“Silver Springs” and Fleetwood Mac

A friend sent me a short article on this song from the Boston Globe called “How Gen Z made Fleetwood Mac the hottest band in America,”, with the subtitle, “Fifty years later, ‘Silver Springs’ remains a breakup ballad for the ages.” The point the sweaty columnist Renée Graham is trying to make is that a particular Fleetwood Mac song has captured the hearts of Generation Z. That song is “Silver Springs“, written by Stevie Nicks.  It was intended to be put on Fleetwood Mac’s fantastic album Rumours, but didn’t make it on.  As Wikipedia notes:

The subject of the song is the breakup of the romantic relationship between Nicks and Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham.

Conflicts over “Silver Springs” led Nicks to leave Fleetwood Mac in 1991. The song appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s 1992 box set, 25 Years – The Chain. A live version of “Silver Springs” was released as a single from the band’s 1997 album The Dance; this version of the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1998. A version of “Silver Springs” appeared on a remastered edition of Rumours in 2004, and the song was also included in Nicks’ 2007 compilation album, Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks.

Written by Stevie Nicks, “Silver Springs” describes Nicks’ perspective on the ending of her romantic relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.  She said:

I wrote “Silver Springs” about Lindsey. And we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Springs [sic]. And I loved the name… Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me. And ‘You could be my silver springs’ – that’s just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me.

The “sic” refers to the town of “Silver Spring” (ergo the ‘sic’), located in Maryland near Washington, D.C.; I used to live right by it.

Regardless, those of us of a certain age are well aware of the romantic issues that not only beset the band (Nick and Buckingham broke up, and Christine and John McVie divorced, with Nicks having a brief fling with drummer Mick Fleetwood), but provided some of the best material for their songs. And, according to this article, “Silver Springs” is emblematic of the breakup of Nicks and Buckingham.  But first, let’s listen to the song that’s the subject of the Globe article. It’s a live studio performance from 1977, part of a wonderful set.

The lyrics clearly reflect the anger of a woman whose love is not returned since the man she loves (Buckingham) is apparently involved with at least one other women (there were actually several). As far as what happened to cause this famous breakup, well, your mileage may differ depending on what source you read. All that’s clear is that they had a very tight relationship but ultimately couldn’t get along, but were still forced to play together.  And so they worked out their emotions in their music, resulting in some of the finest songs of the era. “Rumours” is #7 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 best albums of all time” (Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” is number 1).

Those who dismiss Fleetwood Mac as “pabulum” don’t know what they’re talking about. But the Boston Globe is a bit hyperbolic too! Surely “Silver Springs”, while very good, shouldn’t be the only song that Gen Z loves.  Is that generation obsessed with breakups? What about the other great songs from the band, songs like “Rhiannon” or “Everywhere”?

Here’s an extract from the Globe piece:

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have taken over social media.

To be exact, what’s swarming millions of timelines is their suddenly inescapable 1997 performance of “Silver Springs’’ from a Fleetwood Mac concert that saw the classic lineup — Nicks, a singer and the band’s most affecting songwriter; singer-guitarist Buckingham; singer-keyboardist Christine McVie; bassist John McVie; and drummer Mick Fleetwood — reunited for the first time in a decade.

What was a breakup ballad became a mad scene that could have been plucked from a Verdi opera. Nicks looked at Buckingham, her former lover, while singing about the end of their relationship. “Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me,’’ she sings as she warns him that he’ll “never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you.’’

Gen Z has discovered what generations before them recognized — the raw melodrama and polished pop of Fleetwood Mac. And they can’t get enough.

“I just know that ‘Silver Springs’ is an actual spell that Stevie cast on Lindsey so he would never truly be over her,’’ one woman posted on Instagram. Numerous women are making videos of themselves showing Nicks’s performance to their boyfriends or husbands and schooling them on the song’s history.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted Fleetwood Mac in 1998, recently called that song “the performance that launched a thousand TikToks.’’

Capitalizing on their newfound audience, Buckingham, 75, and Nicks, 77 — who met in high school — recently announced that on Sept. 19, Buckingham Nicks, their pre-Fleetwood Mac duo, will reissue a remastered version of their eponymous 1973 album, which has long been out of print and isn’t available on music streaming platforms.

On social media they teased fans into a frenzy with a line from their song “Frozen Love.’’ On Instagram, after Nicks posted “And if you go forward,’’ Buckingham finished the lyric: “I’ll meet you there.’’

“Buckingham Nicks’’ flopped when it was released, although it did catch Fleetwood’s ear, which changed music history. But it’s now one of the year’s most anticipated releases.

Rolling Stone once called Fleetwood Mac “the lovingest, fightingest, druggingest band of the ’70s.’’ They were also one of the best when Buckingham and Nicks joined the British band in 1974. The couple’s unraveling relationship and creatively fruitful aftermath made the band pop music’s most enduring soap opera. As Buckingham and Nicks were breaking up, so were the McVies, and then Nicks had an affair with Fleetwood — all while recording the monumental “Rumours.’’

Released in 1977, that album is a diary of anger, fragile hope, and the irreparably frayed bonds of love flung open to the world. Unlike today’s artists who create vexing guessing games around which romantic partner is being referenced, with Nicks and Buckingham there was nothing to decipher. Pretty much every song they wrote was a message to the other.

(“Silver Springs’’ was cut from that album, surfacing only as a B-side to Buckingham’s biting hit, “Go Your Own Way.’’)

Like the band itself for decades, Buckingham and Nicks broke up but never fully broke apart. And the authenticity of their tribulations keeps finding new, eager audiences.

The Globe article included this screenshot from the video (at 2:38), showing Nicks glaring at Buckingham. But it exaggerates the truly conflicted feelings both of them had after the breakup. (See the end of “Landslide,” below.)

Well, yes, perhaps “Silver Springs” could be getting as popular as the article notes, but remember the other songs with the same theme, including this one:

And the rancor wasn’t on tap in this song from the same session, which happens to be my favorite Fleetwood Mac song (it’s a Nicks product, of course). Be sure to watch at the end.

The lyrics from LyricFind: (these don’t correspond precisely to what Nicks sings above).

You could be my silver spring

Blue-green colors flashin’

I would be your only dream

Your shinin’ autumn ocean crashin’

Don’t say that she’s pretty

And did you say that she loved you?

Baby, I don’t want to know

So I’ll begin not to love you

Turn around, see me runnin’

I’ll say I loved you years ago

Tell myself you never loved me, no

Don’t say that she’s pretty

And did you say that she loved you?

Baby, I don’t want to know

Oh no

And can you tell me was it worth it?

Baby, I don’t want to know

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

Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me

I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me

I’ll follow you down ’til the sound of my voice will haunt you

Give me just a chance

You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you

Was I such a fool?

I’ll follow you down til’ the sound of my voice will haunt you

Give me just a chance

You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you

Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me

I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me

I’ll follow you down ’til the sound of my voice

WRITERS

Stephanie Nicks

PUBLISHERS

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing

I guess what I’m trying to say with this post is that if you idolize a band because a single one of your songs expresses your feelings about a relationship, you’re going to miss a lot of the other great music from that band.