BEg2 Landslide & 9:30 Club

[Allen Ruch]

"Landslide" is one of the all-time great break-up/divorce songs. Unlike Michael, I don't believe it's about leaving a "cad." Indeed, for me its power draws from the realization that sometimes people split up because they both change, they both grow apart from each other. I have always read the mountain as being a metaphor for the marriage/relationship, and the singer as the one who triggers the landslide. 

In fact, back in 1998 this song had a lot of meaning for me, and like Maxine I listened to it again and again. That line makes me really empathize and identify with Maxine, and I think it touches upon her relationship with Horst quite beautifully; why there's so little rancor there. 

[By the way, I'm not suggesting Michael is wrong about the song: the beauty of good music is everyone has their own version!]

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
'Til 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 changin' ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
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
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
Oh! I'm getting older too
Oh-oh, take my love, take it down
Oh-oh, climb a mountain and you turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down
Oh-ohh, the landslide bring it down

Also, as to why Windust would wear 9:30 Club cologne, I have wondered about that, too. But I don't think he's square—he's way too weird and kinky for that. I wonder if it stems from the understanding that a lot of Republican types of the post-War and modern time were actually fans of punk rock? You see a surprising number of right-wing men into punk and hardcore.  

—Quail


On 2/18/22, 3:12 AM, "Pynchon-l on behalf of Michael Bailey" <pynchon-l-bounces at waste.org on behalf of michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:

    "In the wake of her separation...from...Horst..., after too many hours
    indoors with the blinds drawn listening on endless repeat to Stevie Nicks
    singing "Landslide" on a compilation tape she ignored the rest of..."

    Wikipedia credits Stevie Nicks with 5 compilations,but of the 3 released
    before the time frame of BE, none of them includes "Landslide"

    Therefore, we turn to Fleetwood Mac - 18 studio albums, 9 live albums, and
    a mindbending *23* compilation albums!

    of course there's an even more mindbending selection of media from Discogs,
    & keeping in mind it's a tape, cassette (most likely not 8-track!)

    https://www.discogs.com/release/10421836-Fleetwood-Mac-25-Years-The-Chain

    1992 - 4 cassettes, "Landslide" on side E

    There's something haunting in some Stevie Nicks lyrics, eg in "Landslide" -
    presumably the cad who deserted her is climbing a mountain, and she wants
    him to turn around and look down at the snow-covered hills, where he will
    see her reflection. Seismic activity, however, will bring it down, possibly
    even right while he's looking at it. There's cold, disruption, passage of
    time, unrelieved lamenting. An attempt at resignation but there's that
    landslide she's dreading? seeing? foreseeing? invoking?

    Now there are 71 other songs on the compilation & she ignored them all.
    -----the one i would put on heavy rotation is "Station Man", but that isn't
    Stevie Nicks & not breakup music...

    or "Hypnotized" -  again, not apropos

    So going on the cruise where she met Reg is a good move, if only to hear
    some variety in music
    --
    Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l