Destiny Rules

Well, I am afraid you are all wrong here XD. I have just learned pretty interesting information about this song and I know it is not about her past relationships, especially not about Lindsley XD. First of all the verses: "I hear about you now and then I wonder where you are and how you feel Sometimes I walk by and I look up to your balcony Just to make sure that you were real Just to make sure that I can still feel you" - they are about Christine McVie and some strange situation with her at the balcony. And that's for sure because Nicks said about it in an Interview. The verses: "Maybe we were together (...)" but especially "Six weeks in foreign (...)" refers to her holiday in Chile where she was together with some friend with whom she had romantic relationship. So it is about both that time off and their affair. The verses: "I like the coastal cities (...)" are only about just her visit in Chile and how she liked being there and how she loves this kind of places in general. And the rest of the verses are about returning to Fleetwood Mac. Well, to be clear - she went to Chile in 1979 because she was tired after Tusk recording and her failed relationships with Lindlsey and Mick and the whole toxic situation that came again between the all five band members. Let alone it was enough for her that they didn't want to give more credit with her own songs that was also making her pissed. And that guy with whom she traveled to Chile added that she was also tired of the intense celebration and touring because of their success with album Rumours. But then she had to come back - not only because she had troubles in that country because of dictatorship (something unpleasant happened to her during some curfew) but as she always says - being in FM or just music business is like being in army whether you are needed or not etc. Her destiny is just to stay with Fleetwood Mac. She has to follow the rules and the rules say that you have to be with the band.

[Edit: Grammar]

To me, this song is all about Stevie Nicks and her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham. She harkens to the past with the first line, "maybe we were together in another life," suggesting that her and Lindsey's heady early days in Fleetwood Mac were almost a lifetime ago. She also acknowledges the thought some people have that she and Lindsey are still together with, "maybe we are together in a parallel universe."

She realizes that she can't have Lindsey and she also realizes that he'll always play an important role in her life: "I hear about you now and then/I wonder where you are and how you feel." She wonders how real her connection is with Lindsey and she wants that connection to remain -- somehow: "Sometimes I walk by and I look up to your balcony/Just to make sure that you were real/Just to make sure that I can still feel you."

In the chorus, she once again tries to make peace with the fact she can never have Lindsey and she realizes that destiny doesn't allow them to be a couple. However, destiny also doesn't allow them to stay separated from each other for very long.

In the second verse, she could be referring to how crazy life with Fleetwood Mac is by referring to being in a foreign country and "how the time flew." The line, "I didn't speak the language, but somehow I knew" is loaded with meaning -- perhaps she realizes that some things are better left unsaid, or that some things just didn't need to be spoken, they're just understood.

Her reference to "Illume (9/11)" is one of the intriguing elements of "Destiny Rules." This time, she's not referring in some way to the calamity at the World Trade Center. This time, it's more of a self-examination of the near-calamities in her life, a way of trying to restore some normalcy to a woman used to the crazy rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

It's about Nicks reflecting on a lover from long ago, who she keeps seeing, who she's drawn to, whom she almost stalks, really. They both know they shouldn't be together, but it feels like the universe keeps pushing them together and so it's confusing to both of them. She tries to distract herself with the city and her career, living in post 9/11 New York (a major theme in the album, and it's notable to realize that the verse about "costal cites" is also in the song "Illume" which Nicks wrote about 9/11.) But ultimately, they keep running into each other, and there's more and more turmoil.