks album had failed. Buckingham was managing to get some session work on the west coast, and Stevie was having a hard time making ends meet.
Stevie was away with Buckingham in Aspen and gazed at the “snow-covered hills.” She wrote the song as a kind of promise not only to herself but to her family. It turned out to be one of the very best songs written by Stevie Nicks.
It was released as a “live” single over twenty years after the album and reached #51 on the American chart.
10 Dreams
From the first album to the second, Rumours, one of the most well-known songs she wrote. As a single, it was released in 1977 and went to #1 in America and Canada but only reached #24 in the UK.
Rumors were going on in the band at the time…
And every one of them involved some emotional turmoil. They are well-documented, so there is no need to mention that here. But, they had an input into the writing of this song.
It wasn’t particularly well-received by the band after she had written it, especially by Lindsey Buckingham, who questioned the repetitiveness of the two-chord structure.
Nevertheless, they were able to put away the in-fighting long enough to all have an input into the finished product. It turned out to be one of the “new” Mac’s and Stevie Nicks’ most loved songs.
11 Storms
I think this is one of my favorite of her tracks. It was taken from the Fleetwood Mac album, Tusk. Yes, very dark and moody it seems to symbolize her in many ways.
“Every night you do not come – Your softness fades away – Did I ever really care that much? – Is there anything left to say? – But never have I been a blue calm sea – I have always, been a storm.”
A storm is what the song created in the band…
Buckingham reacted badly, knowing full well that it was about her breakup with Mick Fleetwood. A relationship that ended his marriage.
Add those feelings to the recent scars that were unhealed between them, and the atmosphere in the band was decidedly ugly and never recovered. These are sensitive lyrics as she opens herself up and virtually takes the blame for many of the problems.
This is a great song with a great atmosphere. It proves that you don’t always need the big production to create the emotion of a song, it is here for all to hear. Now, let’s go back to Stevie Nicks, the solo artist, to finish.
12 Leather and Lace
If Stevie Nicks was one of the most recognizable voices of the 70s and 80s, then Don Henley would also fit that description. The Eagles drummer has always been able to produce that husky voice that graced so many Eagles tracks.
Put him with Stevie Nicks, and it ought to be rather good. “Leather and Lace” was just that. It was included in the album Bella Donna which was released in 1981.
The song was written by Nicks for Waylon Jennings to sing as a duet with his wife, Jessi Colter. However, they decided not to include it on their album. So, Nicks recorded it with Henley and used it on her album.
Once again, the backstory to the song is rather dramatic…
Stevie admitted dating Henley after she had split with Mick Fleetwood. She even admitted to being pregnant with his baby. Also, she said that the song she wrote for Fleetwood Mac, “Sara,” was what she would have called the baby.
That all happened in the mid-70s, and this song came way after that period, which means they were at least still talking. It was released in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and America, where it reached #6.
The song is quite light in its mood and an attempt at being quite sweet. It has to be said the voices merge well, which provides us with a pleasant duet.
13 Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
Moving toward the end of the list and staying with the Bella Donna album to finish it up. Tom Petty was, in my view, one of the most underrated artists we have seen.
His work on his solo projects, with ‘The Heartbreakers’ and, of course, with George Harrison in the Travelling Wilburys, produced great results.
Here is another collaboration that works brilliantly…
The song was the only track on Bella Donna that was not written or co-written by Nicks. This was written by Tom Petty with Mike Campbell. It included ‘Duck’ Dunn on bass. She did get to work with some excellent people, didn’t she?
It reached #50 in the UK and #3 in America and was one of the outstanding tracks on her album. It’s been described by some of the music press as being rather dark and even sinister.
This song is about a woman who, despite feeling a strong attachment to her partner, feels it would be better if they were to break up. Typically laid-back guitar from Petty, it is a great track and one of the best on the album.
14 Edge of Seventeen
And so, to the final song on my list of the best Stevie Nicks songs of all time, and one of my personal favorites. This was taken from her first solo album Bella Donna released in 1981.
It is a song about two Johns and Tom and Jane. Although, at the time, we were hearing it for the first time, we could not have known.
She had originally started to write the song about Tom Petty and his wife, Jane. However, other events took hold that changed the concept of the song. The death of her uncle John from cancer was one. The other was the murder of John Lennon.
This seemed to affect her quite deeply…
And she spoke about it often in interviews. She said she could understand some deranged person who might want to shoot someone like the president. It had happened before. But Lennon?
The song was completed right after his assassination. A death that sent a shock wave through the entertainment industry. She referred to him in the song as the “white dove,” representative of peace.
“Said to my friend, baby – Nothin’ else mattered – He was no more – Just like the white-winged dove sings a song.” The guitar riff, with its 16-note pattern, was played by Waddy Wachtel, which gives this song its initial bite.
The song is powerful and dark…
And, when those drums come in, it seems to fly. Maybe just like the dove. In my view, Stevie Nicks’s greatest track and something she probably would not have achieved as part of a band. It was released as the third single from the album in 1982 in America and went to #11.
15Trouble in Shangri-La
16Thousand Days
17Wild Heart
18Blue Denim
19No Spoken Word
20Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)
21Planets of the Universe
22Gold and Braid
23Rock a Little (Go Ahead Lily)
24Love Is
25That Made Me Stronger
26Twisted
27Ooh My Love
28Sleeping Angel
29Sorcerer
30I Sing for the Things
31After the Glitter Fades
32It’s Late
33If You Ever Did Believe
34The Dealer
35Destiny
36Love’s a Hard Game to Play
37Blue Lamp
38Unconditional Love
39Lady
40Belle Fleur
41Street Angel
42Whole Lotta Trouble
43Docklands
44Soldier’s Angel
45Bombay Sapphires
46Sister Honey
47That’s Alright
48Sometimes It’s a Bitch
49Imperial Hotel
50Talk to Me Baby
51Alice
52Outside the Rain
53Not Make Believe
54I Can’t Wait (Extended Rock Mix)
55The Highwayman
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Best Stevie Nicks Songs of All Time – Final Thoughts
Was Stevie Nicks a troubled soul? Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve never met the lady. But, her life seems to have had two lines running in parallel.
She seemed to lurch from one personal crisis, especially with substances and relationships, to another. And she went through phases creatively of excellence and the ordinary.
Before Fleetwood Mac, there was very little…
Being with them brought her into the limelight. But did she ever really leave them? I am not so sure her heart was ever anywhere else. Yes, she left the band, but it just seems that part of her was always looking back.
She sang in the reunion concerts for years after and worked on some of the later albums. Perhaps she wanted to do what she had been told, “Go Your Own Way,” but she just couldn’t.
In later years…
She joined the Universal Life Church and became an ordained minister. She officiated at the wedding of singer John McCauley. Perhaps she finally found a bit of inner peace.
Whatever the cause of the darkness that seemed to reside in her, she gave us some great music. For that, we should be more than thankful.
Until next time, happy listening.
