“It morphed”: The Fleetwood Mac song Christine McVie forgot she wrote with Lindsey Buckingham
There are many partnerships in the world of rock and roll, what is perhaps more surprising is that there are almost as many in the songwriting credits of Fleetwood Mac‘s discography. The band operated unlike any other group, with marriages and relationships disintegrating as they wrote their magnum opus Rumours and professionally reforming again, they recorded it. But one of the lesser-celebrated duos was Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie.
Of course, Buckingham arrived at Fleetwood Mac as one of the most well-rounded acquisitions the group had made. With his West Coast sounds and soft rock attitude, Buckingham became a creative force within the band and turned them from a blues outfit into a hit-making machine. “I came in as the new kid on the block but I was also the kid with the ideas and so John and I used to butt heads quite a bit,” Buckingham told Uncut.
John McVie had been one of the founding members of the band, formerly of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and was a bluesman through and through. While his position in the group wasn’t under threat, there is a good chance that he took the new arrival of a long-haired lover boy from Los Angeles none too well. The feeling was reciprocated as Buckingham confirmed: “It took me a long time to appreciate his approach.”
However, Buckingham would seemingly get on well with his wife, very soon-to-be ex-wife, Christine McVie. The married couple would split during Rumours, and with it, McVie would go on to be a primary songwriter for Fleetwood Mac, with many astute fans believing that it was her songs that helped elevate the group into the mainstream. Her songwriting proficiency would grow to such a point that she even forgot how the odd song was brought together.
‘Mystified’ might be the perfect title for a song seemingly somewhat forgotten by McVie. The track, which featured on the band’s 1987 LP Tango In The Night, was actually a collaboration between Buckingham and McVie, with the guitarist laying down the music while she provided the lyrics. It’s a warm and gentle tune that relies on McVie’s tender vocals and a gentle, rocking rhythm.
It may have put the singer to sleep, as she barely remembered how the song was constructed when asked: “I can’t remember how that happened,” McVie said to Uncut. “It morphed somehow between us. We just happened to be doing stuff in the studio at the same time, so the co-write was fair dues.”
It wouldn’t be the last time the duo would work on songs together. Three decades later, they would go one step further and release an album together titled Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie, and while it features four-fifths of Fleetwood Mac, it provided a respite from the group for Buckingham: “For me, this is all a fresh beginning… I’ve rediscovered my love for writing and my love for music. It seemed to have evolved quite organically because I’ve been sending Lindsey some rough demos, and he’s refined them and shaped them into some of our best material ever.”
Writing great songs is what Fleetwood Mac did. Without any concern about who was involved or what selection of members were at the session, they simply got up to the mic and delivered, seemingly on cruise control, so much so that, on the odd occasion, nobody was quite sure how they came about.
