“Landslide”

I took my love, I took it down
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 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,
Children get older,
I’m getting older too.

Oh, take my love, take it down.
Climb a mountain and turn around.
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills,
Well the landslide will bring it down.

If you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills,
Well maybe the landslide will bring it down.

The lyrics of this song tell of someone reflecting on their life thus far, and deciding how to proceed in the future. The narrator is looking back on how they have lived, and at the same time wondering about how to continue in their life. Because of this, I think that the narrator is at a crossroads in their life. The reflective and thoughtful nature of the song is clearest in the lines “Climbed a mountain and I turned around/ I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills” The narrator has obviously accomplished something big in their life, and is looking back on it and processing it. Then, the line “Till the landslide brought me down” shows the narrator moving on in their life, away from their past. I also think the lines “Can the child within my heart rise above? / Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? / Can I handle the seasons of my life?” show the narrator pondering how to continue in life. The future clearly holds questions that the narrator has been searching for answers to, but the questions can’t be answered easily and simply.
This song brings back a lot of memories for me, because it is a song that is sung at my summer camp. All the girls in the oldest section of camp who will not come back to camp again sing “Landslide” together for the rest of the camp at the end of the summer, I think it is a very appropriate time to sing “Landslide.” This is because most of us have come to camp together for four or five years, and have met friends at camp who we see every summer. After out last year at camp, we often don’t know when we will see each other again, and whether we will ever come back to camp again. This may sound melodramatic, but camp and friends from camp are really special, because of their unique place in one’s childhood and quest for independence. So when we sing this song, we are reflecting on everything we’ve done together at camp. At the same time, we are wondering whether we will come back to camp for a longer trip and how we will bring camp and the things we have learned there into our lives back at home.
This idea of looking to the past and the future in one’s life also connects to our topic of journeys and the books The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Siddhartha in English class. In all three of these books and in the song “Landslide,” the main character is on a journey of some sort, and takes time to contemplate their life and their future.

Fleetwood Mac. “Landslide.” Fleetwood Mac. Rhino/ Wea, 1975.

*I wanted to underling the second "Fleetwood Mac" (the name of the album of the song), but blogger wouldn't let me.