Rhiannon

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?*

My older sister was a huge Stevie Nicks fan (and subsequently Fleetwood Mac fan) when we were growing up together in the 70's. Rightly so, the twice-inducted Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer's voice is at once mystical and soothing with a slight rasp that could seduce even an eight year old boy. Needless to say, I became a fan through my sister and still am today.

She is like a cat in the dark

And then she is the darkness

She rules her life like a fine skylark

And when the sky is starless*

One song in particular will always bring my sister to mind because she would recite it and sing it to me as a bit of an animated story, and I loved it. The song Rhiannon's central character is, through Welsh folklore history, a mortal, a queen or a goddess, and perhaps all three, so you can take your pick there. But Nicks has frequently said that she penned her song after reading a book caller Triad by Mary Bartlet Leader and didn't know so much about the traditional Rhiannon folklore until the song was a hit. By cosmic coincidence (?) the song and the historical legends matched up perfectly. The song Rhiannon is considered one of many Fleetwood Mac essentials and Nicks introduces it during live sets as "a song about a good witch."

She rings like a bell through the night

And wouldn't you love to love her?

She rules her life like a bird in flight

And who will be her lover?

All your life you've never seen

Woman taken by the wind

Would you stay if she promised you heaven?

Will you ever win?*

The good witch, or the goddess Rhiannon, is said to be the goddess of fertility and the moon by the Welsh. She had a real run of bad luck after she turned down the chance to marry a god in order to marry a mortal king. The pissed-off god exacted revenge for the snub by kidnapping her son after lulling the kid's six nursemaids to sleep. When they woke, the nursemaids were so afraid of punishment, they devised a plan to frame Rhiannon for her son's murder, and threw in cannibalism for good measure. They killed a puppy (bad form in any case) and smeared the blood over the sleeping goddess' mouth. Her mortal husband had all kind of mortal husband-dad anxiety about that and punished her by chaining her outside the city. She had to tell everyone coming or going that she had murdered her son while trying to come to grips with her confusion that she actually might have.

Dreams unwind

Love's a state of mind*

Well, the husband king eventually dies and the grown son is rescued by an old friend of the family, so Rhiannon and Junior go after his jealous-god captor to start a celestial revenge campaign that will eventually involve hoses and pregnant mice. Anyway, the folklore here is a bit hard for me to understand. I'm Irish, not Welsh. But I imagine it would take a whole other song to explain. I'm happy with this one though. My favorite fairy tale and bedtime story, as told by my sister...and Stevie Nicks.

All your life you've never seen

Woman taken by the wind

Would you stay if she promised you heaven?

Will you ever win?

Taken by taken by the sky

Dreams unwind

Love's a state of mind*

*Lyrics and music by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.