The Country Ballad Stevie Nicks Wrote for Dolly Parton, Later Covered by Glen Campbell, “After the Glitter Fades…

Years before Stevie Nicks ever made it to Hollywood and was called, along with Lindsey Buckingham, to join Fleetwood Mac in 1974, she wrote a song about a romanticized vision of Hollywood. By the early ’70s Nicks and Buckingham were still trying to work on their career and were dropped from their label shortly after the release of their 1973 debut, Buckingham Nicks.

At the time, Nicks and Buckingham were living at producer Keith Olsen’s house. Nicks was working as a housecleaner to help cover their rent, and Buckingham landed a job playing guitar with the Everly Brothers on tour. While The was away, Nicks also wrote two of her future Fleetwooc Mac oeuvres: “Landslide” and “Rhiannon.”

Many of Nicks’ earlier pre-Fleetwood Mac songs were premonitions of her future, including “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” and “After the Glitter Fades.”

“They were poems I wrote before I joined Fleetwood Mac,” said Nicks, who later released “After the Glitter Fades” on her 1981 solo debut Bella Donna. “The lyrics are so telling.”

The latter track was one Nicks wanted to pitch to Dolly Parton but couldn’t track her down. “‘After the Glitter Fades’ was written in 1972,” said Nicks. “I seemed to have some idea what was going to happen, that I was really gonna face some really serious glitter and see some serious glitter fade.”

Nicks added, “I wanted [Dolly Parton] to do ‘After the Glitter Fades’ ’cause I really thought it would be perfect for her. And it got sent to her, and I don’t think Dolly ever really got it. I think if she’d ever got the song, she would have wanted to do it.”