Stevie Nicks’ favourite Jackson Browne song
Although Stevie Nicks is undeniably a unique artist with her own distinctive style and energy, no creative soul exists in isolation. Beyond her role as a musician, Nicks is a passionate music fan who, like many of us, listens to tunes and draws inspiration from tracks she enjoys. Jackson Browne emerges as a significant influence in her musical journey.
Nicks’ field of inspiration is wide. In the past, she’s spoken about her love for Taylor Swift, Kate Bush, Buffalo Springfield and the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Ranging from pop to art rock and back to the 1960s and ‘70s folk-rock scene she would later lead, her tastes are broad.
One of her all-time favourite artists is the Eagles, a band she had personal connections with as she dated Don Henley. But along with some good memories and some heartbreak, Henley gave Nicks one of her new top listens as Jackson Browne buzzed around the same social circle.
In 1972, Browne and The Eagles co-wrote the band’s first hit, ‘Take It Easy’. Since then, Browne and Henley have remained close friends. When Nicks started dating the Eagles singer, she got a new favourite artist in tow.
It seemed that Browne and Nicks had a real kinship. They understood each other’s music and admired each other even before they met. In fact, Nicks credits Jackson as one of her all-time favourite artists and one of the most influential musicians for her own work.
In one interview, she said, “When I tell people my greatest influences, I say Joni Mitchell for phrasing, she could fit 50 words in a sentence and have them sound glorious without being rushed or crushed in, so I really learned a lot from her about phrasing.” But after the folk legend became her friend as she added, “From Jackson, I learned about writing love songs.”
One older song in particular, ‘That Girl Could Sing’, Nicks always loved. “I always wanted to think that, even though I didn’t know Jackson Browne at that point, that he wrote that about me because, ‘Oh, I’m such a cool presence,’” she once joked about the track.
Sitting on the 1980 album Hold Out, ‘That Girl Could Song’ might as well be about Nicks as he sings of a girl with “clothes whipping in the wind”. The chorus goes, “She wasn’t much good at stickin’ around but / She could sing,” making it Nicks’ anthem during her free-spirited 1980s days.
Off that same album, Nicks told American Songwriter that Browne’s huge movie soundtrack hit, ‘Somebody’s Baby’, was one of her favourite tracks.
