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.

As I've posted before, Christine did an online chat in 1995, to promote 'Time.'
I think a lot of things she said then, in regards to solo albums, touring, and her feelings towards Lindsey & Stevie, are very revealing.
For me at least, it's easy to see why she eventually decided to do the 'Dance' tour, while remaining essentially retired from the road. And also why she ended up recording a new solo album, when she had opted not to record with Fleetwood Mac for 'Say You Will.'

This isn't the entire chat... just some pertinent comments.:

say no more... ;)

Wow. I'm just amazed that Christine said it. I mean, I never thought she hated him or anything, I just never expected such high praise for him! :woohoo:

I don't think that Christine & Lindsey are really friends, but she's always had great respect for him professionally, so I'm not really surprised that she would say that.

That online chat transcript is terrific. She really doesn't beat around the bush. I wish she'd do another one with her new album coming out.

Thanks a lot for posting that :)

I love the line in that song, "You'll go on forever, cause you're that good." Awwww..... :(

I think you're right that you think I'm right! :laugh: Good point. That song was yet another indication of where Christine's heart was. My only question is why did she do it (tour) for so long? :confused:


Thanks for posting that transcript Mr. Stew....you ROCK!

I love that line too, and Stevie's right- Christine is that good... Christine rocks!

I don't think there was an official statement that she left the band. But, her actions certainly have said as much. I think she basically was saying she wasn't in the band anymore when she didn't show up for the Clinton farewell show in the White House lawn back in 2000. I mean, that was a pretty significant gig. I also seem to recall that was when the band started saying that she has retired from the group.

As for completely closing the chapter on Fleetwood Mac, I just don't ever see that happening. I mean, she was married to John and they shared a house with Mick for years. She went through hell and back with Stevie and Lindsey. She's seen so much during her time with the Mac that she knows to never say never. Which is optimistic for us.

Christine's songs on Time have a theme
 

I heard her say on the Making of Rumours DVD that some of her songs are "intensely personal about herself" some are about "other people into whose shoes she's stepping" and some are "complete fabrications"

I think her songs on Time were personal (Hollywood, Do it All Over Again, Nights in Estoril) and from what I've read of the lyrics the new album seems extremely personal.

She also said on the DVD that if she's got the lyrics that "kick starts her" into the song.

I don't want to pry too much into her personal life but it doesn't take a genius to work out that some of the new lyrics are about her marriage break up.

Hopefully though she's got a new love interest :xoxo: because some of the new songs sound very optimistic.

Gail

I read somewhere, I can't remember when and if it was an article, an interview, or a ledgie opinion, that Temporary One was for his brother, as if she was telling him that they would be together soon, which meant that she was moving back to England, leaving the band.

i never saw that. i guess it's possible she had her brother in mind but i always felt with the reference to 'moon rising' (ed's band was called Moon) it may have been more written about ed? maybe she changed her story over time lol. i think there was actually an interview where she said it was about her husband but now i have no clue where i heard/read that.

--Lis

I see it more of a romantic song too. She was always living apart from her brother so talking about a temporary barrier and a bridge bringing them together would fit something more personal relationship. But who knows. But the song fit perfectly with the Mac at the time because one could interpret it being about the band and coming together.

After a little bit of digging, I found this article from The Orlando Sentinel with the following information;

She had written "Temporary One" before the reunion came about. People could interpret the lyrics as being about Fleetwood Mac, but actually, she said, it was to do with moving back to England. She is very close to her brother, whose home is in Kent, and she and husband Ed Quintela bought a 17th-century house just 10 minutes away. They have made frequent trips during the pas five years to work on restoration and plan to move there permanently by the end of 1988...McVie said Quintella, who plays keyboards, recently put together a band called Moon, and they are crossing their fingers for a record deal currently in the works.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/t...ter/184715742/

I'm not sure if that was the exact article, but yes it was something like that what I remembered.

Well, well, well. Look at Nostradumbass over there!!!

You were right, Mr. Michel de Nostredame. I was really convinced (and sad) that she would never return to the band. When I learned about the OWTS tour I immediately decide I will go, cause I didn't know if it would be the only chance to see that lineup again. Unfortunately, it was, but not for the reason I was afraid (that Christine would only join for that one tour).

I saw her return as a miracle. Had she remained active in music after ITM, I would have hoped her return to the Mac. But her retirement was complete. So I was hopeless. Frankly, I thought S&L could leave and rejoin many times. And as I said before, I don't wish for it this time, but I always saw it as more likely than Christine's return.