Landslide

I browsed my digital collection today and came across today’s selection, a classic Fleetwood Mac song written by Stevie Nicks.

In an excerpt from an Oprah Winfrey interview posted to YouTube in 2013, Nicks tells how she wrote the song in 1974 about the challenges in her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham. Their band’s career was not going well, and a lack of money put a strain on the personal connection. Not long after this, they both joined Fleetwood Mac, and prosperity arrived almost overnight. In other, unofficial accounts, it’s believed that Nicks wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado, saying she realized that all the snow on the mountain could come falling down on them, and there would be nothing they would be able to do about it.

Whether true or not, that latter description is meaningful for me today as I prepare to receive my first injection of the COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow. The more transmissible variants of concern are the majority of all new infections, yet governments keep pushing to open up more activity, which medical experts vehemently warn is a disastrous plan. At the same time, here in Canada and specifically Manitoba, a small percentage of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine (19% and 25% respectively). On top of that, there has been no commitment to vaccinating frontline workers like food and essential goods production and distribution workers, school staff, public transit drivers, and others facing danger every day while enabling the rest of us to live our lives. It’s a scary time, perhaps the most frightening yet in the pandemic.

The swift development of vaccines is miraculous; I just wish others without the choice to stay home most of the time could obtain theirs sooner.

That said, I feel like tomorrow is, for me, the culmination of over a year of my sweety and me isolating ourselves from almost everyone in our lives. It gives me hope that we all might be able to gather with loved ones in the coming months once the vaccination program ramps up in earnest (our province has a capacity of 20,000 doses per day, but supply and other issues have kept it below 6,000 for the most part). Hopefully, the pace will increase and stay ahead of new infections so that we don’t end up in a terrible state of health-care system overload and collapse — a landslide we don’t want.

I took my love, I took it down
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
And 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 sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘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 changing
‘Cause I’ve 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

Oh, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it 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

(“Landslide,” by Stevie Nicks. Unofficial lyrics courtesy of AZLyrics.com.)

“Landslide” appears on the 1975 record Fleetwood Mac. Several artists have covered the song, including The Smashing Pumpkins, Tori Amos, and The Chicks.

For other songs by Fleetwood Mac, please see my posts on “Go Your Own Way,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “Second Hand News,” all three of which are from their 1977 album Rumours.

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy.

Here’s the official music video for the song from Fleetwood Mac’s YouTube channel, a live performance of Stevie Nicks singing, accompanied by Lindsey Buckingham on the acoustic guitar: