It sounds like there's more to it than a song about an abortion.
She may have several threads going in the song, but mainly the song is a confession, a baring of the heart from one adult to another-- about something that happened a long time back ("it was I who was," "woke up in tears, for all the years"). The singer is talking about a time of parting of ways after words were spoken, a time when "the light went fading fast" for the person whom she's talking to in the song, as this person slipped away.
So what they had is this parting of ways, a crisis point one day or evening ("I who went to sleep as two, woke up as one," and "I who went to sleep in tears, woke up in tears"), but it was done in a way that the other person was hurt ("now only your remain, you'll close your eyes and travel back to the time when the light went fading fast").
And she never said goodbye to them. She never talked to them about "the time when the light went fading fast," so she's talking about it now. She notes that they were with her all the time.
So, it's probably about her and Lindsey Buckingham. It's like the tender, remorseful flip side of the vengeful, gloating "Gold Dust Woman." Whereas in that song, she soared like a goddess with her defeated prey below, in this one she's below, repentant, begging to be spared.
"Gold Dust Woman," "The Chain" (Demo) and "Goodby Baby" look at the same relationship rupture from different viewpoints and angles, because Stevie Nicks was a prolific songwriter and looked at the few things that were important to her from different artistic perspectives.
In "Goodbye Baby," having rehashed the scenes of the breakup, and shown her understanding and compassion for what not just she but also the other person went experienced in that relationship-ending moment, she can now bid farewell.
The song "Say Goodbye" and "Goodbye Baby" are facing-each-other album-ending statements. The songs are to put closure, to say goodbye, to who they were and what happened to them, and where they are ultimately.
The song plays on the metaphor of an hour glass, where you start in one side and end up in another, which stands for where they started, how it narrowed to crisis with them both coming out on the other side.
There are parallel structures in wording throughout the song (e.g., "I who went to sleep as two, woke up as one" and "I who went to sleep in tears, woke up in tears") , mirroring the hour-glass upside-down-duplication of itself through which time slips away.
It sounds like there's more to it than a song about an abortion.
She may have several threads going in the song, but mainly the song is a confession, a baring of the heart from one adult to another-- about something that happened a long time back ("it was I who was," "woke up in tears, for all the years"). The singer is talking about a time of parting of ways after words were spoken, a time when "the light went fading fast" for the person whom she's talking to in the song, as this person slipped away.
So what they had is this parting of ways, a crisis point one day or evening ("I who went to sleep as two, woke up as one," and "I who went to sleep in tears, woke up in tears"), but it was done in a way that the other person was hurt ("now only your remain, you'll close your eyes and travel back to the time when the light went fading fast").
And she never said goodbye to them. She never talked to them about "the time when the light went fading fast," so she's talking about it now. She notes that they were with her all the time.
So, it's probably about her and Lindsey Buckingham. It's like the tender, remorseful flip side of the vengeful, gloating "Gold Dust Woman." Whereas in that song, she soared like a goddess with her defeated prey below, in this one she's below, repentant, begging to be spared.
"Gold Dust Woman," "The Chain" (Demo) and "Goodby Baby" look at the same relationship rupture from different viewpoints and angles, because Stevie Nicks was a prolific songwriter and looked at the few things that were important to her from different artistic perspectives.
In "Goodbye Baby," having rehashed the scenes of the breakup, and shown her understanding and compassion for what not just she but also the other person went experienced in that relationship-ending moment, she can now bid farewell.
The song "Say Goodbye" and "Goodbye Baby" are facing-each-other album-ending statements. The songs are to put closure, to say goodbye, to who they were and what happened to them, and where they are ultimately.
The song plays on the metaphor of an hour glass, where you start in one side and end up in another, which stands for where they started, how it narrowed to crisis with them both coming out on the other side.
There are parallel structures in wording throughout the song (e.g., "I who went to sleep as two, woke up as one" and "I who went to sleep in tears, woke up in tears") , mirroring the hour-glass upside-down-duplication of itself through which time slips away.
[Edit: update wording to improve comment]