The song Stevie Nicks wished she could have sang: “I should be singing harmony”
Every member of Fleetwood Mac usually had to learn the definition of the word ‘democracy’ pretty quickly in the studio. There might be three great songwriters in the group, but what would end up on the record were the ones that the entire band felt were strong enough to flesh out for either a single or a decent album cut. Although Stevie Nicks usually had a massive track record for singing their trademark anthems, she was furious when she couldn’t sing on the song ‘Everywhere’.
Granted, Nicks already had her hands full outside of The Mac going into the late 1980s. They were still racking up major hits like ‘Gypsy’ off of their last album Mirage, but it was becoming abundantly clear that the ‘Gold Dust Woman’ was starting to focus a lot more on her solo career when making records like The Wild Heart.
And really, can you blame her? Fleetwood Mac was already a nightmare to work in as far back as the Rumours era, so having to go back into the musical tornado all over again and try her best to keep it together next to Lindsey Buckingham wouldn’t necessarily be anyone else’s first option to work with.
But there’s a difference between contributing to the record and then just clocking in for the day, and the band knew that Nicks was not giving 100%. There had been pieces that she had been working on for The Other Side of the Mirror, but Christine McVie already had classics for the record, and ‘Everywhere’ could stand alongside ‘You Make Loving Fun’ as one of the greatest pop tunes she ever wrote.
Christine never wrote a wholeheartedly bad song throughout their time together, and while ‘Little Lies’ featured pieces from the whole band, ‘Everywhere’ does tend to feel like a solo track that ended up on a Fleetwood Mac project. So when Nicks wanted to add her signature touch to everything, Christine had to put her foot down when they ran out of time to use her on the master track.
According to the book Gold Dust Woman, Christine remembered Nicks being furious about being put on the sidelines, saying, “[I said] ‘OK, Stevie. What specifically are you upset about?’ ‘I should be singing harmony on ‘Everywhere’, she said. [I said], ] ‘I wanted you to sing on it, too, but you weren’t there. In fact, we’ve been working on this record for almost a year and you were only with us for a couple of days. Now, why don’t you just tell us you’re sorry, and we can work it out.”
Even though the band rolled over to give her some time, it’s nearly impossible to tell her voice is in the mix half the time. Her track is mixed criminally low, and whereas she could make two lines in ‘Little Lies’ sound haunting, it’s hard to imagine the melody she’s singing not being replaced by a guitar or a synthesiser if they really wanted to.
If Nicks acted like the drama queen, though, that was nothing compared to what happened before the tour, culminating in Buckingham leaving the group because he couldn’t take the animosity anymore. Part of the appeal of Fleetwood Mac was how much it felt like a rock and roll soap opera, but ‘Everywhere’ is still one of Christine’s finest works, regardless of how much baggage came with just one background vocal.
