Stevie Nicks was broke. Seriously, flat broke. It was 1973, and she was living in Aspen, Colorado, staring at the literal mountains and wondering if her life was about to fall apart. She wasn't a rock goddess yet. She was a waitress and a cleaning lady who happened to have a demo tape with her boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham, that nobody seemed to care about. When people look up the words to the song Landslide by Stevie Nicks, they usually expect a poem about aging, but the reality is way more desperate than that.
It’s about a crossroads.
The song wasn't written in a studio with high-end gear. It was written in a living room while Lindsey was practicing with Don Everly. Stevie sat there, looked at the snow-covered peaks, and felt the crushing weight of time. She was twenty-five. To a twenty-five-year-old who hasn't "made it" yet, that feels like ancient history. You’re looking at your life and wondering if you should just go back to school or keep chasing a dream that’s currently paying you in pocket change and exhaustion.
The literal meaning behind the mountain
Most people think "Landslide" is about a parent or a child. It isn't. Not originally, anyway. The "mountain" she’s talking about is the overwhelming challenge of her career and her relationship. Stevie has mentioned in numerous interviews, including a famous 2013 sit-down with Oprah’s Master Class, that the song was a conscious decision to keep going. She was asking herself: Can I handle the seasons of my life?
The words are incredibly simple. That’s the magic.
"I took my love, I took it down." She’s talking about her ego. She’s talking about stripping away the pretension. When she sings about climbing a mountain and turning around, she’s reflecting on the Buckingham Nicks album failing. It dropped, it flopped, and suddenly the "landslide" wasn't just a metaphor; it was the fear of her entire world burying her.
Funny enough, the song didn't even become a massive hit until years after it was released on the 1975 self-titled Fleetwood Mac album. It’s a "sleeper" hit that eventually became the emotional backbone of her entire career.
Why the lyrics feel different as you get older
There is a specific phenomenon with this track. You hear it at sixteen and you think it’s pretty. You hear it at forty and you’re sobbing in your car. Why? Because the words to the song Landslide by Stevie Nicks act like a mirror.
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"Well, I've been afraid of changing / 'Cause I've built my life around you."
Initially, she was talking about Lindsey. He was her musical anchor, but also a source of immense friction. But as listeners, we project. We think about a career we stayed in too long. We think about a house we're leaving. We think about our kids growing up.
Nicks has a way of using vague, elemental language—snow, hills, reflections, mirrors—that allows the listener to inhabit the song. It’s not a narrative story like a Taylor Swift song where you know exactly who did what at a 2:00 AM party. It’s an atmospheric pressure change.
The "Children Get Older" line
"Children get older, and I'm getting older too."
This is the gut punch. Stevie didn't have children at the time. She was the child. She was looking at her father, Jess Nicks, who had told her maybe she should think about a different path if the music thing didn't work out in six months. She was looking at the inevitable passage of time that happens whether you’re successful or not.
I think about the 1997 The Dance version a lot. If you watch the video, Stevie is singing it to Lindsey, and he’s playing the guitar right next to her. The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. By then, the lyrics had gained twenty years of scar tissue. They weren't singing about what might happen; they were singing about what did happen. The landslide had already come and gone. They survived it, but they were different people.
The technical simplicity of the composition
The song is in C Major. It’s basic. The fingerpicking pattern Lindsey Buckingham used is a classic Travis picking style, but he plays it with a fluidity that makes it feel like water. There are no drums. No bass. No triple-tracked harmonies.
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Just a girl and a guitar.
This simplicity is why the words to the song Landslide by Stevie Nicks stand out so much. In most Fleetwood Mac songs, you have the "Wall of Sound" approach—Mick Fleetwood’s heavy drumming and John McVie’s melodic bass lines. Here, there is nowhere to hide. If the lyrics were cheesy, the song would fail. But because they are stripped back to these core human fears (fear of change, fear of failure, the passage of time), it stays timeless.
It’s actually quite short. It’s under three and a half minutes. Yet, it feels like a lifetime.
Misconceptions about the "Landslide"
One of the biggest myths is that the song was written after she joined Fleetwood Mac. Nope. As I mentioned, it was the "pre-Mac" era. In fact, if "Landslide" hadn't been written, Stevie might never have had the confidence to stick with Lindsey when Mick Fleetwood called. She needed to prove to herself that she could write something substantial.
Another weird misconception? That it’s a depressing song.
I actually think it’s hopeful.
"Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? / Can the child within my heart rise above?"
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She’s asking for permission to grow. She’s giving herself the green light to change. To me, that’s the opposite of depressing. It’s an evolution. It’s saying, "Yeah, I’m scared, but I’m going to see what happens when the snow melts."
What you can learn from Stevie’s songwriting process
If you're a writer or a creative, there’s a massive lesson in how these lyrics came to be. Stevie didn't wait for a "perfect" moment. She was in a dark place, literally and metaphorically, and she used her environment to dictate her art.
- Use your surroundings. If you’re in the mountains, write about the mountains.
- Don't fear the simple words. "Landslide" doesn't use big, fancy vocabulary. It uses words like "ocean," "sky," and "heart."
- Be vulnerable about the "un-cool" stuff. Being afraid of getting older when you’re only twenty-five feels silly to some, but it was her truth.
Honestly, the song is a masterclass in staying out of your own way. She didn't overthink it. She just let the feeling of the Colorado air and the uncertainty of her bank account flow into the notebook.
The legacy of the covers
We can't talk about these lyrics without mentioning the Smashing Pumpkins or The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks). Billy Corgan’s version brought the song to a Gen X audience that might have dismissed Fleetwood Mac as "mom music." The Chicks' version made it a country staple.
What’s fascinating is that the lyrics don't change meaning when a man sings them, or when a country trio sings them. The "landslide" is universal. Whether you’re a rock star in the 70s or a kid in his bedroom in the 90s, you’re still looking in that "mirror in the sky" wondering if you’re doing it right.
Final thoughts on the words to the song Landslide by Stevie Nicks
The enduring power of this track isn't just the melody. It’s the fact that Stevie Nicks was brave enough to admit she didn't have it all figured out. She was "climbing a mountain" but she was also "turning around." She was indecisive. She was human.
If you’re struggling with a big change right now, go back and listen to the demo version or the Live at Warner Brothers take. Listen to the way her voice cracks slightly on the word "older." It’s a reminder that change isn't something to be avoided—it’s the only thing that’s actually guaranteed.
To truly appreciate the depth of the song, try this: Sit quietly with the lyrics and don't think about Stevie Nicks. Think about your own "mountain." Think about what you’ve built your life around and whether it’s time to let the landslide happen so you can build something new.
Next Steps for Music Lovers:
- Compare the versions: Listen to the 1975 studio version and then the 1997 The Dance version back-to-back. The shift in her vocal delivery tells the story of her life better than any biography ever could.
- Check the "Buckingham Nicks" album: If you can find it (it’s notoriously hard to stream legally), listen to the music they were making right before "Landslide" was born to see the artistic desperation that fueled the track.
- Journal your own "Landslide": Write down the one thing you are currently afraid of changing. Seeing it on paper, much like Stevie did in Aspen, can take away some of its power over you.