A couple of Stevie’s big hits show up just before we crack the Top 20. It seems they should be higher on this list, it’s just that Fleetwood Mac has recorded so many damn good songs I couldn’t get them all into the Top 20! The songs in this batch really start to see all the stunning craftsmanship from the Fleetwood Mac and Rumours days. And so much nostalgia listening to all of these songs agin.
#25 – Blue Letter (Curtis, Michael; Curtis, Richard) Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Another great rocker from Lindsey Buckingham off the Fleetwood Mac album, and one of the rare times the band performed a song written by non-members. Michael & Richard Curtis were friends with Lindsey and Stevie during the Buckingham Nicks era, and they wrote this song for the recording duo for their sophomore album, which was never recorded. They offered the song to the pair as part of Fleetwood Mac, and the band decided late in the recording process to add it to the album. “Blue Letter” and “World Turning” were two of the last songs to be added, adding a slightly more high energy, rock ‘n roll edge to the album.
Powered largely by the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section, with a decidedly 70’s organ part and chunky guitars pushing the song along. “Blue Letter” features another nice blend of the three part harmonies that non one can do like Fleetwood Mac. It’s a quick number, but decidedly catchy and it has become a staple for many of their live concert tours.
#24 – The Chain (Buckingham, Fleetwood, McVie, C., McVie, J., Nicks) Rumours 1977
“The Chain” is the quintessential Fleetwood Mac song for so many reasons. It’s the only song with writing credits to the entire band. It highlights all the things that make Fleetwood Mac the band they are. The lyrics perfectly capture what the band was going through during the recording of Rumours. It’s symbolic of what the band has endured through the decades, with perhaps the sad exception of Lindsey’s forced departure a couple of years ago.
I recently found new appreciation for “The Chain” by really listening to it again after years of kind of just having it in the background of my mind. It’s really quite an amazing song, from the swamp rock twang of the guitar opener, to the outstanding vocal harmonies that no other band does quite the same way. The song was pieced together from bits and pieces of previous songs. Lindsey recycled a guitar lick from “Lola (My Love),” a track from the Buckingham Nicks album, and the iconic bass/drums break mid-way through the song was written by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood for Christine McVie-penned, never-released song called “Keep Me There,” that also provided the chord progression throughout. Stevie supplied the original lyrics that were reworked by she and Christine to the dark, yet powerful motifs that showed how out of the tumult and heartbreak came music that was so transcendent and universal that it acted as a chain that would keep them together.
“The Chain” really shows off all the band members doing what they do best. Lindsey’s guitar work, both in the dark, twangy intro, and during the blistering, incendiary solo is at its best. Christine provides a haunting, layered organ backdrop that builds to a simmering counterpoint during the final third of the song. Mick and John anchor the song with their impeccable rhythm section, with John’s iconic bass line providing perhaps the most memorable moment in the song, and Fleetwood’s powerful and intelligent drumming perfectly matching each of the song’s segments. And the vocals. Each vocalist brings their all, with their unique flavors. Lindsey and Stevie’s voices, so similar in some ways, entwine like vines, while Christine’s soaring harmonies add an ethereal quality that sends shivers up the spine.
Not my favorite Mac song, by any means, but I’m so glad it made the Top 25, as an important and emblematic moment in Fleetwood Mac history.
#23 – Honey Hi (McVie, C.) Tusk (1979)
This gem of a Christine McVie song seems just to have just been slipped onto Tusk without anyone noticing. In some ways it feels more like a snippet of a song, rather than an entire, finished song. It’s pretty short and almost feels like a jam session around a fire on the beach. It’s a got a super thrown together vibe, in the best way, although I’m sure it was very tightly produced.
From the get go, “Honey Hi” intrigues me, the way it fades in, like “Over My Head.: You don’t get too many fade ins, as I said before, it’s almost like you’re walking down the beach and you hear this music in the distance and you come up on a ragtag bunch of musicians just strumming along. It’s another song driven by Christine’s tuneful electric piano, something that always appeals to me, and I love the way Lindsey’s acoustic guitar weaves in and out, sometimes acting like a rhythm instrument, other times adding little flourishes to augment the simple melody. Mick’s percussion really adds so much texture and mood to the song. Bongos, rhythm sticks, a little tambourine, and occasional bell… so subtle and beautiful. Then there are the exquisite vocals. First, Christine’s amazing voice is perfect on this song, so pure and on point. And the when the three of them join their voice in superb harmony, you just can’t beat it. Christine, Stevie and Lindsey have such distinct voices, but the way they blend is nothing short of magical
The lyrics are pretty simple too. She’s traveling, probably on tour, and she’s reaching out to her partner who’s at home, telling him how much she misses and loves him. Simple, beautiful sentiment. I’ve included three videos for this song (overkill, I know). The first is the straightforward song. The second is likely an early demo of just Christine on the piano and singing, with some percussion. You get to really hear the great piano part. The final is a version of the recorded song with Christine’s piano and the harmonies taken out, so you can really listen to the gorgeous guitar licks from Lindsey, and you can really listen to how lovely Christine’s voice is.
