Stevie Nicks Called This Track She Performed on ‘American Horror Story’ the ‘Most Committed Song She Ever Wrote’
Stevie Nicks performed several of her biggest hits on American Horror Story, one of which she called “the most committed song she ever wrote.” Here’s which song Nicks was talking about, the tragic story behind it, and why she performed it on the television horror series.
Stevie Nicks wrote a song for her ex-boyfriend, the Eagles’ Joe Walsh
Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks wrote the song “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?” for her ex-boyfriend, the Eagles’ singer and guitarist, Joe Walsh. She penned it after he told her the tragic story of how his three-year-old daughter, Emma, died.
In the liner notes of her TimeSpace album, Nicks described the moment when Walsh told her about losing his daughter during a snowy trip to Colorado. “He seemed to be in a lot of pain, though hid it well,” she said (via Songfacts). “He wouldn’t tell me where we were going, but he did tell me a story of a little daughter that he had lost. To Joe, she was much more than a child. She was three and a half, and she could relate to him.”
Walsh surprised Nicks by taking her to a park where his daughter used to play. He had a drinking fountain built in Emma’s memory, with a dedication to her and all the other children.
Stevie Nicks called the track ‘the most committed song she ever wrote’
After that emotional trip, the Fleetwood Mac singer dedicated “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?” to Joe Walsh. She called it “the most committed song she ever wrote.”
“So he wrote a song for her, and I wrote a song for him,” Nicks shared. Walsh’s song for his daughter is titled “Song for Emma.”
Nicks revealed that she didn’t always say that the song was for Walsh. “‘This is your song,’ I said to the people, but it was Joe’s song,” she said. “Thank you, Joe, for the most committed song I ever wrote. But more than that, thank you for inspiring me in so many ways. Nothing in my life ever seems as dark anymore, since we took that drive.”
The singer performed the song on an episode of ‘American Horror Story’
Stevie Nicks appeared in two seasons of Ryan Murphy’s anthology TV series American Horror Story. She performed “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?” on season 3 (referred to by fans as Coven), episode 10.
Nicks played herself as a musician by the same name, but she was also a witch on the show. She performed the song to an audience of one, the “Supreme” witch Fiona Goode, played by Jessica Lange. Lange’s character was moved to tears by the performance, crying and smiling at the same time.
Nicks explained why the song was chosen for the episode. “‘Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You’ can work for anyone in the world when they’ve had a very long, bad day,” she said.
