‘After the Glitter Fades’: The song Stevie Nicks wrote for Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton likely knows more about Hollywood than Stevie Nicks does. However, it’s hard to overlook the Fleetwood Mac star’s hardships and the parallels between her experiences and the glittering film industry. Hollywood, like the music world, can be as brutal as it is rewarding — and someone like Nicks understands all too well the challenges of trying to succeed in such an unforgiving environment.
Before enjoying Fleetwood Mac’s big break, Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham spent endless nights reckoning with the harsh reality that all wasn’t as easy as it once seemed. During these times, Buckingham was hard at work while Nicks stayed at home, writing and spinning in a web of what-ifs. During this time, she also wrote some of her best songs, including ‘Landslide’ and ‘Rhiannon’.
These two tracks would later become two of the band’s most career-defining hits. The former is an unrivalled demonstration of Nicks’ prowess as a storyteller and songwriter, and the latter proves the extent to which she committed herself to otherworldly literary sources. Moreover, ‘Rhiannon’ showcased a singer who would appeal to various generations, the mysticism she weaved in capturing imaginations with an allure that transcended time.
Around the same time, she also wrote ‘After the Glitter Fades’, an exposing track about the isolation of achieving the Hollywood dream and the disillusionment that comes with realising it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. “Well, I never thought I’d make it here in Hollywood,” Nicks ethereally sings following a dreamlike piano intro that speaks to both disenchantment and lost hope. As she laments this being the only “life I’ve ever known,” she claims the love that is “only one fine star away” ensures it’s never all bad.
Initially, Nicks imagined the song being sung by Dolly Parton, and when you listen to the track, it’s easy to envision the country legend’s voice in place of Nicks’. The melody is straightforward, reminiscent of Parton’s more stripped-back songs like ‘Coat of Many Colors’, with a simple structure that sets the scene before the chorus drives the message home. Its messaging is also something you might expect Parton to identify with as Nicks explores the vulnerability of having a platform.
Between witnessing the metaphorical glitter of her life fading through different setbacks and toxic relationships, Parton seemed the perfect vocalist for the job. To her surprise, however, she didn’t seem that interested in taking it on. “I wanted [Parton] to do ‘After the Glitter Fades’ ’cause I really thought it would be perfect for her,” Nicks explained. “And it got sent to her, and I don’t think Dolly ever really got it. I think if she’d ever got the song, she would have wanted to do it.”
Perhaps it was too on the nose for the country wordsmith, but in a way, its simplicity makes it more effective. Some of Nicks’s better compositions are the ones that utilise poeticism lightly, and this is a song that delivers a natural balance between raw emotion and universal feeling. “We all chase something and maybe this is a dream,” Nicks sings, “The timeless face of a rock and roll woman while her heart breaks, you know the dream keeps coming even when you forget to feel.”
