Stevie Nicks has released “Show Them The Way,” her first new track in six years. The song features Dave Grohl on drums, and was released alongside an accompanying music video that had been directed by Cameron Crowe. Greg Kurstin also helped to write the song, and mixed and produced the track in addition to playing bass, piano and both the electric and acoustic guitar.
Nicks first began to think of the song back in 2008, during the Democratic Primaries that saw Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination. She felt as if there was an overlap with platforms, both Obama and Clinton fighting for progress in the country and the protests and progress that was fought four during the late ’50s and throughout the 1960s, with Obama becoming the first Black man elected president, helping to fulfill Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
“I started watching the documentaries being aired from the late 50’s up to the present,” Nicks said in a press statement. “Mostly the fight for civil rights – The dreams of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy and John Lewis ~ and all of the hidden figures that surrounded them. I was hypnotized.”
The imagery from these documentaries is heavily featured in the accompanying music video, with Nicks singing about all who are featured. The music video is spliced with images from the current protests and state of the nation, where Nicks highlights how not much has changed while the people continue to fight against racism and for their freedoms. Crowe matches the newer footage to that of old, seamlessly blending them in together.
The lyrics of the song came to Nicks through a dream she had one night during the Democratic Primaries. She described the dream as a cinematic story, saying it was so vivid she felt as if it had been real.
“I was invited to a party ~ to play piano and sing a few songs,” Nicks said in a press statement. “It was a benefit. There were political people there. It felt really important. I was just the piano player, the voice, part of their dream. I wrote the poem the next day, and the music the day after that. I never recorded it until now. I felt that this was its time, its reason. I understood what it meant then and what it means now. Please God, show them the way. Please God, on this day. Spirits all, give them the strength. Peace can come if you really want it. I think we’re just in time to save it.”
Nicks sings with her iconic raspy voice, the piano quiet behind her as Grohl’s drums shake beneath, highlighting that he is there while adding to Nicks. The lyrics focus on the passing time, Nicks reflecting on what she experienced during the time of Kennedy and Dr. King. “Please God, show them the way/Please God, on this day,” Nicks sings, the lyrics crossing the boundaries of time to show how not much has changed as the world continues to fight for change.
“I hope that this song and its words will be seen as a prayer, a prayer for our country, a prayer for our world,” Nicks said in a press statement.
Nicks will be releasing her 24-Karat Gold live album along with a concert film that will appear in cinemas later this month. The record will be released on October 30, while the films will be screened on October 21 and 25. The film and album had been recorded during her shows in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis in 2014, and the video will also feature interviews with Nicks where she discusses her songwriting process.
Grohl has recently been ensnared in an ongoing drum battle with ten-year-old prodigy Nandi Bushell, the two writing and performing songs for each other. Bushell is currently in the lead for the drum battle, having won both rounds so far. Grohl’s band, Foo Fighters, also have new album coming out sometime in the near future, with the album featuring a 25-year-old riff that dates back to Grohl’s days in Nirvana.
Photo credit: Mauricio Alvarado
Leave a Comment