Behind the Meaning of Stevie Nicks and Don Henley’s Classic Duet “Leather and Lace”

If you’ve ever stepped foot in a karaoke bar, odds are you know “Leather and Lace” well. This classic (and often replicated) duet between Stevie Nicks and Don Henley is the perfect marriage between a catchy melody and well-crafted lyrics.

Nicks was tapped to write this song for Waylon Jennings and his wife Jessi Colter, though Nicks and Henley’s version would go on to become the definitive. What did Nicks mean we she offered her lace to her leather-clad lover? Find out, below.

Behind the Meaning

Is love so fragile and the heart so hollow?
Shatter with words, impossible to follow
You’re saying I’m fragile, try not to be
I search only for something I can’t see
I have my own life
And I am stronger than you know

Nicks stays true to her metaphor-heavy writing in this track. The opening line to “Leather and Lace” reads more like a Shakespearean excerpt than a rock song. That type of melodrama is more than warranted in a song with such weighty ideas.

In her verse, Nicks sings about finding heartache hard to accept. I search only for something I can’t see, she sings. Given that Nicks and Henley were romantically linked at one point in time, it makes the emotion in this song all the more palpable.

Sometimes I’m a strong man
Sometimes cold and scared
And sometimes I cry
But that time I saw you
I knew with you to light my nights
Somehow I’d get by
First time I saw you
I knew with you to light my nights
Somehow I would get by

Henley then comes in with his side of the story. Sometimes I’m a strong man / Sometimes cold and scared, he sings quite candidly. His verse consists of him trying to explain to Nicks that it’s her love that will help him through the bad times and the good.

Lovers forever, face to face
My city, your mountains
Stay with me, stay
I need you to love me
I need you today
Give to me your leather
Take from me my lace

In the chorus, Nicks paints a picture of two lovers would couldn’t be more opposite. My city, your mountains, she sings. Despite their differences, Nicks admits she wants him to stay. She cedes that they will just have to give parts of themselves to the other person to be more cohesive: Give to me your leather / Take from me my lace.

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame