Stevie Nicks is one of the artists that I grew up listening to, and while I’ve always enjoyed this witchy woman’s songs, it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve really started hearing deeper meanings in her lyrics.
Landslide, in particular, has gained my admiration. Throughout the years and the various covers of this song, I’ve always been drawn to the lyrics. I’ve felt that there was more to them -as if they were this underlying puzzle that needed to be solved. Part of the beauty of music is how universal it is, and how it can mean so many different things to so many people.
As I’m getting older, I’m hearing songs that meant one thing to me when I was younger, that now have a different meaning. I believe that the double entendre found in lyrics, materializes from wisdom. That wisdom can come from age and life experience, or it can come from the many lessons that our soul has carried with it throughout our lifetimes. What I love the most about creativity in general (be it music, lyrics, writing or art) is that it comes from the heart and soul. A place of purity, honesty and essentially… internal wisdom.
On the site, inherownwords.com Stevie talks about how Landslide was written at a time when she was living in Aspen while her then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham was on the road. They had just released their first big album which had been a flop and she was questioning her music career. After being inspired by her surroundings and reflecting on her life situations, Stevie grabbed her guitar and wrote this song in five minutes.
In Performing Songwriter Magazine, she said, “when you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills’ – it’s the only time in my life that I’ve lived in the snow. But looking up at those Rocky Mountains and going, ‘Okay, we can do it. I’m sure we can do it.’ In one of my journal entries, it says, “I took Lindsey and said, ‘We’re going to the top!’”
And they did. Three months later, Fleetwood Mac called and Stevie and Lindsay joined the band and they made it big.
I believe that fluidity that allowed her to write that song in five minutes came from a place of inner wisdom. It was a place of knowing. Which to me, is what Landslide symbolizes; the awakening/awareness of that inner wisdom.
“Oh, mirror in the sky what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?”
So often, we grow up comparing ourselves to everyone else. To me, the mirror in the sky symbolizes that spiritual journey of self-discovery and the realization that the foundation of all love starts with learning how to truly love yourself. “Can the child within my heart rise above” is speaking to that inner child that demands so much love and attention. Can we rise above the self-criticisms and simply learn to love ourselves? And then the equally important question is, can I carry that love with me through the ever changing tides and seasons of my life?
“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too”
“I’ve been afraid of changing ‘cause I’ve built my life around you.” I’ll never forget the moment that this lyric really hit home. I was driving home singing along and out of nowhere I realized that this line summed up a big part of my journey that I had been on for 2 years. It’s a road that I’m sure many of us travel down which is realizing that so much of who we are is based on other people. It is these truths that have become part of us influenced by our parents, teachers, friends, media and society. And our entire lives are built on this person that we have become based on other peoples beliefs.
Once that realization is made, there is a desire to start to sort through these truths and/or to find your own. But that change can be very scary and fear can hold your back. “But time makes you bolder, even children get older and I’m getting older too.” The older that we become and more self-love that we develop, the more confident we become. With that confidence comes a boldness that allows you to care less about what other people think, and more about what you think. It’s such a liberating process and once you gain a taste of that freedom, it starts a landslide and that reflection of the person you were has now found the courage to become even stronger and wiser.
“And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills, well the landslide will bring it down.”
And now I will leave you with a link to this beautiful song. Maybe you will hear it a little differently this time around. Then again, perhaps it already holds special meaning for you. If it does, I’d love to hear it! I encourage you to comment and share. And as always… Stay Wonderfull. ♥
