Don Henley’s Relationship With Stevie Nicks Didn’t Inspire the Eagles’ ‘Witchy Woman’
Stevie Nicks is known for her signature witchy style and dated several members of the Eagles, but she did not inspire their song “Witchy Woman.” Here’s what the Fleetwood Mac star said about wishing she was behind the Eagles track and who Don Henley said inspired the music.
Stevie Nicks dated Don Henley and other members of the Eagles, but did not inspire ‘Witchy Woman’
Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks developed her signature witchy look of flowing black gowns and draping shawls, topped off with hats and a gold crescent moon necklace. She also dated several members of the Eagles, making her seem like the obvious inspiration behind their 1972 song “Witchy Woman.” But the Fleetwood Mac star had nothing to do with the track.
Nicks first dated the Eagles drummer and singer Don Henley. “Well, Don always treated me very special,” Nicks said during a 1980’s TV appearance (per Far Out Magazine). “He always kinda treated me like we were married, in that strange sorta way, he still does, whenever I see him.” The two singers considered marriage, but Nicks was devoted to her career. In 1979, the Fleetwood Mac star had an abortion after becoming pregnant by Henley. Years after their breakup, they released the duet “Leather and Lace.”
Nicks had an affair with Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood while dating Henley. She then fell hard for Joe Walsh, the Eagles singer and guitarist. In September 2007, she told the Telegraph that Walsh was her “great, great love.” Nicks also briefly dated the Eagles songwriter John David “JD” Souther.
But despite her witchy style and romantic history with the band, Nicks was not the inspiration behind “Witchy Woman,” in which Henley sang about a seductress with “raven hair and ruby lips” and “the moon in her eyes.”
Stevie Nicks wanted to be the ‘Witchy Woman’ from the Eagles song
In a 2011 interview on BBC Radio 2, Stevie Nicks shared that she wanted to be the “Witchy Woman” from the Eagles song.
“The Eagles were famous before Lindsey [Buckingham] and I moved to Los Angeles,” Nicks said (via Far Out Magazine). “We drove to LA, and I remember listening to that song, thinking what a great song it was, and of course, I’m sure as all women my age did at that point, we were all hoping that we would actually be the witchy woman. Premonition-wise, I would come to know Don Henley quite well.”
She added, “In fact, I even do know who the actual witchy woman was; it was someone who became a very famous jeweler.”
Don Henley revealed the inspiration behind his famous song
The Eagles’ Don Henley has shared the inspiration behind “Witchy Woman,” and he did not mention his ex-girlfriend Stevie Nicks.
According to Henley, the track stemmed from “the roommate of a girl I was seeing in the early 1970s. All things occult were popular in those days. Ouija boards, séances, palm reading, etc.,” he said (per American Songwriter). “A lot of the girls were into what was called ‘white witchcraft,’ that is, they were practitioners of folk magic for benevolent purposes, as distinguished from malevolent witchcraft or black magic. I think some of them practiced a little of both.”
He continued, “I thought it was charming and seductive, but I never took any of it seriously. For the most part, it was just a phase people were passing through, part of the overall youth movement and the quest for spirituality, which included a re-enchantment with the ‘old ways.’ It was harmless fun.”
