Sorry, Stevie

I need to make an apology and a correction, and I need to make them fast!

They have to do with One Winged Dove, a song by Stevie Nicks. 

You know the one–it goes…

“Just like a one-winged dove–ooh, baby, ooh.”

Now for my corrections, and I’ve got a bunch, starting with this whopper…

The song’s not called One Winged Dove. It’s called Edge of Seventeen, though none of those words (neither "edge" nor "of" nor "seventeen"–appear in the song.

So it’s sorta like Bob Dylan’s I’m Younger Than That Now, which is really called My Back Pages.

But I digress.

Back to my mistakes, and this next one is a double whopper with cheese…

The lyric is not “one-winged dove.” It’s “white-winged dove.”

Yes, it’s true. For all these years–and we’re talking decades–I’ve been singing it wrong. Don’t know why I sang “one winged” instead of “white winged”--at least I got the dove part correct. Perhaps because Stevie Nicks mumbles when she sings. 

But that sounds like victim blaming, so I take it back. Sorry, Stevie.

The dove has two wings--got it!

In my defense, I’m not the only one who sang it wrong. So did my wife. And she’s not alone. Oh, follow me on this one…

My wife was taking a dance class at the local park district field house. And her teacher choreographed a dance to this song. And at the end of the dance, she had her students raise both arms high above their heads.

And my wife suggested that instead of raising both arms, they raise only one arm, keeping the other arm at their sides. To symbolize their unity with the one-winged dove.

And everyone in the class said–oh, my god, great idea!

And they incorporated her suggestion into their routine, so the dance ends with one arm up and one arm down.

A striking pose for which I call my wife Twyla, as in Tharp.

My point is…

At no time did anyone–including the teacher, who selected the song–say…

“You know, the one-arm down thing is a great dance move, but the words are `white-winged’ not `one-winged.’”

Obviously, they also thought it was “one-winged” so you see, there are many of us who thought that’s what Stevie Nicks is singing. Though, again, I’m not, in any way, blaming the victim. Just saying…

And for my final mistake/correction…

The line is not “like a white-winged dove, ooh, baby, ooh.”

Nope. Got that wrong, too. There are words between “dove” and “ooh” and they are–”sings a song, sounds like she’s singing."

So, put it all together and it’s…

“Just like the white-winged dove sings a song, sounds like she’s singing–ooh, baby, ooh.”

Hey, at least I got the ooh, baby, ooh part right.