poetsara asked: Oh shoot, I was always meaning to message you about live versions of "Sara" (there is a post somewhere on my blog, but the video no longer works because YouTube deleted it—bastards) but I never got around to it—and now the blog's over! Anyway, as you can probably deduce from my tumblr name, "Sara" is a pretty big deal to me, so I really enjoyed seeing what you came up with. I think it's great that you collected all this info in one place. Looking forward to the new blog!

Hi there, person with the great name! We can still talk about stuff, so don’t worry about that. Here or on my other blog. I listened to about 20 or so live versions before deciding which ones to post, but I’ve bound to have missed a few. And yeah, I’ve had a YT link die on me too, way back. It’s a pain.

Anyway, glad you found 366 useful. I think I managed to gather all the major commentary on the song from the main players, but if anyone has anything they think would be good to add, it would be cool to know.

All the best! 

littlemoonblue asked: Aw well this is kind of sad, but I can understand you moving on. Are you going to delete this blog/the posts? I truly hope not, because I love going through and listening to the many versions of Sara... please keep this around for awhile! Looking forward to your new blog...

Hi there! No worries about it disappearing. I’ll keep it here until Tumblr want to delete it, or whatever happens with dormant accounts. There might be people find it after months and months anyway, so…

Yeah. It’ll be here for you to wander around in! :D

Anonymous asked: This is probably my favorite tumblr account, it's wonderful. I'm so glad you decided to do this and I'll miss seeing it on my dash. Xo

Aw, thank you too. That means so much to me that you enjoyed it. Thanks for getting in touch. x

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Thanks - final post

There are some words and an image that have been with me during the 366 Days of Sara. The words come from the poet Allen Ginsberg, and are often quoted as

Follow your inner moonlight, don’t hide the madness.

In fact he didn’t ever quite say or write them like that (as this reveals - read it, it’s great) but coming across that in the autumn of 2011 was enough to give me the ‘mad’ idea to try and blog about one song for a whole year. And in that year I’ve discovered that I couldn’t have chosen a better song. Stevie said she always knew ‘Sara’ was a song “you could fall in love with”, because she did. It called her, and she followed, and that took courage - so many times it took courage for her to stay with that strange, transcendent song, but she did.

The image that’s been with me is the one above this post. Stevie, eyes closed, singing to and about the poet in her heart, a poster child for the beauty and power of inner-moonlight. Over the past year I just grew to admire her more and more. For me, she’s the best, just the best.

And you guys. I can’t thank you all enough for following and being alongside at the end of this journey. I’ve loved seeing my dashboard fill up every day with your posts. You are without exception funny and insightful and passionate people, and I hope someone somewhere is telling Stevie that she can be very proud of the sort of fans she attracts on the big bad internet!

A half dozen or so of you have given me ‘likes’ and other encouragement when it mattered most. I’m not going to name names because I’m terrified of overlooking someone, so hopefully you will know who you are, and that you have my heartfelt thanks.

I am, though, going to have to name a few people who have specifically helped me to complete this, in various ways:

battleofthedragon – You keep changing your name, and I know I don’t always ‘get’ you, but you were a frequent correspondent when I didn’t realise how much I needed one. Thank you.

girlboymusic – Your brilliant essay about Stevie simply inspired me to write more (so all the reading’s her fault, everyone).

goldduststevie – Truly, where would this fandom be without you? You never fail to come up with amazing pictures and seem to know everything! We are all in your debt.

ogypsybird – Reblogging you was the first post I made, and your Tumblr was the one that made me wonder if here was a place where it’s okay to think out loud about why we feel so much for music and musicians.

And in the non-Tumblr world…

Sara Fleetwood – We never did quite manage to connect, Sara, but it was thrilling to know that you knew about this and thought it was fun. I didn’t share the story you told because I haven’t been able to ask you if I could, but it was great and made me laugh!

The Ivory Keys Facebook group – An essential resource for anyone interested in Stevie rareties, and I made full use of it for versions of ‘Sara’.

The Ledge – The fan forum at www.fleetwoodmac.net was great for Tusk info, Q&A transcripts and the articles index.

On Twitter, @CA_Dream has been wonderful. Thank you so much for all the RTing and talking to me.

Love & thanks to you all. 

