The 1981 song Stevie Nicks never quite got over: “A huge favour”
Most artists try to look at their songs as a bit of a challenge to themselves every time they write. As much fun as it can be trying to make lightning strike twice in the same spot, it takes a lot of creative integrity to start back at zero all over again and walk away with something that you can be proud of years after the fact.
Although Stevie Nicks had more than a few classics to her name when she struck out on her own, she admitted that Tom Petty gifting her ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ is still one of the most unforgettable moments of her solo years.
Because when you think about it, the decision for Nicks to leave Fleetwood Mac in the first place was already a pretty ballsy move. There had been countless artists who tried and failed to get off the ground as a solo act, and half the time, they ended up as a musical punchline or retreat back to the comfort of their old group.
But Nicks wasn’t having much fun in Fleetwood Mac anymore anyway. She had been working away to try and get her songs off the ground, and yet she would usually be asked to compromise to make way for the rest of the songwriters in the band, including some Lindsey Buckingham songs about her.
There was a middle ground to be made, and Nicks figured she could strike out on her own if she had the right people. Since she had always loved the Heartbreakers’ music, Nicks went with Jimmy Iovine to produce her record, only to be told that of all her classic songs, there were no hits to be found.
That sounds insane to say about an album that has a track like ‘The Edge of Seventeen’, but to push it over the line, Iovine asked Petty to dig into his vault for a song. Although Petty had written his fair share of love songs, ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ is a lot more indicative of him, which makes for a great combination when Nicks’ mystical singing meets that bluesy riff.
It speaks volumes about Nicks’ instincts that she recognised the opportunity rather than resisting it outright. For an artist so defined by her own songwriting voice, accepting an outside contribution could have felt like a compromise, but instead, it became a catalyst.
In the end, the track only amplified her identity instead of overshadowing it. ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ may not have been written by Nicks, but the way she inhabits it makes it feel inseparable from her story, marking the moment her solo career truly found its footing.
The music icon already had some reservations about not putting one of her own pieces in its place, but she later said that Petty saved her career, telling MusicCares, “Tom’s willing to give you this song that is an amazing single and sing it with you. And I was like, well, that’s a huge favour that I will never get over and never forget because had he not given that to me, it’s possible that Bella Donna would not have been a success.”
Granted, it’s not like Nicks was going to be dead in the water without the song. She already had great songs in her back catalogue, like ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Edge of Seventeen’ that came alive on the album, but Petty was just the one to help get her in the door as a solo artist before she went even bigger on songs like ‘Stand Back’.
Nicks’s love for the Heartbreakers never dulled once she hit it big, either, occasionally singing background vocals on songs like ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ and even reuniting with Petty again on the next album for ‘I Will Run To You’. Fleetwood Mac may have been Nicks’ one true musical love, but when someone is kind enough to usher you into rock stardom, that’s a level of musical soulmate that you can never let go of.
