So, whenever I sing the song, I always think of that. When you hear her song, you close your eyes and fall asleep, and when you wake up the pain is gone or the danger is gone and you'll see her three birds flying away. Rhiannon is the Goddess of Steeds and the Maker of Birds, and her song is a song that takes away pain. That song is really straight out of the old Welsh mythology.
I didn't write her to be sold, she simply is not for sale and has never been. I wrote Rhiannon because I loved her name and I loved her story. I didn't write Rhiannon for commerciality. I didn't want them to release Rhiannon as a single because I thought, 'What if she doesn't make it? What if my Rhiannon falls flat on her face? Then, it's not my choice to release her as a single, she is a mythological goddess of horses and steeds and maker of birds and she's a brilliant, brilliant character.what if she falls flat on her face?' ~Stevie Nicks, Starsound Special RKO Radio, December 21, 1981 And it is a wonderful, wonderful story which I use a lot, because there's a lot of ~ there seems to be a lot of need for the story of Rhiannon around lately, because if people are sad or have lost anybody or something the story really makes a lot of sense. And they sing this song that is uh, said takes away pain and suffering and if you hear the song you just sort of blank out and go away and then when you wake up everthing's all right. So she comes down and does her whole trip, and it's just a whole story ~ it's a wonderful story.Īnd she has these birds that sing and that is the legend of the song of the birds of Rhiannon. Which is a much more difficult way to live than not having magic powers is to not be able to use them and know exactly what's coming and to not be able to tell anybody. And they don't lose the knowledge of them they just ~they know everything that's going to happen they just can'tdo anything about it. General CommentRhiannon is the story of a lady that is from another world ~ called the Bright world ~ and she leaves her kingdom to become the wife of a king ~ a mortal king ~ but goddesses really can't marry mortal kings, if they do they lose their powers ~ their magic powers. I could be wrong but that's my interpretation. It could also mean that she plays with people's minds just to see how many people can fall in love with her and then she leaves them heartbroken? I think in this context it's referring to the previous lyric "takes off like a bird in flight," it's saying that she never stays in a relationship too long and she flees before she can be hurt. One is like a songbird-the other is someone who plays practical jokes on someone. On the "skylark" part, I'm a bit confused. She rules her life like a fine skylark and when The sky is starless"Įither they are comparing her to a cat because cats are mysterious, or they are saying that you never thought you would love this girl but then her love just creeps up on you and you end up loving her and finding out that she's better than you ever thought she would be. "She is like a cat in the dark and then She is the darkness. He wonders if he will ever win her love and be able to get her to open up and break down her walls. He's never seen someone before who just leaves like that and he sees her as a challenge. She "takes off" like a bird (leaving the relationship) and the boy is wondering if she's ever going to let anyone love her.
He'd love to love her but she isn't letting him-trust issues or fears keep getting in her way of fully showing her full love to him and letting him do that to her. This is saying that she got close to him and then decided to leave the relationship before he would have a chance to hurt her.
Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win?" "Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and Wouldn't you love to love her? Takes to the sky like a bird in flight and Who will be her lover? All your life you've never seen A woman taken by the wind. My InterpretationTo me personally, this song is about a women or girl who runs away from love because she is afraid of getting hurt or she has trust issues (or perhaps both.) Stevie is the narrator talking about two lovers (she's speaking about the girl to the boy)
Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night