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On Tina Turner

 We might assume that "I Don't Wanna Fight" is an anatomy of the Ike/Tina years, but actually the song wasn't written for Tina. It was written for Sade. Tina just inherited the draft.


There's a pale moon in the sky--
The kind you make your wishes on.
Like the light in your eyes--
The one I built my dreams upon.
It's not there any longer--
Something happened somewhere....
And we both know why....

The skilled writers start with one of the five senses; they start with sight. You spot a pale moon in the sky, and your thoughts drift to a transition--from day to night. The speaker is leaving one phase of life and entering something new.

I hear a whisper in the air--
It simply doesn't bother me.
Can't you see that I don't care?
Or are you looking right through me?
It seems to me that lately--
You look at me the wrong way, and I start to cry.
Could it be that maybe--
This crazy situation is the reason why?

A shift from sight to sound; the speaker hears some kind of criticism, or perceived criticism, and she shakes it off. She has an epiphany: She is now so distant from this guy, the guy doesn't even notice or "digest" her indifference. ("Are you looking right through me?")

Hanging on to the past--
It only stands in our way.
We had to grow for our love to last--
But we just grew apart.

I love this bridge because of the way it plays with the word "growth." Growth is a good thing. Growing apart? Not so much.

I'm sure Sade would have done well with all this, but the special mix of Tina weariness, Tina compassion, and Tina ferocity is incomparable. I think this was Tina's last great song.
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