‘Miserability’: How Stevie Nicks invented her own favourite word
Sometimes, words aren’t enough. The English language, especially, has only certain capabilities. There are only a finite number of words, and sometimes, one is missing to attempt to explain some kind of unexplainable feeling. Emotion is often too vast, too complex, and too nuanced for language to keep up, so Stevie Nicks set about writing her own.
Everyone knows Nicks is great with words. As a songwriter, she’s unlike any other. She dances on this beautiful line between being deeply personal and specific and then richly metaphorical. Across verses and choruses, she weaves these two aspects together into something so poignant. “Don’t say that she’s pretty / And did you say that she loved you? / Baby, I don’t want to know,” she sings on ‘Silver Springs’, seemingly recounting a specific conversation in a singularly personal retelling. But then, moments later, the poetry floods in as she croons, “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you / Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me.”
It’s that way across all her work. ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ is full of rich images of doves, the sea, and nature, but all to tell a personal story of grief and resilience. ‘Sara’ calls out to its inspiration by name while still being so literary, while ‘Bella Donna’ uses luscious imagery as an anthem for turmoil and change. Across every album she’s released or been a part of with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks’ way with words never fails her as she’s able to find unique ways to articulate tricky things and slippery feelings that are often impossible to pin down.
But still, the dictionary only goes so far. In particular, she could never find the right word to speak to this one specific feeling that she knew well. “I don’t like to suffer and I hate pain but I want to suffer to the point that I go the typewriter and write down all of my marvelous philosophy as to my why I’m suffering – I love that part of it,” she said once. It’s the thing that fuels her.
While she’s right that suffering and pain are horrible, it’s certainly important to dispel the myth that an artist must be in pain in order to be creative or that all artists must, in some way, sacrifice their happiness or martyr their mental health in order to make great art – Nicks is also right that there is creativity in it unlike anything else. Having the ability to work through pain into something not only productive but something that helps her make sense of her mind is a true gift. It’s catharsis on a whole other level as she gets to sit back and look at what an overflow of feeling has given her.
It feels like a deep, satisfying exhale. Or it feels like the ultimate feeling of relaxation after a big cry or the quiet after a big blow-up argument. It’s sad, yes, but also rejuvenating or empowering in a way. It’s exciting even while being sombre – it’s hard to explain, so Nicks coined her own term.
“Miserability.” That’s what she labelled that feeling, “passionate miserability”. It’s a state where the pain is enough to inspire but not so strong it’s overwhelming or too hard to handle. To her, that’s the perfect place to write from.
