Tag: Landslide

The Gift of Song

I read this quote the other day and I thought that it was one of the most beautiful, “true” quotes which I have read in a long time. (and you know that I love quotes) How many beautiful songs have you sung to for decades of your life, and you have never even considered the lyrics? There are some songs which I love to sing along to, even though I am fully aware of their unfortunate lyrics. Honestly I’m embarrassed that I like some of these songs, but I do.

Today, I clicked on a video of Elton John singing “Yellow Brick Road”. I’ve loved this song since I first heard it, but today is the first day that I read through the lyrics and considered their meaning. I found out that Elton John wrote this song as an “FU” to music industry executives. I like the song even more now.

I’ve always loved Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide” but it isn’t until reaching my middle age that I’ve started sobbing/singing along with the tune any time that I hear it (It’s really hard to sing with a huge lump in your throat). The beauty of music is that it is always there for you, for whatever mood you are in, and it connects all of us, whether we are just humming along, or we are soulfully and personally experiencing the lyrics. Music is such a beautiful form of love in motion.

“Landslide” lyrics

I took my love, I took it down
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills
‘Til the landslide brought me down

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?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too

Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Oh! I’m getting older too

Oh-oh, take my love, take it down
Oh-oh, climb a mountain and you turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down
Oh-ohh, the landslide bring it down

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Landslide

I just finished reading Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It is an interesting, easy to devour, fictional account of the rising up and falling out of a rock-n-roll band. It is loosely based on Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. So, of course, after I finished the book, I ended up reading all about Nicks and the other band members of Fleetwood Mac. This brought up a recent memory.

A few months ago, my best friends from college (shout out to the Bubble!) and I were in Nashville, on a girls’ trip. We ended up being front row, fast fans of an amazing, mesmerizing, unfairly gorgeous and talented yet easy to love, girl band from Australia. (Shout out, Dozzi!) Dozzi did this amazing cover of “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac. And there was no one in that bar over the age of 40, who was even close to being dry-eyed, as we sang-shouted the lyrics, along with Dozzi.

I have always liked Fleetwood Mac and of course, “Landslide” has always been one of my favorite songs of theirs. (I recently read that no one will ever change the radio station when Stevie Nicks is singing – her voice is that distinctive, emotional and mesmerizing.) However, “Landslide” has taken on a whole new meaning and brings me to a whole new level of emotion, since I have reached this middle age time of my life, with my kids moving on to their adult lives. Stevie Nicks said that she wrote “Landslide” at a time of her life when she was really contemplating her next big moves in life. She was really thinking that she may have to go in a whole new direction with her career, her love life, everything. Stevie was staying with friends at a home in Colorado, at the time that she wrote the lyrics, and she said that the outside mountains looked so peaceful, but at the same time she understood how quickly, an avalanche could happen and change everything. It is such a testament to a singer/songwriter’s talent when they can evoke all of the emotions that erupt during big change periods in people’s lives and encapsulate it all in one song, a song which almost everyone can relate to and understand. At the very least . . . . “Landslide” is a good one!

Landslide Lyrics:

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Til the landslide brought me down

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?
MmmWell, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m gettin’ older, too

Well, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m gettin’ older, too
I’m gettin’ older, too

Ah, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, the landslide will bring it down