The Christmas Song Staple That Makes Stevie Nicks Cry—and Says a Lot About Her Songwriting

If anyone knows anything about hanging around lost lovers, it’s Stevie Nicks. The Fleetwood Mac singer has been able to inject a wealth of emotion into her songwriting, thanks to her complicated relationships. Moreover, when considering the song that always makes Nicks cry, it reveals a lot about what drives her in the writer’s room. Find out which song never fails to make Nicks emotional below.

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The Song That Always Makes Stevie Nicks Cry

There is something about old friends and old loves. There is a yearning that is only felt once we are no longer in contact with them—a longing for what could’ve been. That’s the onus behind Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne.”

She didn’t recognize the face at first / But then her eyes flew open wide / She went to hug me, and she spilled her purse / And we laughed until we cried, the lyrics to this touching song read.

“To this day, when that song comes on, it makes me cry,” Nicks once said of this Fogelberg song. “Because I think that we have all run into somebody that we absolutely loved a long time ago. And you meet them and you’re older, but that’s when you go ‘Real love never dies.’”

“Because it doesn’t matter that they’re older and it doesn’t matter that they don’t look exactly like they did when they were nineteen,” she added. “They still have that light that attracted you in the beginning, and you feel that.”

“Same Old Lang Syne” peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has become a Christmas staple thanks to its lyrics revolving around a Christmas Eve setting.

What That Says About Nicks’ Songwriting

It’s easy to see why Stevie Nicks has connected to this song emotionally. She has lived this story more than most. From her many industry relationships to her recurring reunion with her bandmate Lindsey Buckingham, Nicks knows what it’s like to carry around sentiments for people she is no longer with.

Like Fogelberg, Nicks uses those sentiments in her songwriting. Though a very different tone, Nicks’ “Silver Springs” is also about holding onto a memory of someone. And that’s just one of many Nicks tracks written in honor of relationships that didn’t work out.

We all have regrets, especially when it comes to love. That’s likely why songs like “Same Old Lang Syne” or “Silver Springs” do so well. We all look to our favorite artists to help elucidate a feeling we can’t quite put words to. How do you sum up the ache of nostalgia and heartbreak? The song below does a pretty good job of it.

(Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)