Stevie Nicks has released a new single called The Lighthouse, inspired by the fight to restore abortion rights in the United States.
Nicks wrote the powerful, haunting rock song in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling stating that Americans have a constitutional right to abortion.
“It seemed like overnight, people were saying, ‘What can we, as a collective force, do about this?’” Nix said. “For me, it was about writing 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 anchor said something that sounded like she was talking to me — explaining what losing Raw vs. Wade wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night.
“That was September 6, 2022. I’ve been working on it ever since. I’ve often said to myself, ‘This might be the most important thing I’ll ever do.’ To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters — and the men who love them. This is an anthem.”
In the song, Nicks portrays herself as the titular beacon, guiding women in the campaign for their rights. “I want to teach them to fight / I want to tell them this has happened before, don’t let it happen again,” she sings.
The chorus is also a call to action: “They’ll take your soul, take your power, unless you stand up, take it back / Try to see the future and get angry / It’s slipping through your fingers, you don’t have what you had / And you don’t have much time to get it back.”
Nicks is backed by Sheryl Crow, who plays guitar and bass as well as singing backing vocals. Crowe also co-produced the song with 13-time Grammy Award winner Dave Cobb.
The Lighthouse was released amidst a US election campaign in which abortion access was at the forefront of the campaign.
Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned the decision during Joe Biden’s presidency, and bragged about it: “After 50 years of failure, with no one even coming close, I killed Roe v. Wade,” he said in May. In August, he said he had “no regrets” about the court’s decision, saying: “The federal government should not have anything to do with this case. The problem is being resolved at the state level and people are very happy about that.”
Kamala Harris has repeatedly criticized Trump over the issue, calling him earlier this week “someone who said women should be punished for exercising a decision they should, rightfully, be able to make about their bodies and their futures.”
With abortion law now passed at the state level, 14 states have banned abortion, and the Center for Reproductive Rights has described 11 others as “hostile.” Research published this month by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health found that doctors are being forced to provide substandard care by forcing women to carry non-viable pregnancies to full term.
Nicks, 76, has used her music to focus on the civil rights struggle in recent years. Her single Show Them the Way, released in 2020, was inspired by watching documentaries about the civil rights movement, as Nicks imagined performing at a political benefit attended by Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, John F. Kennedy and others. She followed it with a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth, which was originally inspired by clashes between police and youth over curfew laws in Los Angeles, and became synonymous with the anti-Vietnam War movement.
The Lighthouse is a brand-new rarity from Nicks, whose last album of all-new material was 2011’s In Your Dreams. She followed that up with new recordings of the previous demo, 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault, in 2014.
She has continued to tour in recent years, including a co-headline tour with Billy Joel in 2023 and 2024. She will be the musical guest on the October 12 edition of Saturday Night Live, where Lighthouse will likely perform.
While her new song certainly condemns Trumpism, Nicks did not explicitly endorse Harris. Instead, she called on people to register to vote, and in a recent Instagram post, she noted Swift’s endorsement of Harris, writing: “As my friend Taylor Swift so eloquently said, now is the time to research and choose the candidate that speaks to her.” You and your beliefs.” She signed off on the phrase “childless cat lady” in reference to Swift’s description of herself as a “childless cat lady”, which is J.D. Vance’s satirical description of US Democrats.
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