After my first relationship, I turned to music as a healing effort and found an even deeper love and appreciation for the legendary Fleetwood Mac. The following three songs I feel explain the three major stages of tough break-ups: heartbreak, anger, and yes, really, moving on.
1. “Landslide” – the heartbreak
One of the most popular songs of Fleetwood Mac, and of all time, this song is THE go-to heartbreak song. Unlike in “Gypsy” where Nicks reflects on good times in her life to which she seemingly longs to go back, in “Landslide” she holds a tone of regret and internal conflict.
It’s a song I overplayed after my first break-up, as I felt a deep connection to the lyrics. Initially, a break-up can make you feel like you’ve lost every important aspect of yourself, but it’s important to remember that you’ve been, and always will be, your own person regardless of your relationship status. Even if you built your life around another person, you can learn to find yourself as an independent individual.
“Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older, too”
Stevie Nicks grew older and got bolder, and so can you.
2. “Dreams” – the anger
After weeks of playing “Landslide” and crying, this song will surely get a girl off the couch and ready to go back out into the world as a newer, bolder, more kick-ass woman!
This song reflects Nicks’ anger as well as the reconstruction of her own life after a long relationship. In fact, all the band members were in the midst of breaking up or divorcing from their partners! “Dreams” is a great track for getting out that frustration you’re probably experiencing from the sheer fact that your partner would think he/she could EVER find someone as amazing as you. Nicks, in fact, empathizes that with her ex-boyfriend in the lyrics:
“Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering of what you had
And what you lost…”
3. “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac – the moving on
This song has always been a favorite Fleetwood Mac song of mine. Not only is the tune uplifting, but it carries a sense of nostalgia with it. In this song, Stevie Nicks reflects on her fame and how her freedom was somewhat lost in becoming a star. She reminisces her “gypsy” lifestyle, her love for San Francisco, and the death of her best friend who died from leukemia. I love the feeling of warmth I feel from this song because it helped me find the perspective that the past is still carried with a person in her life no matter where she goes or who she becomes. This healing song is pure beauty, especially my favorite lines:
“To the gypsy that remains
Faces freedom with a little fear
I have no fear, I have only love”
You can and you will go on.