5 Songs Stevie Nicks Cut From Her 1981 Solo Debut ‘Bella Donna’ That Appeared in Films, Later Albums, or Were Never Officially Released

In 1978, Stevie Nicks started working on her solo album a year after the explosion of Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours. In between urging Tom Petty to produce her album—Jimmy Iovine would later take on this role—Nicks did get a song out of him, their duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which he co-wrote with Mike Campbell.

Nicks also penned “Kind of Woman” with Heartbreaker, Benmont Tench, while the remainder tracks were some of her other creations, from “After the Glitter Fades,” a song she first penned years before joining Fleetwood Mac with Dolly Parton in mind, her duet with one-time boyfriend Don Henley, “Leather and Lace,” and her classic “Edge of Seventeen,” inspired by the death of John Lennon and her uncle who lost his battle with cancer.

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Alongside the 10 songs that did make the Bella Donna cut, there were 10 others that went separate ways, including “Gypsy,” which later made its way onto Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 album Mirage.

Other songs were featured in films or locked away for decades, later making their way onto Nicks’ 2014 album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, including “Belle Fleur,” “The Dealer,” “If You Were My Love,” and “24 Karat Gold.” Here’s a look at the other five songs Nicks that didn’t fit Bella Donna but got a second life elsewhere.

[RELATED: The Country Ballad Stevie Nicks Wrote for Dolly Parton, Later Covered by Glen Campbell, “After the Glitter Fades”]

“Blue Lamp” (Heavy Metal, 1981)

Based on a dark blue Tiffany lamp gifted to her by her mother, “Blue Lamp,” is a song that symbolized “the light that shines through the night,” said Nicks. “When Fleetwood Mac—we found them or they found us or whatever you know—it was a definite light at the end of the tunnel for both Lindsey [Buckingham] and I.”

I was not ready
I’m no enchantress, and I was too proud
Go find some Christmas angel, then give that to her
If that’s what she wants, guardian angel…guardian
If you were wiser, you would get out

Downstairs, the big old house is mine
Upstairs, where the stars still laugh, and they shine
Downstair,s where the big old house is mine
Outside, where the stars still laugh and
Stars still laugh and shine
And the stars still laugh and cry and shine
And the stars still laugh and cry and shine
And the stars still laugh and shine and shine

Though the darker “Blue Lamp” didn’t make it onto Bella Donna, it ended up on the soundtrack to the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal. “It was very important that it found a place for itself,” said Nicks. “I love that song. It was really the beginning of Bella Donna, because it was the first thing I’d ever recorded with other musicians, and it was the first time I’d ever recorded by standing in a room singing at the same time that five guys were playing. Fleetwood Mac doesn’t record that way. They record from a more technical standpoint.”

“Sleeping Angel” (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982)

Nicks initially wrote “Sleeping Angel” about music executive Paul Fishkin, with whom she had a relationship in 1978. Though it was originally recorded for Bella Donna, Nicks never finished the track, but it later appeared on the 1982 soundtrack to the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The tender piano ballad plays during an abortion scene with character Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Coincidentally, Nicks’ manager Irving Azoff also co-produced the film.

Take me if you need me
But never hold me down
You’re asking me to trust you
Well, there’s little of that around

I’m trying to believe you
And I’m learnin’ all the time
Two-part personality
The flower and the vine
Flower and the vine

Take me sleeping angel
Catch me when you can
Real love affairs are heavy spells
For a woman and a man
For a woman and a man

“Gold and Braid” (Enchanted, 1983)

During her solo tours in the early 1980s, Stevie Nicks would often perform “Gold and Braid.” It’s the song that could’ve been on Bella Donna, but it was never recorded at the time. Eventually, Nicks recorded the song and released it on her 1998 box compilation, Enchanted, which centered around her first five solo albums, from Bella Donna to Street Angel (1994).

Though deep set, somewhat shadowed
Her life, her mystery
It was no different than the way that he said
“Don’t hide behind your hair that way”

In his heart, he wishes for her stardom
His eyes wish for her, for more
It’s not so different than the way that he said
“There are so very few stars left”, ooh-ooh

But don’t hide behind your hair
It’s a bit of gold and braid
Easy come the tears
You see a pathway ending with a doorway
As she slips towards the doorway
He’s been waiting there all day
All these years

“Starshine” (24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, 2014)

Nicks originally wrote “Starshine” in Tom Petty’s basement in 1980. After recording it with the Heartbreakers and intending to include it on Bella Donna, it was scrapped and set aside for decades. “It came out so amazing that if either of us were doing a record, it would have gone on one of those records, but neither of us was doing a record,” said Nicks. “So, the song went into the dark trunk of songs possibly never to be heard from again, until 2014 when I made ’24 Karat Gold.’” 

Along with Bella Donna cuts “24 Karat Gold,” “The Dealer,” “Belle Fleur,” and “If You Were My Love,” “Starshine” also made its way onto Nicks’ 2014 album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault.

Starshine
Oh, you used to be silver
Love light, lover’s stare
Well, you used to make me shiver

He said
“Well, this is the price that we would finally pay”
I said
“I don’t believe you, I need you, I need you to stay”
She said
“We’ve been together for so long”
And I said, Ooh, I said
“Playing with fire was”

Ooh, you used to be silver
Love light, lover’s stare
Well, you used to make me shiver

“Julia” (Unreleased)

Featuring backing vocals by Sharon Celani and Lori Nick, “Julia” is a song Nicks may have rightfully cut and never officially released for personal reasons. It was written by Nicks about her childhood friend Robin Snyder Anderson, who died from Leukemia in 1982. Though not named “Robin,” the title was inspired by the 1977 film Julia, starring Jane Fonda, which Nicks said mirrored her relationship with Anderson.

I will ride through the snow
In an old-fashioned carriage
Drawn by a small, golden horse
She runs like the wind, yeah

When I run through your door
I am freed from my slavery
And the fires will be burnin’ long before
You return to me

For in my house, there’s no teasing spirits
No false laughter
No one has to tell me to be there, no one
I’ll be there I would suffer for the love
I would suffer for the love
And I would cry to be moved

“It’s the only friendship that I’ve ever had … well, I’m not going to say ever will have,” shared Nicks in 1983. “We just started out together at 15 years old. She kind of walked me through life. And, as I questioned would there be life after Fleetwood Mac, I certainly questioned would there be life after Robin. Then I found that there is life after Robin, except that it’s not the same, not near as special.”

Nicks added, “She [Robin] taught me how to sing. She taught me how to use my voice. She made very sure before she left this planet that I was all right, that my voice was all right.  I don’t have problems with my voice now, but I did, and it took us years to fix it.  Robin was one of those people [who] when she walked in the room, everybody looked.  She was breathtaking, and that’s why it’s so wild that she could possibly have died. It just doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Photo: Stevie Nicks, 1981 (Chris Walter /WireImage/Getty Images)