The making of Rumours
was a tumultuous time for Fleetwood Mac, which is an understatement. The band
literally imploded upon itself. Christie McVie and John McVie had divorced and
were not speaking to each other. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the
dynamic duo of Buckingham and Nicks, who had originally been brought in for
Buckingham to replace guitarist Bob Welch, though Nicks became a crucial
voice of the band, broke up and were fighting all the time. Mick Fleetwood, the
paterfamilias of the band, was having
an affair with Nicks, all the while his wife was having an affair with his best
friend (the only people not in the band). All of this was going on while
recording in a very small, claustrophobic studio.
Most of the songs on the LP are vitriolic bards against each
other. “Gold Dust Woman” is Lindsey railing on Nicks. “Oh, Daddy” was a weird
“homage” to Fleetwood. “You Make Loving Fun” was a song Christie McVie wrote
for her new lover, and her husband John had to play bass on it during the
recording and subsequent tours. “You Can Go Your Own Way” more or less speaks
for itself. And, the list goes on. “The Chain” is an ominous reminder of what
happens when things fall apart. And, so on.
I recently watched a documentary on the making of this
album, and though it has always been a favorite of mine, having watched this,
it was nothing short of a miracle that this album was ever made. Yet, it was in
that extreme Chaos that one of the most beautiful acts of Cosmos came about. I
have listened to that record at least several hundred times in my life, from
beginning to end. And, yes, I do still listen to it on the vinyl so it is an
“effort” to switch it to Side Two. I have never once tired of it, and I believe
it will remain one of my top 5 albums for the rest of my life. I cannot imagine
many others displacing it.
I first was exposed to Fleetwood Mac probably 35 years ago,
when I was just 8, by my older cousins from New Mexico. They lived in the
government-constructed town of Los Alamos as my uncle was associated with The
Lab, and they lived in a government-constructed house, which they had modified.
It had a largish, rambling room up top, which was the kids’ room, and there was
a record player. One of my cousin’s favorite bands was Fleetwood Mac, and Rumours came out about that time. I
remember listening to it there, as well as everyone laughing about the
provocative album cover design, and falling in love with it, and have never
looked back again, so to speak.
Amidst the turmoil and the heartache, the venom and the
broken trust, apparently, one night, Christie McVie sat down at the piano alone
and wrote a “prayer” for the group. When the others heard it, they had to have
it recorded, and they booked a grand piano, put a flower on the piano and a
glass of champagne and recorded it immediately. The final version was done in
one take. “Songbird” was the result and it shows that there is beauty in the eye of the hurricane, that even when all else around is falling apart, there is
something that remains. It became a tradition for a flower or flowers and a
glass of champagne to be put on her piano during each live performance.
It is a good prayer for all of those you Love and have Loved, even amidst the Chaos, there can indeed be Beauty.
Here is a recent version of her singing it live, some 30 years later.
