Joe Walsh, the one person Stevie Nicks would have changed her life for
On the highway of opulent 1970s rock, Stevie Nicks carved out her own mystical lane. Operating at the same breakneck speed as her substance-loving counterparts but gliding through the air like a rock-loving fairy, Nicks proved a hard artist to pin down. She was emotionally connected and societally detached in equal measures, an all-out rocker one minute while a tender ballad writer the next. She had it all.
But if you listen closely to any of her lyrics, particularly those on the 1979 Fleetwood Mac track ‘Sara’, you would plainly understand her vulnerability. She was an artist whose stardom made her a prize in the eyes of so many men, while the complexity that fed her genius artistry would swiftly be considered too difficult to accept in the real world.
Ultimately, there’s a tragic essence in the experiences that feed the songs we all now love, and it’s hard not to perceive Nicks as one of music’s truly broken souls. This is why, as fans, we join her mythological leanings, for it gives us an avenue to support Nick and understand her artistic complexity.
But irreverent as the scene may be, within the circles of 1970s rock, there weren’t many artists who shared the same interests, particularly when it came to her romantic options. Famously, her partner Lindsey Buckingham poured all of the private details of their relationship into Fleetwood Mac’s opus Rumours, while the brief romantic solace she sought from the band’s drumming leader, Mick Fleetwood, was swiftly betrayed and poured into her epic song ‘Sara’.
Aside from her two bandmates, Nicks formed a relationship with another rock legend that she acknowledged was like the clashing of two tornadoes. The man many call her “great, great love” was Joe Walsh of the Eagles, a legendary guitarist who, like Nicks, was committed to the hedonistic side of the industry.
But that was ultimately the thorn in their side, as Nicks admitted, “We were probably the perfect, complete, crazy pair. He was the one that I would have married, and that I would probably have changed my life around for”.
She paused before continuing, “A little bit. Not a lot. But he wouldn’t have changed his life either”.
The pair’s relationship inspired a Nicks track, which plainly speaks to the tragedy of both their relationship and respective lives. During a road trip through the Rocky Mountains, Walsh shared with Nicks his story about the loss of his young daughter, who had tragically died in a car accident a decade earlier. Soon after, Walsh took Nicks to a drinking fountain that he had installed in tribute to his daughter with a plaque that read “For All Those Who Aren’t Big Enough to Get a Drink.”
The phrase inspired Nicks’ track, which she dedicated to the Eagles guitarist. She reportedly wrote it in just five minutes, driven by the emotional weight of their story. While their relationship eventually ended, Walsh’s impact on Nicks was lasting, and the song that came from it endures.
In the liner notes for the song, Nicks plainly outlines the infinite nature of their bond, writing, “I guess in a very few rare cases, some people find someone that they fall in love with the very first time they see them, from across the room, from a million miles away”.
She added: “Some people call it love at first sight, and of course, I never believed in that until that night I walked into a party after a gig at the hotel, and from across the room, without my glasses, I saw this man and I walked straight to him. He held out his hands to me, and I walked straight into them. I remember thinking, I can never be far from this person again… he is my soul.”
