Fittingly, the song’s title is a command rather than a suggestion. On the sonic grab bag Tusk, she wrote Think About Me, a swaggering tune with a Stones-y blues-rock groove and stinging keyboards. McVie didn’t just excel at writing delicate ballads and introspective folk songs – she could also do biting rock gems with the best of them. Songbird later took on even greater poignancy when it was covered as the title track on the posthumous 1998 album from folk singer Eva Cassidy. However, the sparse instrumentation was also an ideal canvas for her meditative playing style and keening vocals, especially since co-producer Ken Caillat used multiple mics to soak up the room’s echoing ambience. Recorded in an auditorium with McVie on voice and Steinway piano, the song boasts some of her most tender lyrics (“And the songbirds are singing / Like they know the score”) and Buckingham contributing barely perceptible acoustic guitar. Songbird was an outlier on Rumours: an unabashed declaration of love featuring a stripped-down arrangement. Although Buckingham mostly handled lead vocals – adding an extra layer of intrigue given his up-and-down relationship with Nicks – McVie propelled the song’s upbeat attitude with fluid bar-band boogie piano, as if entertaining a rousing honky-tonk. Don’t Stop espouses the power of looking on the bright side of things, with lyrics about keeping an eye on the future and avoiding dwelling on yesterdays. McVie herself had divorced bassist John McVie in 1976, although she preferred to stay optimistic in the wake of the marriage ending. Rumours was an album born out of real-life romantic tumult, imperfect breakups and messy affairs. Photograph: Rick Diamond/Getty Images Fleetwood Mac – Don’t Stop (1977) In the end, she asks for emotional clarity, pointedly repeating the phrase “Say that you love me” several times.Ĭhristine McVie and Stevie Nicks in 1977. McVie sounds firm but slightly exasperated as she calls out the hot-and-cold behaviour of her partner and interrogates her own insecurities. Buoyed up by her forceful, regal piano playing, the song explores how to navigate the whims of a mercurial significant other. However, McVie wrote the bulk of the album’s charting singles, led by the jangly Say You Love Me. Fleetwood Mac – Say You Love Me (1975)įleetwood Mac became a pop-rock juggernaut starting with their 1975 self-titled LP, the first full-length to feature Nicks and Buckingham. Later, however, she sounds in agony over her ex’s indifference and her own subsequent pain, asking “Why don’t you love me?” while strings crescendo and swell around her. With sparse acoustic guitar and torchy, bluesy piano as a foundation, McVie first rationalises that the heartbreak is temporary (“The hurt I feel will simply melt away”). The fan favourite Why, tucked away as the last song on Mystery to Me, offers emotional whiplash in the aftermath of a breakup. The McVie-penned Fleetwood Mac songs that didn’t end up as singles were often just as compelling as the familiar hits.
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