Article mentions Peacekeeper/ Lindsey & Stevie quotes

DownOnRodeo · #1 03-24-2003, 06:37 AM

This Miami Herald article addresses the issue of anti-war songs, while referring to Peacekeeper as its primary example.

Quote:

Peacekeeper, the new Fleetwood Mac single, has been appropriated as an anti-war song and this week has broken through to the Billboard Hot 100...

Quote:

Even before its official release, Fleetwood Mac's Peacekeeper topped a Drudge Report radio poll of the Top New Anti-War Songs last week, handily beating entries from Mellencamp, the Beastie Boys and George Michael.

However, composer Lindsey Buckingham says that Peacekeeper was written about two years ago. But with lines like, We make all of our suns the same / Everyone will suffer the fire we've made / They all explode just the same / And there's no going back on the plans we've laid , it feels eerily prescient.

''At the time -- or now -- it was a peace song, quite ironically stated,'' Buckingham says. ``It's about how we are becoming increasingly more desensitized to things around the world that are brutal and not standing up for human values. And how the actions of the larger bodies affect the family or individual and how that ultimately turns back on the larger body.''

But the attention Peacekeeper has earned has put the artist in an uncomfortable position. ''We are not a political group,'' Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks says. ``My mission is not to stand on a political soapbox.''

The full article is in the link above but I've quoted all the sentences referring to FM here.

FiercestCalmSea · #2 03-24-2003, 09:18 AM

Well,there's no such thing as bad publicity,lol...

Les · #3 03-24-2003, 12:03 PM

Thanks for posting that Joe.

It is interesting how the song can be claimed by either side of the political spectrum as their own, all the while the composer seems to place himself somewhere a little different still. From the way Lindsey describes it, it's not political so much as social/personal. It's the ambiguity in the social/personal that allows for a variety of political interpretations depending on your views.

Gazza · #4 03-24-2003, 12:54 PM

I thought what Charlie Daniels said about it almost being a genre now was funny, but depressingly true. It sometimes seems like it's become fasionable to be anti war no matter what the circumstances may be...

I have no problem with people voicing their opinions on this war, although I wish they'd stop repeating the same arguments. But when these people release song after song with the same message it get's tiresome... They're too obsessed with trying to do something that they feel is important instead of just concentrating on writing good music. John Lennon had the same problem (really - some of his later stuff was awful).

It's interesting that the band that hasn't just jumped on the bandwagon have released the best song imo.

Cristian · #5 03-24-2003, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Les
It is interesting how the song can be claimed by either side of the political spectrum as their own, all the while the composer seems to place himself somewhere a little different still. From the way Lindsey describes it, it's not political so much as social/personal.

Sorry to quote almost your entire post, but that's exactly how I feel about the promotion that "Peacekeeper" is getting as an anti-war song... or a song about any of the possible political institutions... or even about love or personal experiences. It's just the way you take it, and I think that's what makes the lyrics more interesting with more listenings. This is a fantastic song.

Song of the moment - Talkin' To My Heart

Cristian · #6 03-24-2003, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gazza
John Lennon had the same problem (really - some of his later stuff was awful).

Really? The only 'political' Lennon album that I can think of is Some Time In New York City, which he shared with Yoko (ugh), and it was released in 1972. Some of the songs in Mind Games have political content, but that's it. Subsequent albums like Walls And Bridges (1974) and Double Fantasy (1980) are samplers of his inner views (most of them love songs... or spiritual songs at their best... not a single political song that I can think of...), like his previous fantastic albums Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971) had been. Just had to make that precision.

Song of the moment - Talkin' To My Heart

Karen · #7 03-24-2003, 03:53 PM

Thanks for posting that link! The Miami Herald always posts interesting things about the Mac. They must have a fan in their department.

They also chose to print an interesting quote by Lindsey about the song. Great article!

CarneVaca · #8 03-24-2003, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gazza
But when these people release song after song with the same message it get's tiresome...

You'd rather have song after song about she/he loves me, she/he left me? I know of no artist who has done song after song after song with anti-war messages, though I am not saying such an artist doesn't exist. But even Dylan and Lennon veered into myriad other themes.

Skylark · #9 03-24-2003, 06:59 PM

Peacekeeper is a terrifically brilliant Lindsey song!
A-political...but war-like and it does make more sense
to sing/say:"We make all of our SONS the same!"Lindsey
and Kristen had just given birth to a SON and he was
worried about his little sons future and our larger world!!!

Nature made the SUN in the heavens and it Could Explode
some day we are told!Earthly Man did not Make That SUN!!!
MEN make all their SONS the same!

Just Biology 101! Sky

DownOnRodeo · #10 03-24-2003, 07:19 PM

No, sun as in nuclear bomb, Sky!!

lol
I think we'll all be having this argument for a long time yet

CarneVaca · #11 03-24-2003, 08:04 PM

I still think it's "sun." Sky, don't make the mistake of thinking this song is apolitical. It is anything but. Lindsey is simply saying he wrote it from a very personal place about what was going on in the world. He wrote it brilliantly because humans being what they are, this song will still be relevant years from now.

darklinensuit · #12 03-24-2003, 09:11 PM

Call me a dimwit, but until I read this Lindsey quote I was sure that this was a song about Stevie and not really about war at all. She refers to herself as "Keeper of the Peace in This" in Fall from Grace, and I thought Lindsey's advice "Don't be afraid to fight" was directed to her. It just seemed to be another entry in their musical dialogue. Guess I was way off, or (on the bright side) I was as ready to accept the band as apolitical as Stevie wants me to be.
- Jake

strandinthewind · #13 03-24-2003, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by darklinensuit
Call me a dimwit, but until I read this Lindsey quote I was sure that this was a song about Stevie and not really about war at all. She refers to herself as "Keeper of the Peace in This" in Fall from Grace, and I thought Lindsey's advice "Don't be afraid to fight" was directed to her. It just seemed to be another entry in their musical dialogue. Guess I was way off, or (on the bright side) I was as ready to accept the band as apolitical as Stevie wants me to be.
- Jake

I kind of thought that as well, esp. the god friends that tel us how to paint out face - which I took as their many god-like musician friends (Henley, Dylan, Petty, etc.) giving them advice on their music (the "face" means their music), etc. But, who knows!!!!

sulamith · #14 03-24-2003, 11:23 PM

Well, SITW and DLS, I think that there is definitely a duality to it. I think he left it vague so we could interp it how ever we want, but as much as I think it is about exactly what he says it is about, I think there is a Stevie reference in there too. There always is.
There always will be.
They are both all over each other's music.
I think this song has two faces, and Lindsey wrote it just that way. He's just not showing all his cards, haha!

-Sharon

SilverGirl · #15 03-25-2003, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sulamith
Well, SITW and DLS, I think that there is definitely a duality to it. I think he left it vague so we could interp it how ever we want, but as much as I think it is about exactly what he says it is about, I think there is a Stevie reference in there too. There always is.
There always will be.
They are both all over each other's music.
I think this song has two faces, and Lindsey wrote it just that way. He's just not showing all his cards, haha!

-Sharon

I agree... there are many "wars" in life, and Fleetwood Mac (and LB&SN) have had their share I'm sure! maybe he's taking after Stevie a little here, being vague and a little mysterious..leaving it up to the individual..