Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas
Grammy award-winning, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and overall icon Stevie Nicks has shared a new single, “The Lighthouse.” The artist’s latest release arrives as a response piece to the Supreme Court’s 2022 overruling of the constitutional right to abortion, Roe V. Wade, functioning like a battle cry for generations of women, past, present, and future, who face government control over their reproductive rights.
Nicks unveils “The Lighthouse” at a significant time for the American population, preparing to go to the polls on Tuesday, November 5, to vote in the 60th presidential election. With much at stake for US citizens, Nicks lands on a hot topic that continues to plague women as the vocal point of the single. She uses her platform to acknowledge the embattled female experience as she projects the opening lyrics. “I Have My Scars, You Have Yours/ Don’t Let Them Take Your Power.”
Using light as an analogy, Nicks casts a shadow of freight by presenting pertinent lines: “The Dark Is Out There/ The Light Is Going Fast/ Until … The Final Hours/ Your Life’s Forever Changed/ And All The Rights That You Had Yesterday/ Are Taken Away/ And Now You’re Afraid/ You Should Be Afraid/ Should Be Afraid.”
In her own words, Nicks described her experience formulating the song via a press release. Offering, “I wrote this song a few months after Roe V Wade was overturned. It seemed like overnight, people were saying, ‘What can we, as a collective force, do about this…’ For me, it was to write a song.”
“It took a while because I was on the road. Then early one morning I was watching the news on TV and a certain newscaster said something that felt like she was talking to me ~ explaining what the loss of Roe v Wade would come to mean. I wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night,” Nicks explains, touching on the emotive push to deliver a piece with meaning.
In conclusion, the musician said, “That was September 6, 2022. I have been working on it ever since. I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do. To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters ~ and the men that love them. This is an anthem.”
Listen to “The Lighthouse” below. Scroll to read the song lyrics.
“The Lighthouse”
Written by Stevie Nicks, Magnus Birgersson, and Vincent Villuis
I Have My Scars, You Have Yours
Don’t Let Them, Take Your Power
Don’t Leave It Alone In The Final Hours
They’ll Take Your Soul, They’ll Take Your Power
Don’t Close Your Eyes And Hope For The Best
The Dark Is Out There
The Light Is Going Fast
Until … The Final Hours
Your Life’s Forever Changed
And All The Rights That You Had Yesterday
Are Taken Away
And Now You’re Afraid
You Should Be Afraid
Should Be Afraid
Because Everything I Fought For
Long Ago In A Dream, Is Gone
Someone Said
The Dream Is Not Over
The Dream Has Just Begun
Or
Is It A Nightmare
Is It A Lasting Scar
It Is Unless You Save It
And That’s That
Unless You Stand Up
And Take It Back
And Take It Back
I Have My Scars, You Have Yours
Don’t Let Them Take Your Power
Don’t Leave It Alone In The Final Hours
They’ll Take Your Soul They’ll Take Your Power
Unless You Stand Up
And Take It Back
Try To See The Future
And Get Mad
Its Slippin’ Through Your Fingers
You Don’t Have What You Had
You Don’t Have Much Time
To Get It Back
I Wanna Be The Lighthouse
Bring All Of You Together
Bring It Out In A Song
Bring It Out
In Stormy Weather
Tell Them The Story
I Wanna Teach ‘em To Fight
I Wanna Tell ‘em
This Has Happened Before
Don’t Let It, Happen Again
I Have My Scars, You Have Yours
Don’t Let Them Take Your Power
Don’t Leave It Alone In The Final Hours
They’ll Take Your Soul They’ll Take Your Power
Unless You Save It
And That’s That
Unless You Stand Up
And Take It Back
Try To See The Future
And Get Mad
Its Slippin’ Through Your Fingers
You Don’t Have What You Had
You Don’t Have Much Time
You’ve Gotta Get In The Game
You’ve Gotta Learn How To Play
You’ve Gotta Make A Change
You’ve Gotta Do It Today
In The Midnight Hour
They’ll Slam The Door
Make You Forget What
You Were Fighting For
Put You Back In Your Place
They’ll Shut Ya Down
You Better Learn How To Fight
You Better Say It Out Loud