{"id":148130,"date":"2025-02-04T22:16:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/fleetwood-macs-rumours-turns-48-stories-behind-every-song\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T22:16:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:16:31","slug":"fleetwood-macs-rumours-turns-48-stories-behind-every-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/fleetwood-macs-rumours-turns-48-stories-behind-every-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Fleetwood Mac\u2019s \u2018Rumours\u2019 Turns 48 – Stories Behind Every Song"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Fleetwood Mac<\/a>\u2018s groundbreaking 1977 album Rumours<\/em> celebrates the 48th anniversary of its historic release on February 4.<\/p>\n

The record stands as a testament to the power of band camaraderie as it was recorded during a period of intense turmoil for Fleetwood Mac. The group\u2019s two couples \u2013 Stevie Nicks<\/strong> and Lindsey Buckingham<\/strong>, as well as Christine<\/strong> and John McVie<\/strong> \u2013 split prior to Fleetwood Mac arriving at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California to create their 11th studio album, while drummer Mick Fleetwood<\/strong>\u2018s own marriage was crumbling. Fleetwood Mac channeled heartbreak, anger and drug-fuelled madness into the creation of one of rock music\u2019s landmark albums.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all writing songs about each other basically, although we were unaware of it at the time,\u201d Christine McVie said in the documentary Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac \u2013<\/em> Rumours<\/em>. \u201cAll of the songs were about our own private relationships and our troubled relationships. I think it was John who suggested the name Rumours<\/em> because we were writing, sort of, journals and diaries about one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumours<\/em> won the Album of the Year Award at the Grammys in 1978 and would eventually sold 40 million records. As this classic album reaches a milestone birthday, keep scrolling to find out the deeply personal stories behind every track on Rumours<\/em> (and even one bonus selection!).<\/p>\n

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\u201cSecond Hand News\u201d<\/h3>\n

Buckingham revealed in the Classic Albums<\/em> documentary that \u201cSecond Hand News\u201d was always a contender to be the opening track on Rumours<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The jaunty opener blends Scottish and Irish folk songs with a jangly disco sheen at least partially inspired by The Bee Gees\u2019 1975 hit \u201cJive Talkin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first started cutting [the song], I think we were doing it as something that was a more literal translation [of Scottish and Irish folk],\u201d Buckingham remembered. \u201cWe were also very interested in keeping the pop elements since it was going to be the first song and it was going to be a pop album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleetwood Mac ultimately decided to integrate \u201ca dance beat within the confines\u201d of the folk influence in order to kick off Rumours<\/em> with a bang, according to Buckingham.<\/p>\n

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Richard E. Aaron\/Redferns<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/h3>\n

\u201cDreams\u201d<\/h3>\n

One of Stevie Nicks\u2019 signature songs came about when she snuck away from the main studio in the Record Plant to visit an empty hall once used by Sly Stone, of Sly and the Family Stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew when I wrote [\u201cDreams\u201d] that it was really really special,\u201d Nicks said in Classic Albums<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nicks was confident enough in the song to bring it to the rest of Fleetwood Mac right away, though she worried about how the others might change her vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always difficult to give your song to somebody and know that they\u2019re going to take it places you can\u2019t take it because they play guitar and piano and arrange music,\u201d she admitted. \u201cIf they do a good job, then it\u2019s great. If they don\u2019t then it\u2019s not great\u2026 Lindsey had an amazing way of taking my songs and making them wonderful when he was happy with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie Admitted to Feeling Jealous of Stevie Nicks<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tFleetwood Mac\u2019s lineup shifted several times over the years, but when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the group, everything changed. In a new book titled Songbird: An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie, published Tuesday, November 19, writer Lesley-Ann Jones describes the first time Nicks, now 76, and Buckingham, now 75, were introduced to existing [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Buckingham spoke of the push-and-pull of his creative partnership with Nicks, admitting that there were times he wasn\u2019t motivated to help achieve her vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever Stevie\u2019s music was, somehow I was this soulmate who just knew exactly what to do with it,\u201d Buckingham acknowledged. \u201cThat never went away. It just became a little bittersweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDreams\u201d topped the Billboard charts in June 1977 and would become one of Fleetwood Mac\u2019s most recognizable songs. The track reached a whole new generation following the viral success of Nathan Apodaca\u2019s skateboard video<\/a>, which used \u201cDreams\u201d as a backing track, in 2020.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNever Going Back Again\u201d<\/h3>\n

Buckingham\u2019s mournful ballad was completed \u201cnear the end\u201d of Rumours<\/em>\u2018 recording process, as the guitarist realized there was no way to repair the romantic part of his relationship with Nicks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had met [another] young lady,\u201d he revealed in Classic Albums.<\/em> \u201cIt didn\u2019t turn into anything heavy but what it did do was put a little wind in my sails in terms of\u2026 having a regenerative spirit about things and being able to move on, which I hadn\u2019t really been able to do for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever Going Back Again\u201d became a staple of Buckingham\u2019s solo sets throughout his career, as well as a poignant concert moment for Fleetwood Mac during their reunion tours.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDon\u2019t Stop\u201d<\/h3>\n

