Three Little Words. . .


In recent years I have become more aware of (and a fan of) the old Fleetwood Mac song “Landslide,” which Stevie Nicks wrote while at a crossroads in her career and her personal life. There are actually two “hit” recordings of the song by FM, the original studio version from 1975, and a live version done 22 years later - not to mention the cover version recorded by the Dixie Chicks, the one by The Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Of these performances, though, my favorite by far is Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 live version, which differs from the original by three little words.

Here’s the difference. In the original recording, the lyric runs:

“. . . 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?”

But, in the later version, Stevie Nicks added “I don’t know.” Three words that transform the meaning of the song. Three words packed with decades of experience and an understanding of just how fragile our circumstances, our plans, hopes, our dreams can be. Three words suffused with a richness that a more mature Stevie Nicks brings to the words she penned when she was young.