"The title of that CD is Gift of Screws. Um, we actually did the title track.... but the title is not quite as rude as it sounds. It's actually taken from an Emily Dickinson poem. I think she was talking about the need to turn the screws of the press to, uh, to press the fragrance of, the oil of, out of the petals of a flower. In other words, you can't just sit there and watch the flower grow and watch the sun make the flower grow. You have to apply your own vision to the gifts that are given you. Your own vision of effort and love. I guess that's something I buy into."*
—Lindsey Buckingham, Seattle, 2008, introducing 'Did You Miss Me' after 'Gift of Screws' (it's a bootleg, so legaliy of me even quoting is questionable, I'm not uploading the audio)
Buckingham ranks up there with Welch, Zevon, and a handful of other artists; for those unaware, Lindsey Buckingham is considered, essentially, the creative engine that drove Fleetwood Mac from a lackadaisical, mid-level band to the juggernaut it became with The White Album (it was their second-self-titled) and Rumours and beyond.
Dickinson, of course, was a recluse whose poetry was discovered after her death, if memory serves, and is one of the greatest poets in history. I'm not going to lie and pretend I know about her than I do, my knowledge on Dickinson is wildly limited.
Both tended to be a bit on the reserved side—Buckingham apparently just disappears solo into his home studio a significant chunk of the time and I believe it's one of Fleetwood's memoirs he mentions that while a lot of them indulged in excess post-show, a lot of times he'd go off with a book. Based on Gift of Screws and Out of the Cradle, another of his albums, poetry does seem to be pretty high on his reading list. Out of the Cradle, of course, comes from a Walt Whitman poem: 'Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking.'
Both of them also, in keeping with the quotes beginning this post, had a very passionate dedication to their artistic endeavors and work.
Seeing Buckingham's interpretation of Dickinson's poem, I find it hard not to agree with what he's saying and I know I have found that, often, a big impediment to creative endeavors: second guessing myself, thinking it isn't up-to-snuff, throwing my hands up or having to tighten the screws because "writing is rewriting."
Anyway, both Buckingham and Dickson: wildly brilliant and eccentric people.**
Unfortunately, I can only say I've seen Buckingham live—Dickinson presents some, uh, difficulties in that area, what with her bad case of "being dead." Nevertheless, both are exemplars of applying your own vision to your art. In his concerts, and one of his live releases references this, he sometimes discusses what he calls "the Big Machine" (Fleetwood Mac) and "the Small Machine" (his solo work). The larger pays the bills so he can go do his own thing (the poster already made the joke about his signature song and it's already beaten to death).***
I suppose, to see both sides of the coin, I would quote him on the flip side; on the one hand, there's ratcheting down the screws to ensure you're making something you'll be satisfied with. On the other, from the beginning of the documentary Not Too Late:
"What drives someone to hold on to an idea beyond all reason? To stand year after year agains the fading probabilities, to act on a vision of yourself that goes beyond the boundaries of how others wish to see you, or how they wish you to see yourself, or how they see themselves, a vision never completely revealed, even to you?"
Not introducing this song, but it reminds me of 'Cast Away Dreams.'
There's a time to let go and dance on the ashes left by dissipating dreams, a time to reflect and understand you can't go home again, a time to know when it's time to, as Van Zandt would say, "leave this dream alone/Try to find another."
But since Dickinson began this, it seem fitting she should end the post. Buckingham discusses casting away dreams that have gone from ripe to rotten (Langston Hughes might have a word or two here about dreams deferred and exploding raisins in the sun) and need to be parted from. Parting is a complex, poignant, and bittersweet emotion Dickinson captures well:
"Parting is all we know of Heaven
And all we need of Hell..."
—
*Not everything need be pressed under the screws of the press, though: in an interview, though I can't recall the distinct one, even Buckingham pointed out that this period of "Crock-potting" as I call it (leave anything in a Crock pot the right amount of time, you'll probably end up with something good, great advice from the Mens Room) was necessary for the band to mature and grow.
**NOT pronounced "essentric," that drives me up a wall and there's no way with the number of times I corrected them on it, the people who used to say it like that with a smirk did it to piss me off. Fuckin' people sometimes.
***I do have this funny live recording of 'Go Your Own Way,' from Memphis, TN where he's slurring, forgetting words, clearly just trashed out of his mind, doesn't even start the song properly—then just rips into this blistering guitar solo that is frankly, just amazing, but he knows his guitar. According to one documentary interview with a buddy, he was so dedicated it wasn't uncommon to find that he'd fallen asleep practicing, his fingers still holding a chord.
Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys reemarked of him, "When I worked with him, I noticed his intensity very, very much—and, personally, it frightened me." (On a Beach Boys note, it's possible 'DW Suite' off Go Insane refers to Dennis Wilson; still wondering whether they crossed paths much when Christine McVie dated Dennis Wilson).
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