This Christine McVie-written track became another of Fleetwood Mac\u2019s signature songs, as well as U.S. president Bill Clinton\u2019s campaign theme during his 1992 election bid.<\/p>\n

Originally called \u201cYesterday\u2019s Gone,\u201d Christine ultimately went with a more hopeful title to express her optimism for the future despite her recent split from bandmate John McVie. It wasn\u2019t until decades later that John realized that \u201cDon\u2019t Stop\u201d was written about the demise of his marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never put that together. I\u2019ve been playing it for years and it wasn\u2019t until somebody told me, \u2018Chris wrote that about you.\u2019 Oh really?\u201d John confessed in a 2015 interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Stop\u201d holds such a special place in the Fleetwood Mac canon that Buckingham and Christine dared not play it when they headlined a special tour without the rest of the band in 2017.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d<\/h3>\n

Buckingham has said that he wrote Rumours<\/em>\u2018 hardest-rocking track as a way to cope with the \u201crather unusual situation\u201d within Fleetwood Mac\u2019s creative dynamic.<\/p>\n

While \u201cNever Going Back Again\u201d was a gentle reflection on a failed relationship, \u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d blazed with defiance and anger in the aftermath of a traumatic breakup.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had two couples breaking up in the process of making this album so you had all this cross-dialogue going on,\u201d Buckingham noted in a 1993 interview.<\/p>\n

Buckingham confirmed that \u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d was \u201cbasically directed at Stevie,\u201d while Fleetwood described the song as \u201cStevie and Lindsey playing out whatever roles they were playing out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, some heavy stuff went on with that song,\u201d Fleetwood said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Band Members Who Have Dated Each Other: Paramore, Fleetwood Mac and More<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tMFleetwood Mac is perhaps the most famous example of bandmates dating each other \u2014 and the ensuing complications that come with it. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter a valid email. Subscribe By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nicks described \u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d as Buckingham\u2019s answer to her own song \u201cDreams,\u201d adding: \u201c\u2018Dreams\u2019 was hopeful\u2026 unlike \u2018Go Your Own Way,\u2019 which was not hopeful that we would be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d became the first of Fleetwood Mac\u2019s successful singles from Rumours<\/em> when it reached the Billboard Top 10 in March 1977.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSongbird\u201d<\/h3>\n

Christine McVie likened the writing process of the austere and beautiful \u201cSongbird\u201d to a \u201cspiritual\u201d experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a strange little baby, that one,\u201d she told The Guardian<\/em><\/a> in 2016. \u201cI woke up in the middle of the night and the song just came into my head. I got out of bed, played it on the little piano I have in my room, and sang it with no tape recorder. I sang it from beginning to end: everything. I can\u2019t tell you quite how I felt; it was as if I\u2019d been visited \u2013 it was a very spiritual thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVie was hesitant about bringing \u201cSongbird\u201d into the Rumours<\/em> recording sessions at first because she worried she wouldn\u2019t be able to recapture the magic of her first time playing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was frightened to play it again in case I\u2019d forgotten it. I called a producer first thing the next day and said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to put this song down right now,’\u201d she recollected. \u201cI played it nervously, but I remembered it. Everyone just sat there and stared at me\u2026 I\u2019ve never had that happen to me since. Just the one visitation. It\u2019s weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumours<\/em> producer and engineer Ken Caillat told fans at a Grammys Q&A<\/a> in 2014 that he knew \u201cSongbird\u201d was \u201camazing\u201d the first time he heard it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were finishing up one of the crazy sessions [at] Sausalito Record Plant and I was wrapping up some [studio] cables,\u201d he said. \u201cChristine sat down at the piano and started playing this beautiful song. I stopped what I was doing and I turned around and watched her. I was just amazed at how beautiful this song was.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Chain\u201d<\/h3>\n

All of the angst bubbling up around Fleetwood Mac boiled over in the opening drum beats of \u201cThe Chain,\u201d which spoke to the healing power of band camaraderie despite any inter-personal issues they had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just all came out in the studio when we were recording. A lot of the emotion of those moments like that solo are very connected to what we were living,\u201d Buckingham told Entertainment Weekly<\/em><\/a> in 2021. \u201cThe thing about \u2018The Chain\u2019 is, yes, it\u2019s a signature piece of ours, but it\u2019s also the spirit of the song and the content lyrically is very much in keeping with the legacy we built over a long period of time of always being able to rise above the difficulties in order to fulfill a greater destiny, so there was always a chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chain\u201d was picked as the opening song for Fleetwood Mac\u2019s 1997 reunion concert The Dance<\/em> due to the theme of unity in its lyrics.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou Make Loving Fun\u201d<\/h3>\n

