Fleetwood Mac, a personal favorite to so many with powerful, strong and incredibly heartbreaking and painful lyrics for fans to sing along to. This band was a legend of the 70’s and will continue to be through the test of time. While “Fleetwood Mac” by Fleetwood Mac (also known as the white album,) was not the band’s biggest accomplished album it was a very big album that influenced the world to this day. Fleetwood Mac consisted of at this time, Lindsey Buckingham as lead guitarist, songwriter and vocals, Stevie Nicks as songwriter and vocals, Christine Mcvie as pianist and vocals, John Mcvie as bass guitarist, and Mick Fleetwood as drummer. These were the members at the height of the band’s success.

Monday Morning 

Lindsey Buckingham both wrote and was lead vocals on the first track off the Fleetwood Mac album Monday Morning. The song originally being written for the duo act Buckingham Nicks which was the group both Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were in before joining Fleetwood Mac. The song is about loving someone who might not put in the same effort as their partner does and struggling on whether to stay in the relationship or leave “Monday morning you sure look nice/Friday I got travelling on my mind” but at the end of the day he doesn’t mind the treatment because he at least gets to be with her “First you love me then you get on down the line/But I don’t mind.” This song was written about Buckingham’s on and off lover Stevie Nicks.

Warm Ways

Warm Ways was written and performed vocally by Christine Mcvie. This was the lead single of the album. It is a very short and simplicit song with very little lyrics but a good slow instrumental to flow the song along. The song is about being someone’s person. Being able to be there for someone through good and bad. “Sleep easy by my side/Into gentle slumber you can hide.” Imagery of not being able to sleep because the person laying next to them is so amazing to them, “I can’t sleep with you warm ways.” Showing that there’s no harsh reason for her being up late at night other than her own thoughts. 

Blue Letter

Blue Letter is the only song on the album not written by anyone in Fleetwood Mac. The song was written by the brothers Michael and Richard Curtis and are very close friends with Buckingham and Nicks and worked with them on their songs before the couple joined Fleetwood Mac. Blue Letter was the last song decision on the album and sung by Lindsey Buckingham. This song is about someone’s lover writing them a letter telling them they are leaving for something/someone new, “Wanna be on the road to paradise/I want a lover who don’t get old.” The person who was left tells of how even if their lover came back to them they wouldn’t return back to the relationship, “Baby, when your day goes down/I won’t be waiting for you.”

Rhiannon

This is a personal favorite of mine off the album. Rhiannon was written and sung by Stevie Nicks. This was a song written before she joined the band and about a goddess from welsch mythology. Nicks read the book Triad: A Novel of The Supernatural and was inspired by the tale of Rhiannon. Rhiannon was the goddess of birds, Nicks adds in lyrics like “Takes to the sky like a bird in flight,” and “All your life you’ve never seen a woman/Taken by the wind,” mentioning hidden meaning of the goddess’ origin in folklore. Nicks tells the story of Rhiannon being so irresistible and calling attention to how she lures people in, “And wouldn’t you love to love her,” and “Would you stay if she promised you heaven.” The song continues to show the personality of a woman carrying herself in the dark and mysteriousness of life.

Over My Head

Over My Head was written and sung by Christine Mcvie with backing vocals of both Buckingham and Nicks. The song is very folky rock and became the lead single for the album in the United States which surprised the band. Included in the song is a nice melodic outro and super easy to listen too. It’s both faded in and out at both the beginning and end of the song. Mcvie sings of being in a relationship with someone she loves so much but hurts her. She thinks she might be too invested in the relationship and is in over her head. With lyrics like “You can take me to the paradise/And then again you can be cold as ice,” and “Sometimes I can’t help but feel/That I’m wasting all of my time,” really capture that imagery.

Crystal

Crystal was written by Stevie Nicks but sung by her lover at the time Lindsey Buckingham. This was another song meant for the duos own album before they joined Fleetwood Mac but was brought to the table by Nicks and added to the bands album. The song is a very slow folky song with strong and powerful vocals during the chorus that soon turn to a soft melodic flow from Buckingham during the verses accompanied by harmonies from Nicks. The song is about loving someone and being so emotionally connected to them. Lyrics like “Like a glove, like the love that had finally finally found me,” saying that his lover was meant for him. She fit him “like a glove.” Another example diving deeper into the song are the lyrics, “Drove me through the mountain/Through the crystal like a clear water fountain/Drove me like a magnet to the sea,” that all these feelings for his lover drive him to her.

Say You Love Me

Say You Love Me was written and performed by Christine Mcvie. It is known as one the the bands’ most well-known songs. The song is very upbeat with a steady drum beat to carry the instrumental through to the end of the song. The song describes the feeling of being head over heels for someone. The song is likely about her husband at the time and bandmate John Mcvie, the bass guitarist for Fleetwood Mac. The emotions of love and needing validation are all present in this song. She talks of loving someone so much that she “falling at your feet,” as well as seemingly giving them a second chance, “And if you use me again it will be the end of me.” 

Landslide

Landslide was written and sung by Stevie Nicks. The song is very emotional and personal even just from its sound with just Nicks vocals and the sweet hum of an acoustic guitar. The song compares love and life to an avalanche. Nicks writes about how she is scared of her life after a seemingly ended relationship because all her life and the normal that she once had was with this person. She wonders if she can handle these changes alone and start her new path without her previous lover. 

World Turning

World Turning was co-written by both Lindsey Buckingha and Christine Mcvie. It has a very blues sound within the vocals but a very folk instrumental to accompany it. The song talks of being to up in the clouds and needing to bring themselves back to reality. “World turning/I got to get my feet back on the ground.”  

Sugar Daddy

Sugar Daddy was written and sung by Christine Mcvie. The song is very light and almost popesc with keeping the ting of blues wrapped up in it. The song describes someone who is in a relationship but also wants a sugar daddy. A sugar daddy if the term is unfamiliar to one, is a man who pays for company from ladies. Mcvie speaks of not wanting anything more from this “sugar daddy,” other than his money. “And if I need whiskey/He could serve it to me neat,” and “He could be my friend/And if I needed money/I know he would lend me, lend me a hand,” these lyrics show her want for the things he has to offer her. What shows her love to her now significant other is when the chorus picks up and Mcvie sings, “But when it comes to loving/He’d better leave me alone/Because I’ve got you baby.” Definitely one of the more peculiar songs on the album but still a classic from Fleetwood Mac.

I’m So Afraid

The last song to finally end the album is I’m So Afraid written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham. Not a very usual style route for the band with a more dark and rock sound to the song. Buckingham expresses his fear for the bad days that he’s currently dealing with after a really high point in his life leaving him feeling almost blank and emotionless. “Days when the rain and sun are gone/Black as night,” showcase that both the bad and good are gone his sun and rain and now his life is as black as night. The song is accompanied the whole was through by a captivating electric guitar battling the vocals of Buckingham bringing the whole song as well as the album together with this final song.