Have a listen:
“Landslide” was written by Stevie Nicks in 1973, three months before joining Fleetwood Mac, but was first featured in their self-titled album released in 1975. She is the only credited songwriter on the track.
She wrote “Landslide” while visiting Aspen, Colorado. “I realized then that everything could tumble, and when you’re in Colorado, and you’re surrounded by these incredible mountains, you think avalanche. It meant the whole world could tumble around us and the landslide would bring you down,” she mentioned in a 1992 interview.
The simple cord-progression playing in the background and Nicks’ raspy, soft voice make the lyrics stand out more, allowing the listener to process both the meaning and emotion created by the track.
The song can mean so many different things to the same person, changing depending on the particular point in one’s life. Even for Nicks, it’s meaning has changed over the years. She initially wrote it when torn between going back to school or pursuing her musical dream with her then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham (soon to be lead-guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Fleetwood Mac).
The song, for her, meant risking everything for a dream that seemed unachievable. She later added that it was also about her deteriorating relationship with Buckingham. “I wrote it (Landslide) for Lindsey – for him, about him. It’s dear to both of us because it’s about us. We’re out there singing about our lives,” she said in 2004.
