Music Review: Stevie Nicks & Don Henley "Leather And Lace"

Stevie Nicks & Don Henley

Leather And Lace

Album: Bella Donna

Year: 1981

             Stevie Nicks and Don Henley figure who they are to each other in the complex             “Leather and Lace.”

                  A blissful guitar opens the single, setting a relieved tone. She wonders what he wants to talk to her about. She has an idea but doesn’t want to give into it yet. She knows it will be important and life-chaning. He told her he wasn’t sure how she was going to take it. She’s an emotional person, she’ll admit to it. However, her previous heartbreaks and other personal failures have taught her well. (“Is love so fragile and the heart so hollow/Shatter with words impossible to follow/You're saying I'm fragile , try not to be/I search only for something I can't see/I have my own life/And I am stronger than you know.”)

            In the pre-chorus, she welcomes into her house and offers him some coffee. She believes for the first time he won’t be leaving her. (“But I carry this feeling/When you walked into my house/That you won't be walking out the door/Still I carry this feeling/When you walked into my house/That you won't be walking out the door.”)

           In the chorus, they are in an official relationship. She’s all over the place, bursting at the seams even into the late hours. He’s introspective and prefers the quiet. Despite their differences, he’s someone she trusts and cares about. She’ll be able to help with his troubles. (“Lovers forever, face to face/My city, your mountains/Stay with me, stay/I need you to love me/I need you today/Give to me your leather/Take from me my lace.”)

           He doesn’t deserve her. She knows him so well and the only one he could ever let in. She has been so patient with him. (“You in the moonlight/With your sleepy eyes/Could you ever love a man like me/And you were right/When I walked into your house/I knew I'd never want to leave/Sometimes I'm a strong man/Sometimes cold and scared/And sometimes I cry.”)

                    In the pre-chorus, he’s realized she is the person who can reach him. (“But that time I saw you/I knew with you to light my nights/Somehow I'd get by.”)

                        An extended chorus is sung to end the single.  (“Lovers forever, face to face/My city, your mountains/Stay with me, stay/I need you to love me/I need you today/Give to me your leather/Take from me my lace/Lovers forever, face to face/My city, your mountains/Stay with me, stay/I need you to love me/I need you today/Give to me your leather/Take from me my lace.”)

                  Nicks is a force to be reckoned with, soft when she has to be but ready to tough if need so be. She’s got his number but won’t use it against him.

             Henley has his guard down. Around her, he has no cover. He shows a different side of himself that doesn’t really exist on his famous singles.

             Personally, I would hear the song growing up on the local easy listening station and roll my eyes. It wasn’t until I discovered Stevie Nicks on my own that I began to like it.

                        The emotional “Leather and Lace” is great in its own right even though it’s not as immediate as “Edge of Seventeen” or “Stand Back.”