I took my love, and 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
Mm mm
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 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
Ahh ahh, take my love, take it down
Ahh ha, climbed a mountain and turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down, down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
oh oh the landslide will bring 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
Mm mm
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 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
Ahh ahh, take my love, take it down
Ahh ha, climbed a mountain and turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down, down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
oh oh the landslide will bring it down
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by WheelsUp, bruceswonger, zahuntah, john109961
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I think this song is beautiful because it can be interpreted in so many ways...part of the genius behind it. What it means to me, I'm sure, Nicks did not intend, because when she wrote it, she was nowhere near where I am at this point of my life. But this song never hit me before like it does now. I've always liked it...first heard it when I was in my teens. But now, it resonates to my core. A couple of you have shared similar insights that I have on what "Landslide" means ... but not fully. I am a mom in my mid 40s. My children are in high school ... but the years are slipping by quickly. While I have not been a "stay at home mommy," since my kids were born, I've only accepted employment that allows me to be available to them whenever they need me. So, I have built my life around them-forgoing more lucrative opportunities that would have imposed distance and hours that would not allow me to be available.
To me, The Landslide is time. Time moving very fast; making many changes in its wake. Can I handle those changes...the new seasons of my life that will come after they move on with their lives...I don't know. I am going to miss them so much when that happens... I really don't know if I can handle that.
"I climbed a mountain and I turned around." When I took my life journey, any time I spent reflecting on my past...I saw my mother... her reflection in the snow covered hills. (BTW I think it's ridiculous to assume the snow covered hills has anything to do with cocaine -- there are way too many beautiful literal and metaphorical interpretations that can be made. That is just too base.) I think the snow covered hills refers to the graying of the previous generations. I see my mother when I reflect on the snow covered hills in my journey. Even though she says "my reflection," for me, and I'm sure for many, it looks like "my reflection" but it's really my mother because we look alike. When my children climb the mountain and turn around, I can only assume they will see me and my snow covered hill.
And the last part for me means that I'm telling my children to take my love with them on their journey to the future, and if they see my reflection in the snow covered hills when they turn around and reflect on their past...they don't need to let anything I've done that could slow them down or cause them to doubt themselves to get in the way because in time...The Landslide (time) will make all those mistakes irrelevant. The Landslide of time takes care of all those issues. In time, they will be their own persons no matter what I've done, good bad or otherwise. But the love remains. They've taken that with them.
And OF COURSE "mirror in the sky" is God, or whatever higher power you believe in. (Again..nothing to do with drugs.) She refers to it as a "mirror" because it is during/through prayer/introspection/meditation that we often take the time to look at ourselves and evaluate who we are and where we're going. For me, "Oh mirror in the sky...what is love?" means do we demonstrate love more by holding on tight to those we love or by letting go...letting them take their own journeys and sending our love with them? How do we best demonstrate our love? I think the song answers that question.
@deegee87 I totally agree. I just discovered it again recently thru the Dixie Chicks, but I recall someone in the 60s singing this in my coffeehouse. I was a lot younger and really didn't listen to the lyrics or it maybe the musician's intepretation. I'm at a time in my life it is all reflections of who, what and where I am and was.<br />
@deegee87 That was amazing. I'm a young high schooler right now and I just recently discovered this song and I really love your perception of it
@deegee87 Dear deegee87. Thank you for your clear and pure words. I'm gonna finish the uni this semester and I have an almost unexplainable feeling about leaving my parents behind me. I've just find this song and I cried reading your words. I know they are experiencing something similar like you. I hope one day I can have the same with my children. It's a natural circle. It's beautiful. God (or whatever higher power you believe in) bless you! :)
@deegee87 yeah the snow covered hills is not cocaine. It's actually about the literal snow covered hills in aspen. Where stevie nicks lived for awhile. She was looking upon them as she realized her life was changing and she could do it. Trust me. Look it up :) there is a site that has her words on it. I like your interpretation of it. As you said, the song can be interpreted in so many ways.
