The Chain

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I can believe Stevie wrote IDWK all by herself, including the chords. Her most solid songs (in terms of their shape before being arranged and recorded) are her earliest. “That’s Alright” is another well-crafted country pop song. These two tubes along with “Landslide,” “Lady,” and “Crystal” show us where she might have gone had she not been swept up in the Rhiannon mystique.

I have said a 10000 times I think IDWK was chosen over SS primarily because it’s an upbeat tune with vocal presence for Lindsey. His voice is the one that unifies the contrasting women’s vocals and balances the female presence on the record. He reminds us Fleetwood Mac is first and foremost a rock band with blues and testosterone-heavy roots. Christine and Stevie’s songs and voices may have been far more distinctive and marketable on the whole, but they worked best to temper and stabilize Lindsey’s high-strung energy. Both the women seduce, soothe, and persuade (in their respective ways) whereas Lindsey rouses and agitates.

If IDWK wasn’t in the running order, the album wouldn’t have worked this balance as nicely. The one-two punch of YMLF and IDWK, following the searing guitar breakout of “The Chain“ push Rumours to the heights of its momentum, followed by the mournful dirge of “Oh Daddy” and then the eerie, mystical coda of GDW. It’s an impeccably sequenced record.

And, quite simply, IDWK embodies the desperate ethos of Rumours better than any other song. Those two gorgeous voices harmonizing their agony to what amounts to an Appalachian folk tune framed as California pop—that is serious genius.

I have always liked IDWK far better than the original “Silver Springs.” The 1997 version is a whole other matter. She grew into the song, became worthy of its epic pretensions.

All of this. Though I think the original Silver Springs is nice and COULD have fit into the album somewhere, I can't imagine Rumours without I Don't Want to Know. It's one of my favorite songs of Stevie's and on Rumours in general. How they have never played it live is beyond me.

The '97 version of SS is absolutely superior to the original -- from the borrowed intro from Wish You Were Here to the revised ending, they nailed that arrangement.