Contributors to this interpretation included: Lesley, Lauren, FmFan, Bonnie, Ava, Casi, Justine, Janet, Toni, SlvrSpgs, AJ, Drew, Phil, and Ann S..
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This composition by Stevie Nicks is haunting (a word that came up many times during the discussions) and ethereal, with its lovely chorus and lilting melody. However, the song has slightly dark underpinnings, as many contributors noted. The song was originally written for the Rumours album, but was dumped for a number of reasons for the song "I Don't Want to Know ." This event proved to be a sensitive issue among the band members, especially the author, as she had given the song to her mother, Barbara Nicks, as a gift.
The first stanza, "You could be my silver spring...Blue-green colors flashing" was interpreted different ways by different people. One contributor thought that 'blue' stood for sadness and 'green' for envy, and that 'colors flashing' was similar to the phrase "eyes flashing" (eyes are the window to one's soul.) Another person considered it Stevie's way of saying what she and her then-boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham, could have had together- a kind of fairy tale. Stevie could be saying that they could have had a perfect love, as flawless as springs or oceans. (Similar to Lindsey and Stevie's "Frozen Love," in that both seem to be asking for untainted and pure love for each other.)
The second part of the song, "Don't say that she's pretty...Baby, I don't want to know" may have reflected Stevie's contempt for the other women Lindsey dated, notably Carol Ann Harris. Even though she wanted to be free of her relationship with Lindsey, she still was jealous and angry ("Blue-green" comes to mind again).
The third verse, "So I begin not to love you; Turn around, see me running..." seems to be Stevie telling herself that the the man never loved her, and therefore it didn't matter that the relationship had failed. In her heart, however, she knows that they really did love each other, but it's gone now, so it's best that she runs from him. It is essentially her in denial.
"Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me..." The chorus of this song has a haunting quality apparent in many of Stevie's other songs. "I've Loved and I've Lost and I'm Sad but Not Blue," the very first song she wrote, seems to be the recurrent theme in practically every song she's written since then. She's lost her man (Lindsey), but she knows that she'll always have a special place in his heart. As Stevie once said in an interview, "That was my way of telling him, 'You are going to hear me sing this to you on the radio for years, and it will bug you.'"
The end of this song, the verse which begins with the verse "I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you...You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you...was I just a fool?" is really where, sung live, the emotions between the two former lovers fly. Stevie feels like a fool for taking Lindsey for granted, and thinking that their love would last forever. The afore-mentioned quote by Stevie also comes into play here- Lindsey will hear her for years, bugging him by entertaining the thoughts of what they could have had together. She seems to be saying, "I'll still be here for you, if you want to try it again" when she sings, "Give me just a chance..." She wonders if they could have stayed together if she had done things differently.
At the very end, where she repeats "You could be my ... Silver Spring ... blue-green ... colors flashing," Stevie is saying that the love that they once had together is still waiting for them, if only he will reach out for it...Lindsey can indeed still be her Silver Spring.
(The interpretations to these lyrics were compiled through discussions on the message boards of the Penguin, The Ledge. It is entirely possible that the artists had something completely different in mind.)