@deegee87 I agree completely bc, at 63, I am seeing that I will one day pass. And my daughters and now my grand daughter are and have always been my life. The only piece that makes me uncomfortable is "if you see my reflection, the landslide will bring it down" - I am obviously paraphrasing. I am sad bc I fear that I will be forgotten. That is what this piece of the lyrics say to me.
@deegee87 Wow. Beautiful interpretation of a beautiful song. Stevie Nicks was really young when she wrote "Landslide." I believe she was just in her early 20's, but she was clearly very wise for her years. Fleetwood Mac were really a powerhouse rock band. In their 1970's heyday, they had 5 amazing musicians in that band. Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie were both such great singer-songwriters, and really lovely women as well.
@deegee87 We are a similar age. Had my kids later due to multiple deployments. Principal of middle school now. My oldest, Katie (9 yo), was killed in October 2016. Drunk driver. Although my kids haven't left me for college (they are still little), Katie has left me. Talk about a "landslide". I am a guy that sacrificed time with my kids for my country, an impact on the future generation, and a decent living for my family. Didn't know I'd only have Kate for such a small amount of time. Don't take time for granted. You're reflection was beautiful. - John
@deegee87 I love your interpretation of this song. I’m 63 and have loved this song for years but now I love it even more. Thank you for your beautiful commentary.
@deegee87 - I am 38-year old father and this made me cry. This is EXACTLY how i interpreted this song and your writing is beautiful as the song. Stay blessed.
@deegee87 Beautifully written
@deegee87 I remember my ex falling apart when our son graduated high school and left to live with room mates. I had already gone through that when he was 13 and decided he didn\'t want to see me first, third and fifth weekends anymore. Then when his half sister (who lived with me the last two years of high school cuz I was closer to her school) ten years younger, left in 2016 to go to college in another state, I couldn\'t sleep. Was it the same for you? Could not sleep?
@deegee87 Best interpretation of Stevie Nicks's "Landslide" that I will ever read! I couldn't agree with you more, and I'm not a Mom. I'm just a dude who writes lyrics, and ... Oh yeah, I used to write for a trade paper for the Music Industry.
@deegee87 On their 1997 live album The Dance, Nicks begins the song with the words "this is for you daddy." I can imagine the lyrics resonated in a similar way with her father as they have for you.
stevie said that this was written in aspen, colorado when she went with just her goya guitar. she said she was contemplating whether or not to continue with lindsey buckingham in their group, buckingham knicks or go back to school in california. she was sitting in a friends living room just contemplating her life. knicks has previously said she "sat looking out at the rocky mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us...at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways."
Well, no one seems to think of it in the terms I do. Everyone talks about a child's point of view with the song. Imagine for a minute, listening to it from an aging parent's perspective. One whose children were their world, totally doted upon and beautiful images of the parents themselves. But with years, the children distant themselves and don't understand the parent (understand where they're coming from). Perhaps even disagree with the entire way the parent views the world and acts, according to how they lived their lives, according to their fate. TO me it means all this and the ends means, simply that, in the end the same fate very possibly awaits the younger adult child with age, and when it happens to them, these things/changes their parent has endured, they will finally understand who their parent is/was, in a way they never had. It will hit them emotionally hard, like a landslide, and they will come back "down to earth" with changed attitudes, the parent hopes it brings them to this realization without destroying them. Of course I see this in the song as it relates to my own life, and all my close friends know, this is the song to be played for my children, when I die.
@thebalancedram Actually, someone thought of it in much the same way you did, and they wrote about it on here, 2 weeks before you did! Read "Deegee87's" comment from February 27th, 2012. She has a +22 positive feedback rating. It's at the top of the page.^
@thebalancedram I have a tendency to agree with you, except that I can't see Stevie having the perspective of an older person when she wrote this....<br /> <br /> As i write, it's 2018 and I've heard this song many many times and as an instrumentalist never paid attention to the lyric..but now as someone who qualifies for social security, i see it as both a parent and as a spouse..i am male, but i think this is geared more toward wives who try to put so much into a relationship with a man and as they age..perhaps he loses interest. It is quite something to have to face up to. Others have well stated what parents go through and it's universal. It's one reason why the parable of "The Prodigal Son" in the New Testament is so timeless in it's truth.
