The only Fleetwood Mac song with contributions from all five members
Fleetwood Mac thrived on their shared songwriting duties. Christine McVie contributed her blues-inspired keyboard skills and emotive lyricism to some of the band’s biggest songs, from the melancholic ‘Songbird’ to the sparkling ‘Everywhere’. Stevie Nicks brought her witchy wonder to their records with tracks like ‘Dreams’ and ‘Rhiannon’, and her former lover Lindsey Buckingham concocted catchy hits like ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Monday Morning’. Plus, they were all writing about each other.
Rather than limiting themselves to just one lead songwriter, like many other bands do, Fleetwood Mac ensured that each member was afforded the room to show off their songwriting talents. Their albums would switch between vocalists with ease – Buckingham, Nicks, Buckingham, McVie – as they each penned biting and beautiful songs to and about one another.
Despite the consistency of talent in the main songwriting trio, they rarely opted to co-write songs together. Most of the band’s biggest hits would be penned by one member alone. It was also rare that bandleader Mick Fleetwood or bassist John McVie would get involved in the process of writing. But the one time they broke both of these rules, they created not only one of the best songs in their own catalogue, not only one of the best songs in soft rock but one of the best songs of all time.
The making of Rumours marked a particularly turbulent time for Fleetwood Mac behind the scenes, characterised by breakups and excessive use of cocaine. Each band member channelled those personal issues into their own tracks on the album, but there was only one track that included contributions from all five band members. In fact, it would be the only song in their entire discography to include the full 1977 lineup. That song was the iconic ‘The Chain’.
The song compiled a number of existing elements, including parts of a song Christine McVie had penned called ‘Butter Cookie (Keep Me There)’, a riff contributed by John McVie, and an ending concocted by both him and Fleetwood. Buckingham would arrange the song, while Nicks contributed some existing lyrics she had penned. Each member of the band contributed to the track in some way.
The end result was a sprawling display of the talent held by Fleetwood Mac in 1977. The first half of the song is admirably controlled, limited to gorgeous twangs, subdued percussion, and Buckingham and Nicks’ perfect harmonies, despite the ongoing disharmony behind the scenes. “I can still hear you saying,” Buckingham and Nicks sing, in words detailing their own failed relationship, “You would never break the chain.”
But as the song passes its midpoint, it turns into something else entirely. McVie’s bassline comes to the forefront, full and foreboding, as it paves the way for an exploding ending. “Chain, keep us together,” Buckingham and Nicks beg in tandem. It’s easy to see why the band were so keen to keep the ending Fleetwood and McVie had created – it rounds out the song perfectly.
Despite the success of ‘The Chain’, which still finds its way onto radio stations and soundtracks over 40 years later, the band would never write so collaboratively again. The Rumours hit remains the only song in their discography to credit all five members from that era, a singular display of their collective songwriting power.
