Stevie Nicks Confirms Song “Sara” Was About Baby With Don Henley She Aborted

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 29, 2014   |   1:50PM   |   Washington, DC

Abortion and pop music culture are often intertwined. Whether it’s the girlfriend of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler having an abortion or Michael Jackson writing a song about abortion that wasn’t released until after his death, pop music and musicians are frequently involved in abortion or commenting on it.

Now, classic rocker Stevie Nicks of the band Fleetwood Mac has confirmed that the song “Sara” was about a baby she had with Eagles frontman Don Henly who was eventually killed in an abortion.

Here’s more:

stevienicksFleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks has confirmed that she was once pregnant with Don Henley’s child.

The Eagles singer has said in interviews that Fleetwood Mac song ‘Sara’ was dedicated “to the spirit of the aborted baby” they conceived together.

In a new interview with Billboard, Nicks confirmed Henley’s story. “Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl,” she said, “I would have named her Sara. But there was another woman in my life named Sara, who shortly after that became Mick’s wife, Sara Fleetwood.”

“It’s accurate,” she added, referring to Henley’s suggestion of the song’s meaning, “but not the entirety of it.” Nicks wrote the song in 1979, when it appeared on the band’s Tusk album.

Know the song is about abortion, the lyrics make more sense in that context:

Sara, you’re the poet in my heart
Never change, never stop
And now it’s gone
All I ever wanted
Was to know that you were dreaming
(There’s a heartbeat
And it never really died)

Here are the full lyrics:

Wait a minute baby…
Stay with me awhile
Said you’d give me light
But you never told be about the fire
Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now it’s gone
It doesn’t matter anymore
When you build your house
Call me home
And he was just like a great dark wing
Within the wings of a storm
I think I had met my match — he was singing
And undoing the laces
Undoing the laces
Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now it’s gone
It doesn’t matter anymore
When you build your house
Call me home
Hold on
The night is coming and the starling flew for days
I’d stay home at night all the time
I’d go anywhere, anywhere
Ask me and I’m there because I care
Sara, you’re the poet in my heart
Never change, never stop
And now it’s gone
It doesn’t matter what for
When you build your house
I’ll come by
Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now it’s gone
It doesn’t matter anymore
When you build your house
Call me home
All I ever wanted
Was to know that you were dreaming
(There’s a heartbeat
And it never really died)