The spell of ‘Silver Springs’: Did Stevie Nicks put a hex on Lindsey Buckingham?
“Time cast a spell on you / But you won’t forget me,” Stevie Nicks sings over and over like a command in Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Silver Springs’. In a rare live performance, she stares Lindsey Buckingham right in the eyes, keeping him locked there as he looks back, almost frozen by the power of the track while the camera captures it all. She sings it again and again, each time with more power and emotion. She sings it like an incantation as if the track holds a spell she’s sending out into the world; “You’ll never get away from the sound / Of the woman that loved you”.
Originally, ‘Silver Springs’ was intended to sit on the band’s 1977 album, Rumours. It was an incredibly tumultuous period, relentlessly written about and analysed by fans and music historians alike, as the band created some of their undeniably best work during a time when they were utterly imploding. John and Christine McVie’s marriage was breaking up as she wrote ‘You Make Loving Fun’ about an affair. But the inspiration behind the album’s most gut-wrenching songs comes from the messy demise of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s long-term love. The emotional turmoil within the band fueled the raw and powerful songwriting that made their work during this period so compelling, leaving an indelible mark on rock history.
The pair met back in high school and have been linked ever since. They started their musical duo and battled through some incredibly difficult times when no money was coming in. When the opportunity to join Fleetwood Mac came around, Buckingham made it clear that the couple were a package deal and that he wouldn’t go where she wasn’t. In short, they grew up together and were a musical and romantic force to be reckoned with.
So a breakup between them was always bound to be heart shattering. But a breakup between two songwriters is something else entirely. During the sessions for Rumours, as their relationship broke down to total disrepair and finally ended, the two were grieving and processing the loss right there and then, and asking the other to sing or play on the track. Buckingham broke Nicks’ heart with ‘Go Your Own Way’, while Nicks’ ‘Dreams’ acts as her response.
However, the most emotive track written during the period was left off the record. Perhaps ‘Silver Springs’ proved too powerful as it was cut from the tracklist and relegated to merely a rarely performance fan favourite. Aptly released as a B-side to ‘Go Your Own Way’, the track seems to hold all the upset, fury and heartache that Nicks felt in response to not only Buckingham’s track but to the entire breakup and the future of their musical partnership.
As the verses wind on, the song feels like a typical breakup track as Nicks ponders about moving on, jealousy over seeing her ex-partner with someone new, and eventually stopping loving him. However, it’s when the chorus and bridge hit that makes the track feel like something different entirely. Her voice suddenly seems to steel and become incredibly straight-talking. The imagery is dropped for plain speaking as she sings, “Time cast a spell on you / But you won’t forget me / I know I could have loved you / But you would not let me”.
From the day it was released to today, the track has been sending shivers down listeners’ spines. There’s something in the words that feels powerful but more powerful than just great songwriting. As the refrain comes in and Nicks’ vocals get louder, more emotive and faster, it builds in its power. She begs desperate pleas like “Was I just a fool?” but then each one is punctuated by declarative statements, climaxing in the phrase, “I’ll follow you down / ‘Til the sound of my voice will haunt you”.
The track is so powerful, in fact, that it’s been wondered whether it even holds some spells. The jokes that Nicks is a witch have always followed her, ever since breakout tracks like ‘Rhiannon’ or cuts like ‘Gold Dust Woman’ and ‘Sisters Of The Moon’. Addressing the topic, Nicks told the LA Times in 2014, “In the beginning of my career, the whole idea that some wacky, creepy people were writing, ‘You’re a witch, you’re a witch!’ was so arresting. And there I am like, ‘No, I’m not!”
But this air of witchiness and power colours so much of her material. ‘Silver Springs’ is a prime example of something supernatural or spiritual being captured right there in the song. In the clip of the band performing it live in 1997 for the first time in years, it feels right there for the world to see as the energy between Nicks and Buckingham pours out of screens and headphones. He looks like a man entranced, as if Nicks’ hex that he would never get away from her sound and would forever be haunted by her voice is coming true.
In many ways, it did. Regardless of the status of their relationship or their fallouts, Buckingham and Nicks are inseparably linked. The guitarist will never get away from the sound of the woman who loved him because their music will forever be tied together. So whether it’s by incantation or merely the inseverable links of art and love, the spell of ‘Silver Springs’ came true.
