I can't recall anyone saying she needed a MAN.

The harsh reality is she needs SOMEONE who is a far better musician than she is to turn her songs from nice demos to actual songs that would get played on the radio (she herself says this). Sheryl Crow was one of those people.

The reality is, Stevie herself is prejudiced against other women. SHe's said many many times (not that long ago again) that she doesn't like listening to the advice or inputs of other women in her career or her songs. Christine and Sheryl seem to be notable exceptions. She likes working with men and being the main girl so the reality is, by her choice most of her collaborators and cowriters have all been men.

I don't think most people on here think she HAS to work with a MAN to get her songs out, but that for the most part is has BEEN men who have turned her raw material into radio playable hits. Her choice.

And when the hell did having a different opinion become "hating"?? I own everything this woman has ever recorded (often multiple copies) and have gone to see her live for decades. I love her stuff but am also able to see her flaws. Most of her demos, especially as the years went on, are very monotonic and are, as she herself described them, her plonking with two fingers on the keyboard. Yes she writes the top end-- the melody and lyrics-- but she doesn't give musicians much to work with. By Chris's own description Lindsey had to figure out what Christine should play on Stevie's songs because Chris couldn't make heads or tails of them, and by Benmont's own account Jimmy had Benmont sit with her and do the same-- figure out what the musicians could play from her solo demos. Fact, like it or not. Could it have been done by a woman? Technically yes, but Stevie wouldn't have allowed it.

I also looked at liner notes for 24 Karat Gold for the regular cd, not deluxe: Lyrics were by Stevie Nicks, Music was by Waddy and Michael Campbell

I was just researching whether “Show Them The Way,” released not long after I started this thread, qualified as a solo written song. It does not, as it was co-written by keyboardist Greg Kurstin. He perhaps most famously co-wrote “Hello” with Adele.

So “Soldier’s Angel” still holds the title!

Most of the lyrics for Show Them The Way were written in 2008..horrible song BTW.

What would he have written? The piano music was written by her I thought.

clearly not.

He may have contributed to some components of the song while she still laid the groundwork for it. I know that on Bella Donna the music to "Kind of Woman" was mostly her but Benmont Tench has a credit on the song because he wrote the bridge or something. There is something similar with "Think About It" and Roy Bittan. I still consider those songs to be solo-written compositions, just with a little help fleshing it out for the album.

I see. Thank you.
It's like Gaga's process. She composes the structure and she gets some people to flesh out some parts.

I think I remember Stevie saying now that she wrote the Him and Her part of Show Them The Way over a bridge Greg made up.

Like with “Annabel Lee” — doesn’t Waddy have a co-write credit? He probably wrote that little instrumental bridge-slash-turnaround. Stevie doesn’t write bridges-slash-turnarounds. But a track needs a little of that variety for a change of environment.

For “Think About It,” I bet Roy wrote the music for the section that starts “And the heart says danger/And the heart says whatever.” It jumps into a minor key that Stevie wouldn’t have proposed on her own. Her musical mind doesn’t think that way; she gives all her musical attention to the vocal lines, not to the block construction as it modulates around.

Roy has a writing credit on How Still My Love.

These collaborators do more than write a few little notes here and there. She's said that Roy turned How Still My Love into the song it is. He rearranged the parts.

I find it amusing how so many people want to downplay the role of the very talented musicians who collaborated with her. She's just not a capable musician and has been bailed out many times with a sort of veil over the fact that they did so. There was a strong PR machinery on her team to promote Stevie as this sole, capable songwriter. Sorry, but honestly none of her songs would have been as successful without that kind of help. And that's not shameful. Indeed, the decreasing success of her later albums I think in large part is due to her ego wanting her albums to sound more and more like her demos. (Cue all the defenders of her demos. I love her demos too, but they would NOT get radio play and big sales. Sorry)

Hmmm... my album liner notes give sole writing credit on "How Still" too S. Nicks. The only songs that are billed as co-writes on that album are "Kind of Woman" and "Think About It," and of course "Stop Draggin'" is Campbell/Petty.

It's an interesting question, what qualifies as co-writing and what qualifies as a producer or musician just doing what they ordinarily do to contribute to a song. To me, re-arranging sections and instrumental arrangements would fall into the latter category, and I think that's primarily what Stevie's early stuff got. As she got deeper into her solo career, she relied more on others to write actual melodies and lyrics for her.