On September 24th of 2024 Stevie Nicks released The Lighthouse. Nicks wrote the song to encourage women to stand up for abortion rights. It did not get a lot of fanfare despite the full court press of publicity for this important song. On October 12th of 2024 she would perform live on Saturday Night Live. The world heard her and the performance has become a viral sensation. It’s powerful, it’s moving, it’s important, and hopefully not too late for people to pay attention.
The Lighthouse and Get it Back
The Lighthouse is based on a lyric from her 2022 release Get it Back. It was a poem she released on social media.
Her introduction on social media to Get it Back was a profound and vulnerable statement. It read:
“Dear Friends, Fans and Women of America; from 18 to 100 years old…
I am sending you out a formal poem that I wrote not very long ago and the next day made it into a song. Recording a song out here on the road is not an easy task – so while I’m doing that, I decided that you should have the words. At 74 years old, I can honestly say that I am worried about every one of you. Worried about health care, and just in general, worried about your God given rights. You must gather together now. You must register to vote as soon as you can… and you must vote!
The disintegration of Roe v. Wade will change your life in an unfathomable way. You will not have control of what your beautiful dreams want for you.
Your lives will be in the hands of governmental officials who do not know you and cannot possibly know what your future should be. You are the masters of your own ship.
I watched what happened to women from 1966 (I was 18) to 1973 when I was 25 and 2 years away from joining Fleetwood Mac. Believe me when I tell you, you don’t want that world to come back.
The Poem’s Words!
“Don’t close your eyes and hope for the best /
The dark is out there /
The light is going fast /
And all the rights you had yesterday /
Are taken away/
It’s slipping through your fingers /
You don’t know what you had /
You don’t have much time /
Get it back.
From this poem, 2024’s Lighthouse was born.
Why Does Stevie Nicks Matter? The White Witch Women Needed
In the 70’s the idea of witches were becoming intriguing. The Eagles gave us a song called Witchy Woman in the early 70’s. But what did we get to know about her? We got to hear about how she dressed, how she looked, and speculations about her love and sex life. She was a figure to be objectified and mystified and fetishized.
In 1976, Nicks gave us her words and her story from her perspective. It started with the song Rhiannon.
Nicks would take to the stage in her spiritual regalia. Long black velvet dresses with floating sleeves and shawls. She embodied early depictions of Rhiannon. On stage she twirled and flowed embracing her spiritual femineity and become a bird in flight as she sang the lyrics. She told us the tale of a Welsh witch she discovered in 1973’s Triad: A Novel of the Spiritual by Mary Leader. Stevie Nicks did not just sing about and dress like Rhiannon, she fused her essence with this powerful and mysterious woman and emulated her not just during the one song, but the whole show.
Why did this matter?
In the 1977 Rumors Tour Mick Fleetwood said in a radio interview there were “hundreds- no, thousands- of girls dressed exactly like Stevie in black outfits, many sporting top hats.”
What did these women do? They enacted Stevie’s rituals. They were her ‘coven’ and many of them started a road to discovery that went deeper than crystals and tarot cards. In the time of the ever hyper alpha male industry that is rock and roll, a ‘coven’ of women found their identity in not pleasing the eye or rock gods, but becoming their own goddesses. Many were inspired to get in touch with their feminine power, feminism, and spirituality that did not need a religion run by the patriarchy.
Powerhouse and force of nature Taylor Swift has not only been heavily influenced by her, but they have a long running friendship. But it does not end there. Miley Cyrus, The Chicks, Florence + the Machine, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Lady Lamb, Sarah McLachlan, Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, and Shania Twain are just a few voices that have been influenced by her to be themselves and not depend on men.
Nicks’ style, confidence, and free energy made her a symbol for women’s rights.
The Time Machine of the Lighthouse
Women like Cyndi Lauper and Stevie Nicks are not just lighthouses, they are the time machines. They grew up in a time where women had no choices. According to an article in Ms Magazine in 2013 there were many things women could not do when the 1970s began. This included keeping a job if they were pregnant, report sexual harassment, refuse to have sex with their husband, get a credit card, and have an abortion.
When this article publishes there will only be 18 days until election day. I know a lot of people who are not going to vote. And that is their choice. But that choice could lead to 162 million women losing their choices. Their rights are slipping away. The first, second, and third wave fought hard and even lost lives for those rights. The 4th wave deserves more than ashes and rubble to fight for.
They already lost Roe, but there is a lot more to lose.
The Lighthouse tells women to “try to see the future and get mad
It’s slippin’ through your fingers, you don’t have what you had
You don’t have much time
You gotta get in the game
You gotta learn how to play
You gotta make a change
You gotta do it today
The Day Powerful Women Saved Me
I stand with women and it is not a meme. I’ve been on the front lines after Dobbs. I vote, write letters, articles, protest, raised thousands of dollars, took a rock to the head walking a woman into a clinic, and spoken publicly in Chicago standing with women many times.
One time a bunch of woman inspired by the likes of Stevie Nicks rose to give my ass cover.
Me and some friends were meeting in Daley Plaza, Chicago. We were about to do a peaceful counter protest at a pro abortion rally in Federal Plaza a few blocks away. We were not going to encroach on Federal Plaza and their rally, but we were going to do a lap around them.
What I did not know is that we were not going to be safe. But someone did know and they showed up. As we were about to head out dozens of motorcycles circled Daley Plaza. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of this still now knowing why they were here or who they were. Members of two all women motorcycle groups rode in, pulled up, showed up, and gave us cover and safety. In a day where Christian Nationalists, Churches, Proud Boys, and the CPD were all on one side, the only thing protecting us was our two wheeled escorts.
For them, for my mom, for Cassie, Sarah, Jenny, Catalina, Norah, Heather, and my child I will vote and I will do the other things as well. But it will be a hell of a lot easier to do the other things if we have an executive branch that will not deliberately take what is left.
Stand with them. Show up. To the men I say this. If you have a penis and don’t stand with women and help them get back what they lost, you’re just a useless dick.
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