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Our Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Love Songs presents 10 songs about love from the many lineups that the band Fleetwood Mac has gone through. As most classic rock fans know, Fleetwood Mac was a blues band that went through various lineup changes during those early years., However, the band did a complete makeover musically when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band in the mid-1970s. Our Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Love Songs will take a deep look into the band’s catalog from all eras.
Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Love Songs
#10 – Sentimental Lady
We open up our Top 10 Fleetwwod Mac Love Songs list going all the way back to the Bob Welch years. The song “Sentimental Lady,” was released on the album Bare Trees,. The album was released in 1972. The song was written by Bob Welch. The former member of Fleetwood Mac wrote the song for his wife. One doesn’t get more romantic in a love song than that. Bob Welch would also released the song once aging in the late 70s on his solo album French Kiss.
#9 – Hypnotized
We continue our Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Love songs list with another great one by Bob Welch. Bob Welch composed the song “Hypnotized,” which was released on the album Mystery To Me. The album was released in 1973. “Hypnotized,” is a spiritual love song. The lyrics point to a love for coming home. It’s not clear if he means home on Earth or somewhere else, but it’s obvious how important it is and how much in love he is with the idea.
#8 – Rhiannon
Stevie Nicks wrote “Rhiannon” for Fleetwood Mac in 1975. Subsequently, it reached the number 11 position on the Billboard Hot 100. Nicks was inspired to write the song by a witch named Rhiannon from a novel called Triad, who might have been inspired by the character of the same name from the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogion. The song’s applicability to the latter figure was a fortuitous coincidence, though Nicks would take a further interest in the latter figure in later times.
#7 – Silver Springs
Speaking of which, Stevie Nicks also penned “Silver Springs,” which was meant for Rumours but instead became a B-side for “Go Your Own Way.” She has explicitly said the change happened because of internal tensions, which is perhaps unsurprising when one learns that the song is about her breakup with Buckingham. Supposedly, the fights over the song were so bad that they came close to breaking up the band itself. Regardless, “Silver Springs” is worth a listen even though its longer length and slower tempo make it rather unusual by the standards of Fleetwood Mac.
#6 – Songbird
“Songbird” is also associated with Rumours. However, it is a Christina McVie song. As the story goes, she came up with the song towards the end of a recording session, so she didn’t have anyone else to record it with. Thanks to that, she stayed awake throughout the night to ensure that she wouldn’t forget its structure and melody. It seems safe to say that her efforts paid out. “Songbird” wasn’t a single but went gold in the United Kingdom anyway. Moreover, it is popular, as shown by how McVie often sings the song at the end of concerts.
#5 – Don’t Stop
“Don’t Stop” saw release as the third single for Rumours in 1977. Christina McVie wrote the song based on her separation from the band’s bass guitarist, John McVie. There is sadness in the song, but simultaneously, there is a pleasing sense of energy because of the powerful vocals and catchy melody. Curiously, “Don’t Stop” did much better in the United States where it peaked at the number 3 position than in the United Kingdom where it peaked at the number 32 position.
#4 – Little Lies
Meanwhile, “Little Lies” is a much later single from Tango in the Night in 1987. McVie was one of the two songwriters. The other was her then-husband, Eddy Quintela. “Little Lies” is one of Fleetwood Mac’s most popular songs, as shown by how it reached the 4th position on the Billboard Hot 100. Subject-wise, the song is complicated. Certainly, it isn’t happy, seeing as how the narrator senses that her relationship is coming apart. She is tempted to seek comfort from a pleasant lie, but in the end, she is strong enough to choose the painful and unpleasant truth.
#3 – Say You Love Me
“Say You Love Me” was the fourth single from Fleetwood Mac in 1977. It did a bit better than its immediate predecessor “Rhiannon” because it reached the same position in the United States but reached a bit higher at 40 rather than 46 in the United Kingdom. On the whole, “Say You Love Me” is very danceable because of its pleasing vocals, lively sound, and upbeat tempo. It sounds like the product of someone in love, which makes sense because McVie penned it when she was still married to John McVie.
#2 – Sara
Stevie Nicks wrote “Sara” for Tusk in 1979. It was the second single, which provided the studio album with a fair amount of momentum. After all, it surged to the number 7 position on the Billboard Hot 100. Moreover, it was a Top 20 hit in a slew of countries. There is more than one story about how “Sara” came to be. The songwriter herself has said that some of the inspiration came from her friend, Sara, who married Mick Fleetwood. Besides this, her ex-boyfriend Don Henley also said that their unborn child would have been named Sara, which met with partial agreement from Nicks. In any case, Nicks used her piercing vocals to excellent effect on the song, thus enabling her to tug at the heartstrings in a way that few singers ever manage.
#1 – Landslide
“Landslide” wasn’t one of the singles chosen from Fleetwood Mac. Even so, it managed to secure 10th place on the Billboard Adult Contemporary. Furthermore, it sold more than 2 million copies in the United States and more than 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom, which are the kind of numbers that most songs can only dream about. Reportedly, Stevie Nicks wrote “Landslide” when she was thinking about either returning to school or pursuing the career of a professional musician alongside Lindsey Buckingham. As such, it makes sense that the narrator becomes bolder in the song itself, thus foreshadowing the choice that she would eventually make. “Landslide” is a wonderful meditation on the inevitable changes that happen because of the passage of time. It acknowledges their power. Simultaneously, it also acknowledges people’s ability to adapt, overcome, and otherwise manage them.
Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Love Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2022
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