@thebalancedram I like your interpretation and resonate with it. Ironically, you posted the day of my son's birthday. Interesting. Especially since I receive a lot of synchronicities and my (adult) son and I have become very strained in our relationship and barely even speak :(
I think it;s about change. Whether realising you're a coke addict, breaking up with your partner, being worried about your dad going into surgery (which Stevie Nicks was when she wrote it), or realising your children are grown and don't need looking after anymore, when you realise the life you knew is over, the sweeping changes are devastating. Your old life is destroyed in the landslide of the new life. Will you survive and become a new you? I don't know.
This is such a beautiful song. It's about someone who causes her pain but she built her life and her world around him. Now, she must let him go and support herself, because of how much he hurts her. She is a child, but she is learning to grow and take her life into her own hands. She is scared of being dragged down by him, so she must leave him.
. basically, it talks about taking a chance and just going for something. the singer always saw her self above love, but now she is falling into it and feels like she is losing control. so she is saying she has only some control and the rest is just trust in this person...shes built her life around. so she is just going to let that "landslide" bring her down and trust that person to give her the same
Guy's....it's about her struggle with cocaine use! it's been a known fact for a long long time. snow covered hills etc. anyway great song and i relate very much....like i said...sad song.
Aside from it most likely being about her addiction, I like ranger91's interpretation of the song. Almost hopeful :) Cheers
@ranger91 Whatever the song fits a lot of purpose, that is what matters.<br />
To me the song is about growing up and letting go of safe familiar things. You are unsure if you can make it and you are leaving someone behind in a way. Your telling them if they remember any of the bad times involving them that sooner or later that thought will pass. Then again it could just be playing with words that fit together and may mean something different to different people.
I agree. Thats exactly how I interpreted this song. :)
This song is about a person making a change when she realizes that she has been betrayed by someone/group of people to whom she has given everything.
Landslide refers to the collapse of the relationship when she withdraws her love after a person/group betrays her.
She had dedicated her whole life to building this relationship (climbed a mountain), but the betrayal has caused her to stop (turn around) and take a hard look at how she sees herself and how others see her (her reflection).
This betrayal causes her to see herself as alone, unloved, and unappreciated--"in the snow-covered mountains," so she decides to withdraw her love (I take my love, and I take it down), which brings a sudden, massive end/landslide to the relationship.
She wonders what love is, if she can rise above this betrayal (Can the child within my heart rise above?), and if she can make this change and still continue in a positive way with her life (Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?).
She says that she has built her entire life around this person/group (I built my life around you), so taking down her love from this person/group does not come easy, but now she is older and has grown, so can make the change because she will no longer give to this person/group after he/they have abandoned her alone "in the snow-covered mountains."
She tells this person/group to walk away from this relationship (So take your love, take it down) because if he/they stop and reflect on the relationship and how the betrayal has left her abandoned, they will understand this landslide--why she has withdrawn her love and why the relationship has ended.
Incredible interpretation. I wonder how you came to it. Personal experience? Philosophical perspective? Intuition? What about the comment she says in a live recording where she says, "this is for you, Daddy." That was very telling,
I was looking for a song to danc to with my son at his wedding and I found this one. He has been my life and I am getting older , so is he . Time to let go and let all things fall into place like a landslide. It makes me cry . Hope I can make it through the wedding. Janet
@janet10208 Aww! I'm sure he Loved it! How was the wedding?
@janet10208 So interesting how one person can hear a song and desire it at their son's wedding and another can hear the same song and feel deep sorrow in the melody and want it played at their funeral...
This song makes me cry. It just makes me think of everything that's happened in my life, good and bad. Makes me thankful for the good stuff