If You Ever Did Believe

[BLY]

This just came up on my mix (Practical Magic version) I think if this would have been a Buckingham produced Fleetwood Mac track it would have been a big hit in 1999 coming off the success of the Dance.

[David]

Originally Posted by BLY

This just came up on my mix (Practical Magic version) I think if this would have been a Buckingham produced Fleetwood Mac track it would have been a big hit in 1999 coming off the success of the Dance.

Could be. I quite like it. They should have played this instead of Sweet Girl.

[bombaysaffires]

Somewhere in my boxes of archives I still have the Louise Goffin album from what 1978?79? where she covered this song. It was so shocking because it was the first time Stevie had given a song she hadn't already recorded herself to someone else. I remember being a bit disappointed with it; I think in hindsight it had a lot to do with the production and Goffin's very shouty vocals. If I recall Stevie did some backing vocals on it. Later Stevie versions were definitely better.

This makes me think of her writing Leather and Lace per request of Waylon Jennings, and how these two cases were the first indications of how she could have easily become a songwriter for other people in addition to herself. Purely my speculation but given that she has always emphasized how she doesn't like being told what to do or when to do it, writing for others may not have been a good fit. Plus, her songs tend to be so personally specific, both in lyrics and her vocal range which, combined with her extremely limited musical capability, probably also limited the number of songs that could be successfully done by other people. Very few if any covers of Dreams for instance even come close to the Rumours version, with its exquisite vocals (when she still had range) and also the musical skill of the band and especially Lindsey to beef up her limited music.