While Buckingham and Nicks\u2019 breakup was playing out in full view of the Rumours<\/em> recording sessions, Christine McVie was trying to keep her relationship with Fleetwood Mac\u2019s lighting director, Curry Grant, a secret from ex-husband John.<\/p>\n

Legend has it that Christine initially told the other members of Fleetwood Mac that \u201cYou Make Loving Fun\u201d was actually written about her dog, yet she eventually shared the truth in the Classic Albums<\/em> documentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat [song] was about my then-boyfriend, at the time,\u201d McVie confirmed. \u201cFor obvious reasons, since he was our lighting director, he was not welcome in the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producer Richard Dashut pointed out in the doc that \u201cYou Make Loving Fun\u201d was \u201calmost done\u201d in Christine\u2019s head before she ever started recording it.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tThe songbird is still singing. Stevie Nicks opened up about how she\u2019s been coping after Christine McVie\u2019s death \u2014 and gave Taylor Swift a shout-out in the process. The 74-year-old Fleetwood Mac singer performed at Atlanta\u2019s State Farm Arena on Monday, May 22, pausing briefly during the concert to thank Swift, 32, for one powerful [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Buckingham felt that \u201cYou Make Loving Fun\u201d was proof that he shared a \u201ccommon foundation\u201d with Christine even though they\u2019d come from very different musical backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though she was trained [in music] and I was not, and even though her background was in the blues, we had a very similar melodic sense in many ways so that we could jam on guitar and piano and it would just spark off,\u201d Buckingham insisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Make Loving Fun\u201d hit No. 9 on the Billboard chart when it was released as the fourth and final single from Rumours<\/em> in September 1977.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Know\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Know\u201d holds a contentious place in the Rumours<\/em> tracklist because it replaced eventual B-side \u201cSilver Springs\u201d on the album despite Nicks\u2019 objections.<\/p>\n

Nicks remembered in a BBC documentary<\/a> that Fleetwood delivered the news that the rest of Fleetwood Mac felt \u201cSilver Springs\u201d wouldn\u2019t vibe with Rumours<\/em>\u2018 other songs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I was told] t\u200b\u200bhere\u2019s a lot of reasons, but because basically it\u2019s just too long. And we think that there\u2019s another of your songs that\u2019s better, so that\u2019s what we want to do,\u201d Nicks recalled. \u201cBefore I started to get upset about \u2018Silver Springs,\u2019 I said, \u2018What other song?\u2019 And he said, \u2018A song called \u2018I Don\u2019t Want To Know.\u2019 And I said, \u2018But I don\u2019t want that song on this record.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Well, then don\u2019t sing it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Know\u201d pre-dated its inclusion on Rumours<\/em>, since Buckingham and Nicks originally recorded the track first for their 1973 studio album. Fleetwood Mac fleshed out the song\u2019s country music influences with a vibrant blast of McVie\u2019s Wurlitzer electric piano.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Daddy\u201d<\/h3>\n

At the time of Rumours<\/em>\u2018 release, Christine gave a series of interviews where she said \u201cOh Daddy\u201d was inspired by bandmate Mick Fleetwood\u2019s then-recent separation from his wife Jenny Boyd.<\/p>\n

Producer Ken Caillat wrote in Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album<\/em> that Mick Fleetwood considered \u201cOh Daddy\u201d to be a \u201clesson in less is more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite songs that Christine has ever written,\u201d Fleetwood said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a fantastic song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Daddy\u201d was revived in Fleetwood Mac\u2019s live set on their 1997 reunion tour but was retired from concert performances in the band\u2019s later years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGold Dust Woman\u201d<\/h3>\n

Rumours<\/em>\u2018 closing tracking remains one of Nicks\u2019 most haunting compositions with its allusions to cocaine use and the heartbreak she was facing at the time of recording.<\/p>\n

\u201c[\u201cGold Dust Woman\u201d] was really my kind of symbolic look at somebody going through a bad relationship and doing a lot of drugs and trying to just make it, trying to live, trying to get through it to the next thing,\u201d Nicks acknowledged in the Classic Albums<\/em> doc.<\/p>\n

Buckingham credited \u201cGold Dust Woman\u201d with giving Fleetwood Mac a chance to \u201cget a little looser, a little more abstract\u201d in their recording process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song is very dark, it\u2019s quite loose and somewhat acrimonious,\u201d Buckingham continued. \u201cI\u2019m guessing that the acrimony was directed at me at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title of \u201cGold Dust Woman\u201d comes from the real Gold Dust Lane in Wickenburg, Arizona, where Nicks spent considerable time as she was growing up.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSilver Springs\u201d<\/h3>\n

Bonus track! Rumours<\/em>\u2018 great lost song was scrapped from the album at the last minute, when Fleetwood Mac felt that \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Know\u201d would be a better fit with the rest of the tracklist.<\/p>\n

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