Landslide Cool Water Silver Springs Fleetwood Mac

Landslide Album: Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Cool Water Single: B-Side of Gypsy (1982)
Silver Springs Album: The Chain (1977)
by Fleetwood Mac

Landslide is about a father-daughter relationship. Stevie Nicks wrote it on the guitar in about five minutes in Aspen, Colorado. She was surrounded by mountains and thinking, "Wow, all this snow could just come tumbling down around me and there is nothing I can do about it." When she feels like this she just goes to a room and writes her thoughts down so she can read it and ponder what she has written.

Nicks said of Landslide: "My dad did have something to do with it, but he absolutely thinks that he was the whole complete reason it was ever written. I guess it was about September 1974, I was home at my dad and Mom's house in Phoenix, and my father said, 'You know, you really put a lot of time into this [her singing career], maybe you should give this six more months, and if you want to go back to school, we'll pay for it. Basically you can do whatever you want and we'll pay for it - I have wonderful parents, and I went, 'cool, I can do that.' Lindsey and I went up to Aspen, and we went to somebody's incredible house, and they had a piano, and I had my guitar with me, and I went into their living room, looking out over the incredible Aspen skyway, and I wrote 'Landslide.' Three months later, Mick Fleetwood called. On New Year's Eve, 1974, called and asked us to join Fleetwood Mac. So it was three months, I still had three more months to go to beat my six month goal that my dad gave me."

Nicks wrote Landslide the night before her dad, who was the president of Greyhound Bus Lines, was operated on at the Mayo Clinic.

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were recording as a duo using the name Buckingham-Nicks before they were asked to join Fleetwood Mac. They had already released an album and were planning to include "Landslide" on their next one. When Stevie wrote "Landslide" and "Rhiannon," Lindsey was on the road with the Everly Brothers backing them up on guitar.

Reflecting on Landslide in 2014, Nicks told the New York Times: "I wrote 'Landslide' in 1973, when I was 27, and I did already feel old in a lot of ways. I'd been working as a waitress and a cleaning lady for years. I was tired."

When Fleetwood Mac regrouped for The Dance tour in 1997, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham performed the song alone on stage, often getting teary-eyed toward the end. These emotional performances were repeated on subsequent tours, as fans were always eager to see the ex-lovers share a poignant moment, which could range in intensity to anodyne hand-holding to passionate soul-gazing. Nicks insists those are real emotions on display. She told Rolling Stone: "You can go onstage and have a bit of a love affair, and when you go back to your separate dressing rooms, it's over. But while you're on the stage, it's real."

Landslide has changed meaning as the band has aged, but it remained a part of their setlist throughout their career. "When Stevie wrote that, she was probably 25 or 24," Lindey Buckingham told Rolling Stone in 2013. "She wasn't exactly 'getting older.' Now, that line certainly resonates with a far deeper perspective."

Landslide is one of Fleetwood Mac's most enduring songs, but it was merely an album cut, as Fleetwood Mac's label, Reprise, didn't issue it as a single (the first UK single from the album was "Warm Ways"; the first in America was "Over My Head"). The song garnered consistent airplay across a range of formats, however, and became a staple of their setlists.

In 1998, a live version from the album The Dance was issued in America, marking the first time Fleetwood Mac released Landslide as a single. This version made #51.

The band wasn't too concerned about singles, but drummer and founding member Mick Fleetwood wanted to make sure the album was promoted properly, so he went to the head of the label and insisted they either give it a big push or let another record company have it. Reprise put their promotional might behind it, and it paid off: The album went to #1 in America and sold over 7 million copies there.

Landslide picked up steam in the '90s with a number of notable cover versions in that decade and stretching into the '00s. These include versions by:

Smashing Pumpkins, who recorded Landslide for their 1994 album Pisces Iscariot and included it in their 2001 Greatest Hits album. This was the first rendition of the song to chart, reaching #30 US.

Tori Amos, who recorded Landslide on January 31, 1996 and included it on her In The Springtime Of Her Voodoo album. She often performed the song at her concerts.

Venice, a Southern California band and a favorite of Stevie Nicks, included Landslide on their 1999 album Spin Art.

Former New Kid On The Block Joey McIntyre, recorded Landslide for his 2002 album One Too Many: Live From New York.

The Dixie Chicks took Landslide in a new direction by adding a mandolin to the mix on their 2002 album Home. They had a huge hit with the song, taking it to #7 US. As a token of appreciation from the Chicks to Nicks, they gave her a bowl decorated with the lyrics to the song.

The Dixie Chicks performed their version at the Grammy awards in 2003. They won three awards that year, including Best Country Album.

The Glee Cast recorded Landslide with Gwyneth Paltrow. The tune featured in the "Sexy" episode of the Fox TV series on March 8, 2011, in which Naya Rivera's character Santana Lopez chose "Landslide" to express her true feelings for Heather Morris' Brittany Pierce. The following week it debuted at #23 on the US chart.

Landslide was used in a very memorable Budweiser commercial that debuted during the Super Bowl in 2013. The spot shows one of their famous Clydesdale's being raised from birth and then leaving home to join the Budweiser team. When his former owner travels to Chicago to see him, the horse breaks away for a reunion. The commercial looked like it was going to take a comic twist, but was actually quite sentimental and somehow worked.

The 2021 novel Landslide by Susan Conley is named for this song. The first sentence is: "It's late afternoon at the end of a long October when the Fleetwood Mac song comes on."

Later on the page, the main character offers this analysis: "The song's about a woman who climbs a mountain at the end of a love affair and sees her reflection in the snow-covered hills and becomes less afraid."

"Cool Water" is a song written in 1936 by Bob Nolan. It is about a parched man and his mule traveling a wasteland tormented by mirages. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as No. 3 on the Top 100 Western songs of all time. It is also the B-side to the Gypsy single.

Stevie Nicks wrote Silver Springs after her breakup with Lindsey Buckingham, the band's guitarist and her long time boyfriend. She wanted to make sure he would never forget about her: "I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you." In 2009, she told Rolling Stone: "It was me realizing that Lindsey was going to haunt me for the rest of my life, and he has."

Nicks got the idea for the title of Silver Springs when she saw a sign for Silver Spring, Maryland while driving with Lindsey. The name was, to her, so beautiful that she wrote it into the song. The place is a suburb of the DC Metro Area and 495 Loop town.

Silver Springs was supposed to appear on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album, but it was cut due to space limitations of vinyl. In 2002, it appeared where it was supposed to on the DVD-A release of Rumours.

Silver Springs was used as the B-side of the singles "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop." It didn't appear on an album until their 1992 The Chain box set. It was also released on their 2002 greatest hits album.

Nicks used to check into hotels on the road under the alias "Miss Silver Spring."

This was bumped off the Rumors album by another song Nicks wrote called "I Don't Want To Know," which the rest of the band liked better and fit better on the album because it was shorter. Stevie was very upset with the decision and considered refusing to sing "I Don't Want To Know" in protest.

Silver Springs was finally included in it's rightful place on the Rumours re-issue, released in 2004. This is a 2-disc set which also includes a longer bonus version of the song.

During Silver Springs's performance on Fleetwood Mac's 1994 DVD The Dance, halfway through the song while singing, Stevie turns towards Lindsay and appears to be singing directly to him. It was as if she was reminding him who the song was about. Once they locked eyes, you could see and feel the emotions they must have felt many years ago when they dated and eventually broke up. A very intense moment.

Stevie Nicks appeared on two episodes of the TV series American Horror Story: Coven, including the finale, where she performed "Seven Wonders" to open the show. Later in the episode, Silver Springs was used to underscore a scene where a witch was sent to burn at the stake.