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
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...
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Of course, we can go to Stevie Nicks herself to find out exactly what the "landslide" refers to. From Wikipedia:
Nicks has said that she wrote this song while she was contemplating going back to school or continuing on with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Buckingham and Nicks had been dropped by Polydor Records and she and Buckingham were not getting along. She wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado sitting in someone's living room "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." -
Right now, I am going into a new stage into my life and going to junior high. I've listened to this song before and liked it very much, but when I heard it today I nearly started to cry. The song has several meanings but currently to me it talks about change. You are confused and everything just appears to be different and falling apart that you are questioning everything. We are all getting older and people are losing friends they've had since pre-school for people that are now more compatible. We are all just afraid of changing and want to look in the mirror and see ourselves as kids again. While this is what it means to me, I know other people have different interpretations, however they all revolve around change.
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i think this song is about change the changes we all face both personally and naturally , also about being afraid of the change that one goes through throughout life, when you get to the end of your life look back on it and be proud of the changes you accepted but acknowledge all the difficulties you were faced with getting there. and accept that its ok to be afraid of change
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i think this song is about change the changes we all face both personally and naturally , also about being afraid of the change that one goes through throughout life, when you get to the end of your life look back on it and be proud of the changes you accepted but acknowledge all the difficulties you were faced with getting there. and accept that its ok to be afraid of change
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i think this song is about a girl who is leaving teenage years and entering adult hood. i think she was with a man for a very long time, probably as a teen, and has grown older and they have grown apart. they are different people now and can't be together in eachothers futures. she has gone out on her own and is struggling to manage life on her own after she has "built her life around" this man she was with. its all about seperation, and trying to become her own person instead of one who relies on him, as she has been. she is afraid of the change, and doubting herself on whether she can make it alone. when she talks about the child in her heart rising above, i think she is referencing the dreams and fantasies children have, children have a unique way of believing anything is possible and they can do anything they want with their life. they are not yet so worn down and disapointed by trials and tribulations of life yet.
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For me, It's about my sister who passed away. It struck me the most specially the lines "can I sail through the changing ocean tides" and "can i handle the seasons all my life". Cause we argue most of the time and I somewhat hated her but I didn't know that I can't go on with life without having her around. I didn't realize how she was so important to me until she passed away. And somehow I just can't leave that memory but this song is also about growing up and moving on. It's hard but I try to cope up. This song never fails to make me cry
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For me it is about a self awareness that the path she has been taking is no longer what she needs in life. Though she doesnt blame any one."I took my love and I took it down. There is deeper yearning for change. This yearning became evident when a landslide or an event happened. Children going off to college... an affair,death whatever. Shes looking to move on....she is actually speaking directly to the one she is leaving.
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I think the first verse means that she's tried everything: "took it down" and "climbed a mountain" to find a solution to love, but instead found new interpretations to things she was certain were true, for instance herself, because she keeps changing through the course of her journey ("the landslide brought me down").
I think in the next verse she's asking God what love is, and asking whether she can summon back her innocence and ability to trust so that she can trust this person to love her back ("can the child within my heart rise above?") In my opinion this is what she's referring to when she says "children get older and I'm getting older too."
Then she tells the one she loves to try the same things she experienced, like "take my love and take it down," so that they can understand her better, and maybe their perception of her will totally change: "the landslide will bring me down." This could also be interpreted as a vow to give in to the love she has for this person and to trust if they go to such lengths to understand her. -
Are you seriously saying anyone who has never been married cannot experience love? You are a moron.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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what's great about this song, and all other songs like it, is that it's theme is transcendent and ever-changing. to label the song with just one meaning is grossly inaccurate. stevie obviously crafted the lyrics to apply to many situations.
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i think songs have different meanings for different people, but for me i first heard this song, i mean truly heard it after locking myself in a bathroom after getting in a fight with my dad. I cried so hard i thought it had a lot to do with my relationship with him. Can the child within my heart rise above Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life Well, Ive been afraid of changing cause Ive built my life around you But time makes you bolder Children get older Im getting older too. im so much like my dad and i know he trys to live part of his life through me. but i wanna find myself, but im afraid of hurting him. i lack confidence not knowing if doing what i want on my own is what is right for me. and to me this is what the song is about, but like i said million other interpretations for a million other people, everyone is different. -
I've been with my husband for 22 years. My daughter just left for college and this song is really resonating with me. I really think it's about evaluating your life "mirror in the sky what is love?" and separating out what you need past your partner and kids needs "can the child within my heart rise above" and realizing that there are choices to make as your life is changing "can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?" The final part is very clear: "I've been afraid of changing because I built my life around you. But time makes you bolder even children get older and I'm getting older, too". This song used to make me think about my mother, but now, sadly, it's about me.
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Wow...this is my very favorite song...it feels good to be able to post my personal (and humble!) interpretation. I agree wholeheartedly with the above post; it symbolizes one's realization that "time makes you bolder; children get older". It's finally time to look in the mirror and decide who you are, and where you want to be at this stage of your life. It's about finding the courage to make changes, and leave behind a love that may not be giving you what you need. Every time I hear this song, I get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye...initially because I knew I needed to stop being complacent and move on with my life, and later with joy in my heart at having found the courage to do so.
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To me, it's about my parents getting divorced.
after falling pregnant with me, they got married. They had two more children (my brothers). There were plenty of rough times, but plenty of good times too.
36 years later, after climbing the mountain that is her life, our lives, mum turned around to see her reflection she didn't like what she saw. afraid of what was ahead. She wants her own life. She has built her life around dad and us. we are older now, grown up with our own families. In mums words she has to have a life before she dies. She has spent many years afraid of this change, afraid to ask for divorce. can she make it without him? can she survive the remaining seasons of her life without him? she has to find out or she will die with regret.
the divorce is the landslide, as the future that they had planned, that we all thought they would have, is coming crashing down. She took the love she had for him and took it down.
ive heard this song many times before, but it has never had the meaning it does for me tonight. It never made me cry like it does now.
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