Stevie Nicks, “Edge Of Seventeen” Live 1987

Red Rocks, 1986

In 1987, Stevie Nicks took the stage at Red Rocks in Colorado for what would become one of the most iconic performances of her entire career, and one that would prove to be a force to be reckoned with. The Fleetwood Mac songstress closed her powerhouse set with ‘Edge Of Seventeen’, but this wasn’t just any performance of ‘Edge Of Seventeen’; it was like she summoned every ounce of strength she’d ever had and unleashed it onto her audience that night!

Stevie wrote ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ to help grieve the losses of both John Lennon and her favorite uncle, who both passed away within weeks of each other in 1980/81.

The normally 5 minute-or-so length rendition of the song turned into a full blown extended jam session as Stevie swans around the stage, stopping at each member of her band to whisper something that made them laugh, made them smile, made them blush; was it a ‘thanks’, or a ‘great job’? We’ll never know, but what we do know is that Stevie Nicks isn’t just a performer, she’s a force of nature and this performance proves it beyond a doubt!

+ Edge Of Seventeen lyrics +

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Ooh ooh ooh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh

And the days go by
Like a strand in the wind
In the web that is my own
I begin again
Said to my friend, baby
Nothin’ else mattered

He was no more than a baby then
Well he seemed broken hearted
Something within him
But the moment that I first laid
Eyes on him all alone
On the edge of seventeen

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh

I went today maybe I will go again
Tomorrow
And the music there it was hauntingly
Familiar
When I see you doing
What I try to do for me
With the words from a poet
And the voice from a choir
And a melody nothing else mattered

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh

The clouds never expect it
When it rains
But the sea changes colors
But the sea
Does not change
And so with the slow graceful flow
Of age
I went forth with an age old
Desire to please
On the edge of seventeen

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh

Well then suddenly
There was no one left standing
In the hall yeah yeah
In a flood of tears
That no one really ever heard fall at all
I went searchin’ for an answer,
Up the stairs and down the hall
Not to find an answer
Just to hear the call
Of a nightbird singing
Come away come away

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh

Well I hear you in the morning
And I hear you
At nightfall
Sometime to be near you
Is to be unable to hear you
My love
I’m a few years older than you

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she’s singing
Oh baby oh said oh