The Stevie Nicks Song Inspired by Guitarist Waddy Wachtel
Stevie Nicks released the song “If Anyone Falls” on her 1983 album The Wild Heart. The song is the second single from the album. According to Music Spotlight Magazine, Nicks wrote the song because she was inspired by her collaboration with guitarist Waddy Wachtel.
Stevie Nicks made ‘If Anyone Falls’ because of Waddy Wachtel
Throughout Nicks’ career, Wachtel worked alongside Nicks as a session musician. According to Music Spotlight Magazine, Nicks made “If Anyone Falls” because of her collaborations with Wachtel.
The magazine reports that in the liner notes for the compilation album Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks, Nicks credited Wachtel for the song.
“There was a time when I was falling out of one love into another, when nothing else seemed to matter except this person,” Nicks wrote according to Music Spotlight Magazine. “I adored him…. He was everything I wanted to be-a real rock and roller and a lover of the Stones.”
Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks was released in 1991 and Music Spotlight Magazine reports that Nicks calls herself Wachtel’s “spirit twin” in the liner notes.
“But his spirit twin never leaves him. It is to my great sorrow that we are no longer onstage together, but it is to my great joy that he always seems to be with me, even after all this time,” Nicks wrote.
What is ‘If Anyone Falls’ about?
On The Wild Heart, “If Anyone Falls” is the album’s second track. The song was written by Nicks and Sandy Stewart, and Jimmy Iovine is the song’s producer. Wachtel played guitar for the song’s official recording.
According to Music Spotlight Magazine, the “No. 14 hit from The Wild Heart was inspired by Wachtel, who stuck by Stevie through some of the most difficult times in her career.”
In “If Anyone Falls,” Nicks sings, “I hear a voice in the room next to mine/ Feels good, sounds good/ Closes the door from behind/ And then another voice comes through the door/ I am dealing with a man/ When away from me, stays deep inside my heart/ And, he says, ‘If anyone falls in love, it will be one of us’/ If anyone falls in love/ Somewhere in the twilight, dream time/ Somewhere in the back of your mind/ If anyone falls.”
Stevie Nicks and Waddy Wachtel frequently collaborated together
In addition to working with Nicks as a session musician, Wachtel also toured with the singer and worked as her music director.
“I told Stevie that [the forced break due to the pandemic] was the first time I unpacked my suitcase. I come home and that thing lays open in my closet because any minute I’m going out on the road. If not with Stevie, I’m going somewhere to do a session,” Wachtel said in an interview with Best Classic Bands.
