-Stop Draggin' My Heart Around-
Nothin' better to Do
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" is a song by Stevie Nicks, the first single from her 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna. The track is the album's only song that was neither written nor co-written by Nicks. Written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, Jimmy Iovine, who was also working for Stevie Nicks at the time, arranged for her to sing on it. Petty sang with Nicks in the chorus and bridge.
A performance of the song in the studio was used as the promotional video. The video was the 25th video to be played on MTV's launch date on August 1, 1981. As of 2017, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" remains a mainstay of Stevie Nicks's solo performances, and on July 9, 2017, Nicks performed the song together with Petty and the Heartbreakers at the British Summer Time festival at Hyde Park in London, in what turned out to be their final performance of the song together before Petty's death in October 2017.
This song is about a couple with a complicated relationship. She wants to get rid of him, but he has a hold on her heart. When she tells him to stop dragging that heart around, he explains that he's just trying to protect her, as "you need someone looking after you."
Many of the songs Nicks has sung over the years involve hearts in different states of breaking, and many are about her intimate relationships, written either by her or her Fleetwood Mac bandmate/soulmate, Lindsey Buckingham. This song is one of the few she could sing without dealing with the emotional baggage behind it, as it has nothing to do with her personally.
Baby you'll come knocking
on my front door Same old lies you
used to use before That's the game, well
ll what am I supposed to do I didn't know what
I was getting into So you've had a little troubl
e in town Now you're keeping some demons down Sto
p draggin' my... Stop draggin' my...Stop draggin'
my heart around It's hard to think about what y
ou've wanted It's hard to think about what yo
u've lost This doesn't have to be the big g
et even This doesn't have to be anything
at all I know you really want to tel
l me good-bye I know you really wa
nt to be your own girl Baby
you could never look me
in the eye Yeah yo
u buckle with
the weight
of the world
Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my heart around
There's people running 'round
loose in the world
Ain't got nothin' bet to do
Than make a meal of some bright
eyed kid You need someone
looking after you
I know you really
want to
tell me goodbye I
know you really want to
be your own girl
Baby you could never
look me in the eye
Yeah you buckle
with the
weight
of the world
Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin'
my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart
around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