#22 – Rhiannon (Nicks) Fleetwood Mac (1975)
If ever there was a song that really put Fleetwood Mac (and Stevie Nicks, for that matter) it was “Rhiannon,” Nicks’ song about a Welsh Witch, despite only climbing to #11 on the U.S. Billboard charts. For fans of the band who have seen them in concert, the band’s blistering performance of “Rhiannon” is one of the live show’s centerpieces, where as the song builds to a climax, the intensity of which is not found on the recording, it feels like the vocalist is exorcising an dark spirit. As a pre-teen, like many young people, I was enchanted by Nicks, and especially this song. I’m sure it was my favorite song on the album when I first heard it. Stevie’s mysterious and flamboyant presence was surely compelling.
“Rhiannon” was written before Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, in the Buckingham Nicks days, but it was never recorded until the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album. Nicks was inspired to write the song after reading a novel in the early 70’s about a woman named Rhiannon who takes possession of another woman named Branwen. After she wrote the song, she did some research into the Welsh mythology and was so taken by it, she began to work on an extensive project about the character that was never completed. Another of Nicks’ Fleetwood Mac songs, which appears higher on this list is from that project.
This is a perfect example of how Fleetwood Mac, as a band, really enhances their members’ contributions. The production on the studio version of this song is impeccable, and the musicianship that each member brings to it is just perfect for the finished product. Once again, you just cant beat Fleetwood and McVie’s rhythm section. The drums pulse with a tribal rhythm like a heartbeat, with a rolling bass line to as a counterpoint. Christine’s bell-like electric piano drifts throughout the song like a bird in flight, catching your attention then wheeling away. Lindsey’s guitar makes for the songs most recognizable riff, and while he provides an explosive solo at the end of the live version, the restraint he exhibits on the recording serves the song beautifully. I truly swoon over the way the guitar and piano parts weave around each other creating a mystical aural tapestry. And finally, with no surprise at all, the three contribute gorgeous vocals to augment Stevie’s riveting and haunting performance. “Rhiannon” also features the first of Stevie’s now famous “fade-out” lines, where she introduces new lyrics as the song fades away.
I’ve included the studio version below, as well as the live version from The Dance that includes a gorgeous introduction featuring Christine on the grand piano, a version that is more similar to how Stevie wrote the song to begin with, and a live version from the Mirage tour that really shows off Stevie’s intense performance.
#21 – Dreams (Nicks) Rumours (1977)
The fact that “Dreams” is Fleetwood Mac’s sole #1 single in the U.S. has always boggled my mind. While I enjoy the song, and when i really stop to listen to it, I think it’s one of their finest (just short of the Top 20, after all) recorded number. Chalk that up to Lindsey Buckingham’s masterful reworking of the original song contributed by Nicks, and the amazing production from the Rumours production. As reported in “Blender” magazine, Christine McVie described the song as having “just three chords and one note in the left hand” and “boring” when Nicks played a rough version on the piano. McVie changed her mind after Buckingham “fashioned three sections out of identical chords, making each section sound completely different. He created the impression that there’s a thread running through the whole thing. And there is a perfect example of how Fleetwood Mac is a better band when Lindsey Buckingham is a member.
Some of the things I love about the song are the way the verses are so sparse and open, really highlighting Stevie’s vocal performance, which is lovely. There’s the steady heartbeat of the drums and bass, while Christine’s electric piano provides the structure, and Lindsey’s fluid electric guitar provides the color. It’s a pretty standard formula for Fleetwood Mac, particularly the Nicks-penned number, but it clearly works. Then the chorus hits and bongo drums, an airy organ lick, and an acoustic guitar suddenly fill out the sound providing a lush background to the once again stellar three-part harmonies of our amazing vocalists, their unique, distinctive voices blending to create a seamless tapestry that is at once unified and disparate.
Lyrically, “Dreams” can be paired with Buckingham’s “Go Your Own Way,” (which will be making an appearance further up on this list) to show the slow unraveling of their relationship. “Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well who am I to keep you down.” She accepting that things are over, but also providing a cautionary tale that it’s not going to make him happy, “But listen carefully to the sounds, of your loneliness, like a heartbeat drives you mad in the stillness of remembering what you had and what you lost.” It’s really a beautifully poetic summation of Stevie’s point of view around the collapse of their relationship.