How many chords are in Fleetwood Mac’s classic track ‘Dreams’?
There are many songs that feel almost the opposite of what they were originally written about, emerging as a lighthearted, ethereal flow of effortless melody and arrangements. Among these, ‘Dreams’ stands out above the rest, with a rhythmic groove that most instantly recognise, whether they are knowingly or unknowingly aware of the tumultuous friction that lay beneath this juncture in Fleetwood Mac‘s story.
Written for the album that would come to define the band’s entire career, Rumours, ‘Dreams’ captures the unfolding of the rocky romance between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. This time, the track materialised as a response to Buckingham’s fiery ‘Go Your Own Way’, with Nicks hitting back at Buckingham’s cutthroat dismissal with a song criticising his ego and inability to maintain a relationship.
Like many of Nicks’ penned hits, the song seemed to materialise out of nowhere, almost like she knew exactly what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it. The only thing that seemed somewhat different compared to her usual disposition was the dance element that drove the entire track, which wasn’t her usual execution when it came to on-the-nose whimsical disses.
Written by the singer, “one day when I wasn’t required in the main studio”, Nicks took a “Fender Rhodes piano” and went into the other room, stumbling upon a “drum pattern” and writing the entire song “in about ten minutes”. She immediately liked the distinctive direction it took, with the groove and rhythmic structure appearing, unlike most other things she had written in the past.
How many chords are there in ‘Dreams’?
Although it became one of the band’s most timeless hits, the song structure to ‘Dreams’ isn’t that complicated at all, likely owing to its lasting endurance. While many of Nicks’ lyrics hold layers and double meanings relating to her complicated entanglement with Buckingham, the chords in this particular track centre around just two—F major and G major.
There are, of course, many other embellishments within the song, but the F and G chords are fundamental drivers, leading the track through its various cadences as Nicks navigates the several facets of frustration and loss. Interestingly, its simplicity drew divisive reactions among the group, with Christine McVie initially labelling its minimalist structure as “boring.”
However, others, like Mick Fleetwood, have since hailed it as one of their best songs, particularly due to the chords, which were enhanced by Buckingham to create “the impression that there’s a thread running through the whole thing.” According to Fleetwood, ‘Dreams’ is one of those “stupidly simple” songs that “has a real feel, and it’s lazy, behind the beat – stupidly simple but well-thought-out.”
While many of Fleetwood Mac’s hits hinge on more complicated arrangements, especially relating to Buckingham’s intricate guitar work, many, like ‘Dreams’, prove that their versatility came second to none. It also proved Nicks’ unmatched ability to transform personal experience into dreamy soundscapes, pouring out of her organically like a true architect of beautiful music.
