FM's Top Ten Songs

[michelej1]

Fleetwood Mac's Top Ten Songs, Published March 31, 2010 by
Jennie Camile

Associated Content
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In My Opinion..
For me, it's the lyrics that tie my heart to a song. It's the unique way of painting a picture of life's joys, struggles, and meaning that makes music so important and inspirational to me. When I was growing up, I was lucky enough to have so many musical influences in my life passed down from my parents. My father was a huge Bob Dylan fan and his music began my love affair with the beauty of words. My mother was a huge Madonna fan which showed me a different side of music that had to do with catchy melodies and entertainment. Both my parents loved the great Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Pat Benetar, and many others including Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac was a huge part of my childhood and many of their songs mirrored what was going on in my life. It is a very comforting thing to hear your life reflected in someone else's songs. I still get teary eyed or smile when I hear the following Fleetwood Mac songs that I believe are their ten best!

The Top Ten Songs By Fleetwood Mac:

1) Landslide

This song wasn't one of my favorites as a child because I didn't fully understand the lyrics, but just like in the lyrics of the song, you understand more as you grow older and change. This song deals with coming to terms with your changing life. Growing older and letting go of people you thought you'd always have in your life. My favorite line: "Well I've been afraid of changin' because I've built my life around you. But, time makes you bolder, children get older and I'm getting older too." Written by: Stevie Nicks

2) Big Love

Written by Lindsey Buckingham,(the amazing, but sometimes overshadowed talent of Fleetwood Mac) this song shows the anguish of a man just trying to do whatever he can to keep his girl happy. It paints a picture in a few short verses about a woman obsessed with the finer things in life who is missing the point of love. "You said that you love me and that you always will. Oh you begged me to keep you In that house on the hill. Looking out for love
Big, big love." - an excerpt from "Big Love." I've seen many men in my life, work their fingers to the bone to provide, but not getting the love back that they deserve.

3) The Chain

The entire Fleetwood Mac team came together to write this song and it seemed to be cemented in their struggles as a band. As many of you know, romantic relationships were running wild through the group causing resentments, jealously, and pain. This song represents the struggles, but also the ache to set it aside so they would not break up the band with their lies and love. "If you don't love me know, you will never love me again. I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain."

4) Say Goodbye

On the more recent Fleetwood Mac album entitled, "Say You Will," written by both Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, this song brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. Such a true love story gone astray. These words are their life on paper. It's a natural thing to think of loves we've lost. It's so important to come to this place where you can finally say, "goodbye," back to the one who said, "goodbye," to you. Closure in this song, but heart wrenching closure just the same. The part that tugs my soul: "Now I finally found my way. Now I know just what to do. Once you said goodbye to me, yeah now I say goodbye to you."

5) Go Your Own Way

A classic breakup song. Lindsey Buckingham proves his brilliance in this up tempo, but heart breaking song. The lyrics are so dynamic and deep. I'll let this song speak for itself: "Loving you isn't the right thing to do. How can I ever change things that I feel? If I could, maybe I'd give you my world. How can I, when you won't take it from me? You can go your own way, go your own way. You can call it another lonely day. You can go your own way, go your own way."

6) Rhiannon

Stevie Nicks shows off her mystical side in this dazzling and enticing song about a magic woman. When I was growing up and heard this song, I always thought she was singing about the unattainable woman. There was a particular girl in college that all the guys wanted, but she never would come down to earth long enough to fall for any of them. She was a figment of fantasies. Beautiful, but no one could catch her. "All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind. Would you stay if she promised you Heaven? Will you ever win? Will you ever win?"

7) Hold Me

Christine McVie proves that she can write songs with "Hold Me." It's not the strongest for Fleetwood Mac lyrically, but musically it's magical and there is one great line in the song that gets you thinking, "Don't want no damage, but how am I gonna manage with you? You hold the percentage, but i'm the fool payin' the dues."

8) Everywhere

Another Christine McVie song that has great musicality. The lyrics are simple, but deeper than "Hold Me." This song is about new love that doesn't really have a foundation yet. It's in that stage of "where is this going?" and she's singing about defining where the love is. She's having trouble telling him how she feels, but she's trying to show her love. Great beginning to the song: "Can you hear me calling, out your name? You know that I'm falling, and I don't know what to say. I'll speak a little louder, I'll even shout! You know that I'm proud and I can't get the words out."

9) Bleed To Love Her

Again Lindsay Buckingham is the fool in love. This song shows how deep his desires are, but that everyone knows he's bound to get hurt. With the line, "All the world is laughing at you, somebody's got to sacrifice," you feel the shame that love can sometimes bring to one side of the equation.

10) Blue Letter

"It was a blue letter she wrote to me. It's silver words she told. Wanna be on the road to paradise. I wanna a lover who don't get old." - the opening lines of a picture painting song which tells the story of a lover who has too high of expectations and unreasonable ideals of what love is. What I take from this song is the woman will go from man to man because as they grow older, they are no longer desirable. She will never have the joy of growing old with someone. One night stand after another.

[bucklind17]

I'm curious if this author knows that no one in the band wrote "Blue Letter". I'm not entirely against the choice because it's one of my fave songs on the album and I love to listen to it, it's just strange that on a Top 10 list of a band's songs, the only one the band recorded on a studio album that they didn't write themselves makes the list.

Other than that, it's a pretty Lindsey-heavy list, which is kind of nice to see!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bucklind17

I'm curious if this author knows that no one in the band wrote "Blue Letter". I'm not entirely against the choice because it's one of my fave songs on the album and I love to listen to it, it's just strange that on a Top 10 list of a band's songs, the only one the band recorded on a studio album that they didn't write themselves makes the list.

Other than that, it's a pretty Lindsey-heavy list, which is kind of nice to see!

It's also sweet that a song as recent as Say Goodbye made the cut. Only problem is she thinks that Stevie co-wrote that one.

I wondered about Blue Letter too. She doesn't identify the writer, but she must know it's not Lindsey, because she named him for his other songs and probably would have said, "Lindsey again," if she thought he'd written it.

Michele