Fade Into You

Contents

Australasian CD single, 1994.
  1. Exquisite
  2. About
  3. Covers
  4. References

-------------------

1. Exquisite....

On 10 September 2026 the writer encountered the riveting performance of the song Fade Into You by Hope Sandoval (b.1966) of the band Mazzy Star during the Bridge School benefit concert held on Saturday, 1 October 1994 at the Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, California. The concerts were annual events organised by Neil Young for a school which supported disabled / handicapped children. This performance of the hit song has proven over the years to be the most emotional and moving on the many recorded on video, being cleaner and more impactful than other live performances, or the original studio recording from 1993.

Mazzie Star, Fade into You - Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Alt Vault, 15 November 2020, YouTube, duration: 4.22 minutes.

The reaction by the present writer upon hearing this performance was nothing less than Wow! This was due to a number of factors, including the simplicity of the 3-chord instrumental backing, the sound of Sandoval's voice, her delivery, and her presence on stage - head down, obviously shy and child-like (though aged 28 at the time); face often covered by long, dark brown hair; the head swaying from left to right; eyes closed on occasion; her arms held behind her back; rubbing her nose at the beginning, and brushing her brow; a voice which is ethereal; and heart-felt and melancholic lyrics, open to endless individual according to interpretation.

The performance immediately took the writer back to the early 2000s and his encounter (noted elsewhere) with a unique soul, full of wisdom and tenderness. The reading of the song - which may be one of many - was of a person in love with another - having "faded into you" - but that love not being reciprocated, or less than desired. The lyrics of the song are as follows:

I wanna hold the hand inside you
I wanna take the breath that's true
I look to you and I see nothing
I look to you to see the truth
You live your life, you go in shadows
You'll come apart and you'll go blind
Some kind of night into your darkness
Colors your eyes with what's not there

Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew

A stranger light comes on slowly
A stranger's heart without a home
You put your hands into your head
And then its smiles cover your heart

Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew

The song was a single from Mazzie Star's second album So Tonight That I Might See You (1993). The following video analysis of its meaning perhaps comes closest to explaining the enchantment and hypnotic quality of the Bridge School performance.

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You: The hidden meaning behind the song, Lot of Meaning, 16 July 2025, YouTube, duration: 6.45 minutes.

------------------

2. About

* First time hearing "Fade into you" by Mazzie Star, The Charismatic Voice, 20 September 2025, YouTube, duration: 16.35 minutes.

-----------------

3. Covers

Mylie Cyrus

Kelly Clarkeson

-----------------

4. References

Charismatic Voice, First time hearing "Fade into you" by Mazzy Star, The Charismatic Voice, 20 September 2025, YouTube, duration: 16.35 minutes.

Discog, Mazzy Star, Discog, accessed 12 September 2026. 

Mazzie Star, So Tonight That I Might See, CD, Capitol Records, 23 September 1993, 10 tracks.

-----, Fade Into You, CD Single, Capitol Records, Australasia, 1994, 4 tracks. 

-----, Fade into You - Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Alt Vault, 15 November 2020, YouTube, duration: 4.22 minutes. Complete set, duration: 19.18 minutes, here.

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You: The hidden meaning behind the song, Lot of Meaning, 16 July 2025, YouTube, duration: 6.45 minutes. 

Wikipedia, Fade into You, Wikipedia, accessed 12 September 2026.

-----, Hope Sandoval, Wikipedia, accessed 12 September 2026.

-----, Mazzy Star, Wikipedia, accessed 12 September 2026.

------------------

Last updated: 12 September 2026

Michael Organ, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kahvas Jute and Chariot, 1970-2005

Image
Back in 1976,  as a pimply 19 year old from    Illawarra's northern suburbs, I attended one of my most memorable concerts ever - rock band Chariot at Wollongong Town Hall. I was amazed by the lead guitarist Dennis Wilson and especially the band's epic song More which, unfortunately, never made it into or out of a recording studio, or live release. I thereafter saw Wilson as nothing less than Australia's version of Eric Clapton, such was his talent, technique and sound, especially when expressed through his famous 1960 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty guitar hooked into a wah pedal and a Marshall stack. Chariot led me to Wilson's previous band, and their one and only LP Wide Open from 1971, which I was fortunate enough to score a copy of shortly thereafter. The prior band was Kahvas Jute , a Sydney-based progressive rock group which performed in Australia and the UK between 1970-73. Upon disbanding it re-emerged as Chariot from 1974-77. There were subsequently two Kah...
Read more

Melanie @ Woodstock 1969 / Wollongong 1976

Image
Mr Tambourine & Tuning My Guitar at Woodstock, 15 August 1969 , YouTube, duration: 6.19 minutes. Contents Candles in the Wind Woodstock 1969 Wollongong 1976 Looking back References ------------------- When I think of Melanie, I think of her smile, and her joyfulness ...... and her incredible voice (MO 2026) 1. Candles in the rain One of the hit songs of the writer's youth was Melanie Safka's Candles in the Rain , released in April 1970. It arose out of the young 22 year old's 34 minute long standing-ovation performance before some 400,000 people at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival on the evening of Friday, 15 August 1969. Melanie was not on the bill, arrived at the festival alone, waited all day to go on, was given a life-saving pot of tea by Joan Baez, and went on late in the evening after Ravi Shankar, just as it was beginning to rain. She talks about leaving her body as she walked on stage to perform. The rest is history.... Mela...
Read more

Buses

Image
A fleet of Dion buses, Wollongong, 1948. I have been traveling on buses a lot lately. That's fine - it saves me money, gets me from A to B through to Z. Having got rid of a second car and looking to get a motorbike, the bus serves me well in the interim. Sometimes it just IS, i.e. I go from here to there and back again, mostly between Wollongong and the northern suburbs, but I have ventured as far west as up over the Escarpment to Campbelltown, and into the deep south of Stockland Shellharbour. Usually I just pay my fare and sit quietly, comfortably, if possible. Other times the whole experience can be a real pain, like when you walk to the bus stop and see the bus pull out, realising you have to sit around waiting for the next one in half an hour or so; or late at night when I am tired and just want to get home, have a shower, and hop into bed, and the bus trip seems interminably long; or when a noisy drunk gets on the bus and you don't know what they are going to do; or a...
Read more