July 28, 2023

Music Friday: Everything About Rock and Roll Icon Stevie Nicks Is ’24 Karat Gold’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, the spotlight shines on two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks as she sings “24 Karat Gold,” the title song from her 2014 album.

Nicks revealed that the tune she penned in 1980 — but didn’t release until 2014 — was about her passionate, but short-lived, romance with Fleetwood Mac bandmate Mick Fleetwood. She described the relationship as having “its 24-karat moments.”

For Nicks, 24-karat gold represents absolute perfection. The phrase appears as the name of today’s featured song, numerous times in the song’s lyrics (“There were dreams to be sold / My 24 karat gold”), in the title of her 2014 album (24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault) and on the marquees of countless venues during her 2016-2017 concert series (“The 24 Karat Gold Tour”).

Nicks also uses the term “chain of chains” throughout the song. The jewelry term symbolizes an invisible chain that holds people together.

Fleetwood Mac fans are familiar with the the group’s 1977 hit, “The Chain,” a song that originally represented the internal fractures — both romantically and professionally — of the band members, but eventually came to symbolize their triumph in staying together.

While “24 Karat Gold” appears as the fourth single from Nicks’ eighth studio album, it was actually written 34 years earlier during the Bella Donna album sessions. The original 1981 no-frills demo, featuring Nicks playing the piano with an accompanying drum machine and bass, can be found on YouTube.

Born in Phoenix, AZ, Stephanie Lynn (Stevie) Nicks sang duets with her grandfather, Aaron Jess “A.J.” Nicks Sr., when she was just four years old. The future rock legend learned how to play the guitar as a teen and wrote her first song as a 16-year-old. While in high school in California, she joined her first band, Changing Times.

As a senior, she met her future husband and Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham, who invited her to replace the lead singer of his band, Fritz, in 1967. In 1975, both Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, helping to launch the band to the pinnacle of success.

The Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter is best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. Collectively, she’s scored 40 top-50 hits and sold more than 140 million albums. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album accounted for 40 million of those sales. That album was rated by Rolling Stone magazine as #7 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Nicks was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, the first in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and the second time in 2019 in recognition of her solo career that has spanned more than 40 years.

The 75-year-old Nicks is currently embarking on a summer tour, which includes a series of co-headlining concerts with 74-year-old Billy Joel.

Please check out the official lyric video of Nicks performing “24 Karat Gold.” Here are the lyrics if you’d like to sing along…

“24 Karat Gold”
Written and performed by Stevie Nicks.

Set me free, set me free
Is this what you wanted, to happen to me?
Golden wings in the sunset
Take me back
All alone I waited
But there was no one, out there

There were dreams to be sold (chain of chains)
My 24-karat gold (chain of chains)
There was some love to be sold (chain of chains)
You said you might be coming back to town (chain of chains)
All alone I waited

There was no one out there
In the rain she lay face down.
What is this freedom that she wanted
What kind of freedom…
What kind of game?

There were dreams to be sold (chain of chains)
My 24-karat gold (chain of chains)
There was some love to be sold (chain of chains)
You said you might be coming back to town (chain of chains)

Set me free, set me free
Is this what you wanted, to happen to me?
Golden wings in the sunset
Take me back
All alone I waited
But there was no one, out there

There were dreams to be sold (chain of chains)
You like my 24-karat gold, chain of chains
(chain of chains)
(chain of chains)
You like my 24-karat gold
(chain of chains)
Yes you like my 24-karat gold

Yeah
My love