In The Crystalline Knowledge Of You (Finale)

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Sound City Studios
Los Angeles, California
Saturday, June 6, 1971
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"Don't worry about the way it sounds right now, Stevie. Just sing it for us and we'll work the whole thing out later."

Keith Olsen sat on the other side of the glass divider of the recording booth, speaking to Stevie through a microphone and pressing a button on the mixing board. Stevie sat anxiously at the piano, Lindsey sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room, looking directly into her eyes for encouragement. He knew how hard she had been working on this song, more so than "Crying In The Night" or "Long Distance Winner". This was her love letter to him, her masterpiece...and what she hadn't told him yet was that there was another song she'd already started to work on that was even more of a love letter than "Crystal". It was called "Without You", and she'd written the poem the day after her birthday, so overwhelmed with love for him and their new life together and their beautiful music that she'd cried when she was done and read it over...but one thing at a time, she thought. She was about to play "Crystal".

"Do you always trust your first initial feeling," she began, picking out the notes on the piano in her way. She'd never taken a lesson, and Lindsey had told her not to; she had no rules and it worked for her. "Special knowledge holds truth, bears believing...I turned around, and the water was closing all around...like a glove...like the love that had finally, finally found me...Then I knew, in the crystalline knowledge of you...Drove me to the mountain, through the crystal like a clear water fountain...Drove me like a magnet to the sea..."

Lindsey was watching her every move, and the only reason he was holding back his tears was because he knew Keith was there, watching too. He held his breath as she went on.

"How the faces of love have changed, turning the pages...and I have changed, oh, but you, you remain ageless...I turned around, and the water was closing all around...like a glove...like the love that had finally, finally found me...and I knew, in the crystalline knowledge of you..."

When she was finished, no one said a word for a moment. Stevie looked over at Lindsey, and she could see that he was trying not to look at Keith through the window - he had tears in his eyes after all. She smiled at him, and that was when both Keith and Lindsey were on their feet, clapping for her.

"That was beautiful, angel," Lindsey said, crossing to where she sat at the piano to give her a hug and a kiss. "Amazing...you were right - I love it."

"Amazing, Stevie," Keith said through the microphone, and that was when two other men entered the booth on Keith's side. One was a tall, thin man who spoke to Keith in a way that suggested they were old friends, and the other was a slighter man with glasses and long, curly dark hair. Stevie saw them out of the corner of her eye, but Lindsey didn't; he was holding her tight and kissing her neck and whispering to her that the song was the most beautiful love letter he'd ever heard. That was when the three other men came into the room where they were and they broke apart, slightly embarrassed.

"Lindsey, Stevie, these are some people I'd like you to meet," Keith said. "This is Richard Dashut; he's an associate producer I think could add some insight to the album, and this is Waddy Wachtel. He's a studio player...fantastic guitarist. This is Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks."

"Great to meet you," Lindsey said, shaking their hands, and then their attentions turned to Stevie.

"That was excellent," Richard said, shaking Stevie's hand. "Stevie?"

"Yes," she said. "I mean, it's Stephanie, but that's..." She looked up at Lindsey with a smile only they understood. "But yeah, it's Stevie."

"Amazing lyrics," Waddy said, shaking her hand. "I'm not lyricist; I just play guitar, but I know awesome when I hear it."

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