Mabel Normand

Album: 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Stevie Nicks recalled to Billboard magazine how writing this song about the drug-addicted actress Mabel Normand led her to tackle her own addictions. "Mabel was an amazing actress and comedian from the '20s, and she was a terrible cocaine addict," Nicks explained. "She eventually died of tuberculosis, but it was really her drug addiction that killed her."

    "I saw a documentary of her in 1985, when I was at my lowest point with the blow," she added. "I was watching TV one night, the movie came on, and I really felt a connection with her. That's when I wrote the song. Less than a year later, I went to rehab at Betty Ford."
  • Stevie Nicks doesn't perform this song live because of all the syllables that are involved. She explained to Q magazine: "If you take a breath, you get off the beat. You're one word too late, you can never get back on, and you're dead in the water."
  • Stevie Nicks recorded "Mabel Normand" for 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault, her eighth solo album. The album features new versions of demos that Nicks primarily recorded between 1969 and 1987.
  • The Polaroid that adorns the album's artwork was taken at a house on Sunset Plaza in 1985. And Nicks wrote "Mabel Norman" in that same house in 1985.

    "She was a silent movie star in the 1920s who had a rough life and was on her way to huge fame and fortune but became a drug addict and got involved in the seedy side of fame," Nicks told Uncut magazine. "I was dancing with the Devil at that point myself, so it scared me and I wrote that song."
  • Nicks lost a godson to an overdose at a fraternity party. "Just insane," she said. "This was going on in 1985, in the 1920s, and it's going on today. I thought, maybe this song might save someone's life. It's the most important song on the record for me."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Zakk Wylde

Zakk WyldeSongwriter Interviews

When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."