"Edge of Seventeen" is a song by the American singer and songwriter
Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist.
After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...
from her debut solo studio
album ''
Bella Donna'' (1981), released as the third
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from the album on February 4, 1982. The lyrics were written by Nicks to express the grief resulting from the death of her uncle Jonathan and the murder of
John Lennon during the same week of December 1980. The song features a distinctive, chugging
16th-note guitar riff, drum beat and a simple chord structure typical of Nicks' songs. The song's title for the single release was "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)". In the United States, "Edge of Seventeen" just missed out on the top 10 of the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at No. 11. Despite this, it became one of Nicks' most enduring and recognizable songs and has been covered by several artists. In 2021, it was listed at No. 217 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Background and inspiration
According to Nicks, the title came from a conversation she had with
Tom Petty's first wife, Jane, about the couple's first meeting. Jane said they met "at the age of seventeen", but Jane's strong
Southern accent made it sound like "edge of seventeen" to Nicks. She liked the sound of the phrase so much that she told Jane she would write a song for it and give her credit for the inspiration.
Although Nicks had originally planned to use the title for a song about Tom and Jane Petty, the death of her uncle Jonathan and the
murder of John Lennon during the same week of December 1980 inspired a new song for which Nicks used the title. Nicks' producer and lover
Jimmy Iovine was a close friend of Lennon, and Nicks felt helpless to comfort him. Soon after, Nicks flew home to
Phoenix, Arizona, to be with her uncle Jonathan, who was dying of
cancer. She remained with her uncle and his family until his death.
Nicks had never actually heard a dove's call before, as she revealed in 2020 when she had only just heard it recently.
The opening lyrics were inspired by a menu she was reading at a Phoenix restaurant in 1980, which said, "The white wing dove sings a song that sounds like she’s singing ooh, ooh, ooh. She makes her home here in the great Saguaro cactus that provides shelter and protection for her…".
Composition and lyrics
Throughout the song, a distinctive 16th note guitar riff is played by
Waddy Wachtel, progressing through C, D, and E-minor chords. During the bridge, the chords alternate twice between E-minor and C. Wachtel claimed that
The Police's "
Bring On the Night
''Bring On the Night'' is the first live album by Sting recorded over the course of several live shows in 1985 and released in 1986. The title is taken from a song by the Police from their 1979 album ''Reggatta de Blanc''. The songs performed ...
" was the inspiration for the riff.
As is typical of Nicks' songs, the
lyrics are highly symbolic. Nicks has said that the
white-winged dove represents the spirit leaving the body on death, and some of the verses capture her experience of the days leading up to her uncle Jonathan's death.
Chart performance
"Edge of Seventeen" peaked at No. 11 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks in April 1982. The live version on the B-side reached No. 26 on
''Billboard''s
Mainstream Rock chart. The original album version of the song had previously made the top five of ''Billboard''s Mainstream Rock chart in 1981, peaking at No. 4. "Edge of Seventeen" also peaked at No. 11 on the ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' Top 100 Singles chart in Canada.
The song was also covered on season 9 of ''
The Voice'' by
Amanda Ayala
Amanda Ayala (born September 23, 1997) is an American singer from New York who made her first appearance on the national scene on NBC's Emmy Award-winning show ''The Voice.'' Following her time on The Voice she continued her success serving as s ...
and Shelby Brown. Their cover entered the top 100 of the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
rock chart.
The song entered the UK chart in 2021 following its use in a John Lewis commercial.
Track listing and formats
* US 7"
vinyl single
# "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)" – 4:10
# "Edge of Seventeen" (Previously unreleased live version) – 5:57
Personnel
Musicians
*Stevie Nicks – lead vocals, writer
*
Waddy Wachtel – guitar
*
Bob Glaub – bass guitar
*
Russ Kunkel – drums
*
Bobbye Hall – percussion
*
Benmont Tench – organ
*
Roy Bittan – piano
*Lori Perry – backing vocals
*Sharon Celani – backing vocals
Production
*
Jimmy Iovine – producer
Charts
Certifications
Covers
*
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...
released a version of "Edge of Seventeen" on her second studio album ''
A Little More Personal (Raw)
''A Little More Personal (Raw)'' (stylized ''A Little More Personal (RAW)'') is the second studio album by American actress and singer Lindsay Lohan, released on November 30, 2005, by Casablanca Records. The album features darker material than Lo ...
'' (2005).
*The distinctive riff from the song was
sampled by the American
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...
in their 2001
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
"
Bootylicious", with Nicks making a cameo appearance in the accompanying
music video.
*
Audiomachine released a version of "Edge of Seventeen" on their album ''Trailerized: Covers and Originals'' (2018).
*In 2020,
Miley Cyrus interpolated the song for her single "
Midnight Sky
"Midnight Sky" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus, released on August 14, 2020, by RCA Records as the lead single from her seventh studio album ''Plastic Hearts''. The single was written by Cyrus, Ali Tamposi, Ilsey Juber and Jon Bellion ...
", which was later remixed as a
mashup
Mashup may refer to:
* Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture
* Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting
* Mashup (mus ...
featuring Nicks titled "
Edge of Midnight".
References
External links
Stevie Nicks on "Edge of Seventeen"— Quotes by Nicks about the song, gathered from interviews throughout the years.
{{authority control
1981 songs
1982 singles
Stevie Nicks songs
Songs written by Stevie Nicks
Song recordings produced by Jimmy Iovine
Songs about John Lennon
Songs based on real people
Lindsay Lohan songs
Modern Records (1980) singles
Songs about death