Fleetwood Mac: Landslide Meaning

Song Released: 1975

Covered By: Glee Cast (2011), Chicks, The (2002), Stevie Nicks (2007), Chloe Kohanski (2017), Smashing Pumpkins (1994), Bush (2011)

Landslide Lyrics

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

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I...

1. macfan

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   Jun 12th 2008 !⃝

   Stevie wrote this song in Aspen Colorado in 1974. She had gone up there to stay at the cabin of a friend while Lindsey was on tour with Don Everly. At this point, their album had flopped and Stevie's father had given her a 6 month limit on the "music thing", if it didn't work out, he wanted she and Lindsey to come home and he would pay for her to finish college. The Lindsey came off the road to the house in Aspen, and as Stevie tells it, he didn't make nearly as much money on that tour as they thought he would, they had a huge fight (I can't remember but I think she may have told Lindsey about the 6 month thing and he flipped), he left to go home, took the car and the dog and she stayed at the cabin. Then she wrote Landslide mainly about the confusion of what she should do. She was very much in love but was unsure if they could make it in the music business.
   
   In 2003, she dedicated Landslide to Lindsey, saying he was the one who taught her to play the guitar she used to write the song, he inspired the song and the song was about him.
2. anonymous

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   Apr 18th 2008 !⃝

   Obviously no one is a fan, or you would know what this song is truly about. If you will watch the performance of it on their DVD Live In Boston, Stevie will explain this song's history. basically, she wrote this about her unraveling future and how she was so unsure of her and Lindsey's future
3. anonymous

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   Jan 1st 2008 !⃝

   I read that Stevie Nicks wrote this about her father and a father-daughter relationship. This song is about how her dad thought she should give up singing and go back to school (this was several months before she joined "Fleetwood Mac") She wrote it while in Aspen, Colarado with Lindsay(Buckingham) Surrounded by snowy mountains, she thought about how the snow could tumble down and tied that into what was going on with her dad.
4. anonymous

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   Oct 19th 2006 !⃝

   I think the song is really about confusion. It's a conflict about growing up
   and doing what is right, or just going with your feeling at the moment. In the first
   verse - "I took my love, I took it down" - yet on the next line she's talking about
   climbing up a mountain. I think the reference in the first verse really is about
   self realization, that she took love for granted.. Until at a point she realized
   what she had done. She had built herself upon what she thought was right; being stubborn;
   until it all crashed down..
   
   The second verse, is after all this, what is love? Is it sacraficing what you believe
   for someone else - or standing your ground? Often children are stubborn & fleeting (child
   within my heart). Depending on your mood (seasons of your life) you may feel differently..
   Whether to cave in to another - or stand your ground.
   
   The chorus - it's easy to understand how this can be interpreted as a woman being afraid
   to go out on her own because she's gotten so used to living with this person. But I believe
   that the person she built her life around is herself. Note the references to mirrors & reflections
   in the verses. She's afraid to lose control - open herself to love.. To open yourself to
   love requires compromise, and often sacrafice.. "time make you bolder" - she's not getting any
   younger - she realizes it's time to stop being selfish and be giving.
   
   With the last few lines - it's aimed at whoever she's in love with. She's climbed up the mountain
   of "everything is gonna be my way.." (selfishness).. Realized the error of her ways - (land slide
   brought it down) - and she's ready to love and give.. So she says to him - go ahead and do what i
   did if you need.. But remember what I did and what happened...
5. anonymous

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   Aug 22nd 2006 !⃝

   I think the song has to do with the relationship between stevie nicks and lindsey buckingham. They were together for a long time & went through a lot together. They eventually broke up & the song is about how stevie deals with the breakup. They had been together since they were young, and as they got older they grew apart. If you've ever seen it performed live, you can see in stevie's eyes the lost love she feels for lindsey. It's about growing up & moving on.
6. anonymous

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   May 9th 2006 !⃝

   I think this song is about loneliness, and our need to define ourselves by other people; the woman sees her reflection in the mountains and triggers the landslide; all of the pent up self loathing, and loathing towards that person that she lives for are all released; and she realizes that she hasn't changed, and has been harbouring resentment towards herself and that person for her total dependency on that person for happiness. The woman has been frozen and has never made any real growth or self discovery herself; there in lies the dangers of escapism; you should serve others, but never forget yourself throughout this act. Great song (never heard the Fleetwood Mac version sadly, I heard the Smashing Pumpkins cover, and sadly the Dixie Chicks cover.....DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!)

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Apr 22nd 2006 !⃝

   It's about an older woman who's been married for a long time. She suddenly one day realizes realizes she is getting old, and still isn't happy after she sees her reflection and decides to leave her husband.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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