Tune Tuesday

It was on this day in 1977 that Fleetwood Mac released what many consider to be their best album, Rumours. I don’t know this to be a fact, but I would guess it would appear in the Top 10 of any “Best Album” lists.

Today should be TuneS Tuesday, because you get a bonus cut. The album is loaded with hits, but I love the connection between these two.

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks dated from 1972-1976. The relationship ended just before the Rumours album was recorded. The emotions from this led to two huge hits.

Go Your Own Way was the first single from the album. Songfacts says:

Lindsey Buckingham wrote this as a message to Stevie Nicks. It describes their breakup, with the most obvious line being, “Packing up, shacking up is all you want to do,” and concluding that he is better off without her – she can go her own way as far as he’s concerned. Stevie insisted she never shacked up with anyone when they were going out, and wanted Lindsey to take out the line, but he refused.

Stevie Nicks told Q magazine June 2009:

“It was certainly a message within a song. And not a very nice one at that.”

She got equal time on the album with “Dreams,” her message to Lindsey Buckingham. She is a bit more delicate in her approach, but just as biting, telling him what will happen when she goes her own way:

Listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had

Nicks told Mojo magazine (January 2013):

“‘Dreams’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’ are what I call the ‘twin songs.’ They’re the same song written by two people about the same relationship.”

She recalled to The Daily Mail October 16, 2009:

“I remember the night I wrote ‘Dreams.’ I walked in and handed a cassette of the song to Lindsey. It was a rough take, just me singing solo and playing piano. Even though he was mad with me at the time, Lindsey played it and then looked up at me and smiled. What was going on between us was sad. We were couples who couldn’t make it through. But, as musicians, we still respected each other – and we got some brilliant songs out of it.”

Go Your Own Way went to #10, while Dreams is Fleetwood Mac’s only #1 hit in the US. I agree with songfacts when they state that it is surprising considering how familiar many of their songs are in this country. The Hot 100 didn’t always reflect the impact of their songs, many of which showed remarkable endurance.

Go Your Own Way