*****

New blog link: As you know, I’m moving now to a new Stevie/FM blog called smile-at-the-sea. I’ll still answer messages and stuff here, but there won’t be any new posts.

funnylittledancer asked: Me again! Last thing. I feel like I'm being annoying now. lol I was watching Lindsey's DVD where he performed "Castaway Dreams" which I believe is totally about Stevie. And it has the line "it would do no good to drown in the sea, where no one remembers your name and nothing but nothing is free. I just wanted to say this fits perfectly with your interpretation of that line. And is cool when looking at that as a possible dialogue with Sara. Sorry for all of these messages!

Not annoying at all, my friend. :o)

And that’s a great tie-in. I don’t listen to much solo Lindsey, so that song didn’t come to mind, but what you’re suggesting feels right to me. Even more when you think that ‘no one remembers your name’ sounds like an echo of ‘Sisters of the Moon’, which is another Stevie song that touches on getting love from ‘strangers’, i.e. her audience. 

Definitely think you’re right about this. From what I can see, ‘Cast Away Dreams’ is about a person (presumably LB) wanting to change the major relationship in their life from being abstract (love of music, love of performing) to being concrete (love of one person). So, as you say, that fits with what I suggested about the ‘sea of love’ that he’s rejecting being multi-person or nebulous.

Great insight from you! Thank you very much. 

funnylittledancer asked: Ok. One more thing. Just a general comment about the live performances of Sara. This may be over thinking it. But the change "it's never gone, it always matters what for", strikes me as something that may be significant. But I've always thought that the consistency in which she uses that line means that it might have been meant to be in the song; but after it was recorded. Personally, that line has always gotten to me so it may be biased and mean nothing but I thought I would share. Thanks!

Oh, you’re so right, and this cannot ever be overstated: we do not know how ‘Sara’ was meant to exist versus the version that came out on the original Tusk album. And again, you’re right, that lyric change is very consistent. So there’s no doubt that - for long periods since the song was released - Stevie has wanted it to be heard that way. I guess it must’ve felt wrong to her somehow, so she changed it. Sometimes I think she made changes on a whim, or because of being high or whatever, but I agree - that one is different.

Thanks! I’ll link back to this from the Interpretation, too. :D

funnylittledancer asked: I know I am a little late but I just wanted to say thank you so much for this blog. It has been a pleasure reading your thoughts on the song being exposed to new theories as for the origin of the song. I just read the interpretations now and they were incredible. So well thought out and a treat to read. I am really looking forward to the new blog and to see what that brings! Thank you again for this blog. It will be missed! Maria

Hi Maria! Thanks for your lovely message, lass. It honestly means the world to me that you’ve enjoyed this journey too. I’ve been spending a bit of time doing invisible stuff to 366, like putting in links and fixing some problems areas where I don’t seem able to count up to seven, etc., but I can’t wait to get onto the new blog in the next few days.

And I’ll miss it too. I miss it already (but at least I’ve stopped crying, haha). Thanks again. x

Anonymous asked: The version of Sara that you posted from Richfield, OH in 1979 could this be an example of Lindsey raising the tempo to annoy Stevie? I remember reading this in a rolling stone article or something like that ages ago. Can't remember whether if it was this tour or the Rumours tour that this happened though. Your thoughts?

Hi there. From what I remember, Stevie has said that the band sometimes played ‘Rhiannon’ too fast, but I can’t recall her saying that about ‘Sara’. I think it could have happened, though. Stevie and Lindsey were certainly engaged in petty score-keeping for a long time, and that was at its most aggressive during the Tusk era.

Having said that, the tempo issues I’ve heard are worse during Mirage, when their relationship was more ambivalent. The official Mirage tour video, for example, which was recorded over two nights, shows them both throwing daggers and being rather affectionate - or at least Lindsey being affectionate towards Stevie.

But there are a lot of variables. For example, unlike with ‘Rhiannon’, it’s not Lindsey’s guitar but Christine’s piano that sets the notional tempo for ‘Sara’ - but it’s really down to what happens when Mick’s drums kick in (and Mick was using coke a lot during Mirage).

There’s also the boring possibility that tapes can speed up slightly on different machines, so it can speed up in the transfer to MP3 too.

Cheers for the question. I’m not sure I’ve helped, but thanks!