Christine's songs on Time have a theme
 

Has anyone else noticed that Christine's songs on Time are all about how she misses the change of seasons and wants to quit the band and leave town? I think it is really cool!

She starts off with Hollywood, saying she doesn't like the city and wants to go back to her roots: the change of seasons in a country in England. Then the last song, Do It All Over Again ends with "So it's time to move onto the rain- and finally break the chain". Rain is what England and London are famous for and breaking the chain is a metaphor for leaving the band.

I just think it is really cool and so truthful that she ends the last song she ever did on a FM studio album saying that she is going to "break the chain".

actually her last song on a Fleetwood Mac album was Temporary One, which by the way says The Bridge will bring us back together. Don't know how true that will be but...

I agree diamondsnake. It's sad in a way now knowing what was to become, and then going back to listen to it... and that last song seemed like such a swan song too. Too bad no one noticed at the "time", no pun intended.

But live albums don't count. I was talking about her last actual album, you know, a studio album.

Exactly, it's very bittersweet. I would be mad about her quitting the band, but with a new solo album coming out, I can't complain!

I always thought that "Temporary One" and her "Time" songs sent mixed signals. Very contradictory. Great songs though.

I can go along with the idea she was thinking about leaving the band at the time when Time was recorded, but that was 1994. Fleetwood Mac wasn't the same band, nor in the same position as it was in the Dance-period. I can understand she had different feelings about being in the band back then.

*I'm listening to Time now for the first time since.. oh I don't know, a couple of years?

I do think she wanted to leave the band around this time. Dave Mason said that he thought Time would be her last Fleetwood Mac album. She sort of eased out of Fleetwood Mac in a way. She recorded some songs for the Chain box set then the songs for the Time album, then the Dance album & tour. She obviously didn't want to tour again. I remember when I heard that the Rumours line-up would be getting back together again by releasing an album & then tour. I was not surprised that the other 4 had agreed to this, but I was VERY surprised that Christine had agreed to the whole thing since she had said that she was done touring after the BTM tour.

I think her Time songs were more personal than some of her songs on other albums, especially Hollywood, Nights In Estoril & All Over Again. "All Over Again" was her goodbye to Fleetwood Mac. She wrote "Temporary One" about her family in England. By the way, if you listen to her interview on that Best Buy promo CD, you can get a pretty good idea of what she was thinking about at the time.

I think she's always thought about leaving Fleetwood Mac, or at least the touring/being on the road aspect of it. Even back to the Bare Trees album when she wrote "Homeward Bound" she was contemplating it. I think she mustered up the strength or the will to do The Dance Tour for her fellow members and for herself to put closure on it all. To end it in the right fashion, so to speak. When has Chrisitine not been professional? Class act all the way. I also thought it to be very sentimentally provoking when I read(in the link in the "album cover tracklisting" thread) that there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't think about Fleetwood Mac. :( Her heart's still there, she just can't/won't do the major tours that Fleetwod Mac does. I think there's still hope that she will record with FM again.....in the day when they ALL just want to be "Homeward Bound". :)

Christine's "Time" tracks are some of her best imo. And I do agree that they share a central theme of saying goodbye. Bittersweetness at its' best.

So, let's say The Dance was her final tour. (That sounds plausible to me)Then why didn't she "officially" say goodbye? She never did that... There never was a press release or a comment by her in an interview, that she has finally quit the band. Or was there? It's an open ending.

I missed it too if there was one. But I'd imagine that she doesn't want to say anything permanent about it. Just think of how many "farewell" tours Frank Sinatra did and he still came back a few years after one. So if she said she was never going to tour with FM again and yet still "felt the pull" and eventually wanted to come back like she did with The Dance then she wouldn't appear any different than those other big names.

She's a class act all the way. Who needs the big, dramatic announcement anyway. ;)

It's just not some artists' style to "say goodbye" or do a farewell tour. I think in her heart of hearts she knew it was the last one she was going to do. It was closure more from a personal perspective than a public one.

She did make an announcement during the BTM tour about not wanted to tour again but that she would still record with Fleetwood Mac. She did strongly hint during the Dance tour that this was it for her. During every interview I've read that she did around this time, she used the word closure every time. That was her way of ending it. I agree she's just not the type to make a big announcement.

Why unnecessarily burn any bridges? By not officially quitting, her options were still open to record, or whatever.
I miss her so much...

I think you are right... Circa 1977 Stevie Nicks wrote Think About It (telling Christine to "think about it before you go") for Christine.