Who wrote the songs on Fleetwood Mac album ‘Rumours’?
By the time Fleetwood Mac reached the end of the 1970s, they had been through more shakeups than any other musician’s lifetime. As much as the band may have prospered as a blues band with Peter Green at the helm, the constant shifting of band members led to the band taking on Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as a vocal/guitar duo, which led to them expanding their sonic palette on their self-titled White Album. Even though the group would score major singles like ‘Say You Love Me’, they were about to embark on a massive undertaking with Rumours.
Although the music was arranged by every group member, Buckingham and Nicks were seasoned songwriters on their own, being responsible for all of the material on their joint album Buckingham Nicks. With keyboardist Christine McVie, the band’s next album would see them pivot towards pop territory, only to nearly fall apart as they recorded the album.
Since Nicks and Buckingham were in a relationship, their inevitable breakup led to them creating songs aimed at each other. While Nicks would spend time trying to make peace with her broken relationship on ‘Dreams’, Buckingham would lash out in anger on his contributions to the record, thinking that he had been played for a fool on ‘Second Hands News’ and accusing his old flame of shacking up with everyone on ‘Go Your Own Way’.
Outside of the volatile songs aimed at each other, Christine McVie was also having a falling-out with bassist John McVie, divorcing midway through the production. While McVie would have songs detailing her relationship drama on songs like ‘You Make Loving Fun’, her songs took on a more optimistic tone, like the enthusiastic sounds of ‘Don’t Stop’ and wishing peace for her and John on ‘Songbird’.
Aside from the targeted songs, many tracks also aimed to document what was happening around the group. Since most of the sessions were dictated by copious amounts of drugs, Nicks would write ‘Gold Dust Woman’ surrounding the band’s turmoil, with the titular woman being a cross between cocaine and a cruel witch.
While a handful of songs came together flawlessly, there were some hiccups midway through production, including Nicks having to record the song ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ instead of her favourite track, ‘Silver Springs’. Despite the various compromises that everyone had to cower to, nothing could take away from the power of ‘The Chain’.
Beginning as a song idea from Christine entitled ‘Keep Me There’, the song would be the only one credited to all five band members. After restructuring the tune with an acoustic guitar and a dobro from Buckingham, every lyricist had a hand in putting the words together while John delivered one of the greatest basslines of the 1970s.
While the production may have been messy, Rumours stands as one of the most exuberant albums of the 1970s, capturing musical bliss amid romantic turmoil. Although none of the members deserved to go through that much pain to get the album recorded, each song reads like a diary today, using the songs to communicate instead of screaming at each other.
Who wrote every track on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours:
- ‘Second Hand News’ – Lindsey Buckingham
- ‘Dreams’ – Stevie Nicks
- ‘Never Going Back Again’ – Lindsey Buckingham
- ‘Don’t Stop’ – Christine McVie
- ‘Go Your Own Way’ – Lindsey Buckingham
- ‘Songbird’ – Christine McVie
- ‘The Chain’ – Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood
- ‘You Make Loving Fun’ – Christine McVie
- ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ – Stevie Nicks
- ‘Oh Daddy’ – Christine McVie
- ‘Gold Dust Woman’ – Stevie Nicks
