Fleetwood Mac’s “signature” song, according to Lindsey Buckingham
Most artists have that one song. One song so defining and so representative for them as an artist that it becomes their anthem. It will forever be on the set list, usually played last after a roaring scream for an encore. Prince had ‘Purple Rain’, The Rolling Stones have ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, Pulp have ‘Common People’. But when it comes to Fleetwood Mac, it feels like they have so many options.
When it comes to picking out what Lindsey Buckingham deemed their “signature”, different people would give you different answers. When I asked my housemate, her guess was ‘Don’t Stop’. The office group chat offered up ‘Everywhere’. I would go absolutely crazy to hear ‘Go Your Own Way’ as that crescendo moment while ‘Landslide’, ‘Dreams’ and ‘Rhiannon\’ also offer viable options. But Buckingham’s choice makes sense both musically and emotionally, not only being a recognisable track but perfectly capturing the very lifeblood of the band.
“I can still hear you saying, you would never break the chain,” Buckingham sings on the 1977 track, ‘The Chain’. Backed up by Stevie Nicks’ vocals, their coming together is like a covenant. As they repeat the line over and over, it’s like a promise being made again and again, or two hands pulling on the ties between them to test how true they were being or how much they meant it.
By the time the whole band comes in, after Buckingham’s raging guitar solo, which stands as one of their biggest musical moments, the group has signed the agreement, too. “Chain, keep us together” they chant, all vowing. As a track, it came to represent their dedication to staying together and making the band work, no matter what. While the Rumours sessions ripped the band’s relationships apart as Nicks and Buckingham split and the McVie’s separated, ‘The Chain’ was a promise to keep the professional and artistic one intact, or perhaps even that they were already so bonded that the link or chain could never be broken.
“The thing about ‘The Chain’ is, yes, it’s a signature piece of ours,” Buckingham said, commenting on the fact that the song was their live set opener for a long time. But it was always more than that as he continued, “It’s 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 fulfil a greater destiny, so there was always a chain.”
In just about every way, ‘The Chain’ perfectly represents Fleetwood Mac as a group, especially at that time in their lives. As everything on the surface seemed to be collapsing, it’s a prime example of them coming together for the sake of the song and channelling it all into music. The track was written by all of the members, with all the bandmates coming together to pen the tune. Starting with lyrics written by Nicks, helped by McVie, it quickly grew into a bigger beast.
That mid-section guitar solo also helps make it a signature for the band. “It just all came out in the studio when we were recording,” Buckingham explained as the musical highpoint came out of a jam session. Charging all the feeling into the song, the solo, as the tension builds and then gives way, seems to represent the energy in the room as he added, “A lot of the emotion of those moments like that solo are very connected to what we were living.”
In so many ways, ‘The Chain’ is both symbolic and prophetic of the band’s relationship in sound and spirit. Even in 2019, it remained their opening number, setting the tone of their shows by reminding themselves and their audience of the vow they made to stick together.
