Christine McVie and the “spiritual” experience of writing ‘Songbird’
This week we’ve been confronted with the death of Fleetwood Mac’s co-singer-songwriter and keyboardist, Christine McVie. She joined her husband John McVie’s band, Fleetwood Mac, in 1970 as part of the group’s second incarnation and developed her talents through the late 1970s, when the addition of the power couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham helped bring unprecedented levels of commercial success.
Fleetwood Mac confirmed McVie’s passing in a statement shared on social media on November 30th. “There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie,” it read. “She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed.”
Christine and John McVie divorced in 1976 but remained on good terms in the run-up to Rumours, the band’s most successful and enduring album. Christine McVie’s involvement in the release was monumental, with principal songwriting credits on ‘Don’t Stop,’ ‘Songbird,’ ‘Oh Daddy,’ and ‘You Make Loving Fun’. Other notable contributions included ‘Hold Me,’ ‘Little Lies,’ and ‘Over My Head.’
McVie’s songwriting and stage presence was often closely tethered to a spiritual side, a gift for which she had her mother to thank. As revealed in a 2016 interview with The Guardian, McVie’s mother claimed to have spiritual powers of healing and even held seances from time to time. “I believe they [my mother’s spiritual powers] were real,” she said. “She was a healer. I just wanted her to be an ordinary mum, so the less I knew of that side, the better, but here’s a story I can tell you.
“There was an old friend of my dad’s in Newcastle – this rich old lady who lived in a run-down castle. She had terminal cancer. She sent a pair of her kid gloves to my mother, who wore one during the night, and a couple of weeks later, there was a phone call: the doctors were amazed that all the cancer was completely gone.”
While McVie didn’t claim to have inherited any of her mother’s psychic powers, she revealed how a “spiritual experience” led her to write one of her most beloved songs, ‘Songbird’. “That was a strange little baby, that one,” she told the Guardian of ‘Songbird’. “I woke up in the middle of the night, and the song just came into my head. I got out of bed, played it on the little piano I have in my room, and sang it with no tape recorder. I sang it from beginning to end: everything.”
“I can’t tell you quite how I felt,” McVie added. “It was as if I’d been visited – it was a very spiritual thing. I was frightened to play it again in case I’d forgotten it. I called a producer first thing the next day and said, ‘I’ve got to put this song down right now.’ I played it nervously, but I remembered it. Everyone just sat there and stared at me. I think they were all smoking opium or something in the control room. I’ve never had that happen to me since. Just the one visitation. It’s weird.”
Listen to Christine McVie’s “spiritual” magnum opus below.
