Monday Morning (Fleetwood Mac song)

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"Monday Morning"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Fleetwood Mac
A-side "Say You Love Me"
Released1976
RecordedJanuary–February 1975
Genre Rock
Length2:48
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s) Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s) Fleetwood Mac, Keith Olsen

"Monday Morning" is a 1975 song written and sung by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. It is the first track from the multi-platinum, second eponymous album Fleetwood Mac . [1] The song was included on the band's 2002 compilation album, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac . [2]

Contents

Background

Like "Rhiannon" and "I'm So Afraid", "Monday Morning" was intended for a second Buckingham Nicks LP, but the album never came to fruition as their label, Polydor Records, dropped the duo from their roster before they could record a follow-up. [3] Buckingham said that there was originally some uncertainty surrounding the prospects of these songs given their lack of a record deal. [4] "Monday Morning" was among the songs presented to the rest of Fleetwood Mac on Buckingham's 4-track tape machine during the 1975 recording sessions of Fleetwood Mac. While drummer Mick Fleetwood immediately took a liking to the demos, bassist John McVie was initially hesitant to venture away from the band's blues roots. Producer Keith Olsen convinced McVie that the band would be more successful embracing pop rock, quipping, "It’s a much faster way to the bank". [5]

In an interview with Nile Rodgers, Buckingham said that the song "was very reflective of the early dynamic that was later to become a hallmark of Fleetwood Mac, which was couples breaking up, the angst of having to push forward." He believed that the song foreshadowed some of the band's interpersonal struggles that would later emerge and mentioned that the lyrics related to the fluctuation of romantic relationships, which is what Nicks and Buckingham were experiencing at the song was written. [4]

The song really was just addressing the fact that maybe on Monday everything was great, but by Friday things weren’t so great. As can be the case with relationships in general. [4]

Critical reception

Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic described the song as "a brilliant opening to a brilliant album" which he attributed to Buckingham's "strong pop instincts and craftsmanship". [6] Billboard called the song both "buoyant" and "surging". [7] Bud Scopa of Rolling Stone thought that "Monday Morning" had the most "initial appeal" of Buckingham's compositions on Fleetwood Mac's 1975 eponymous album. [8] Paste ranked the song number 30 on its list of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs, calling it a "bold first offering from Buckingham". [9]

Live performances

"Monday Morning" was performed on all of the band's tours from 1975 to 1980. [10] Some performances from these tours have been included on various releases, including a live recording from The Fabulous Forum in Inglewood on 29 August 1977, which was appeared on disc 2 of the Rumours deluxe edition. [11] A live recording from a February 1980 performance in Tokyo was included on the band's Live album. [12] [13]

Fleetwood Mac also played the song on the Unleashed Tour in 2009 and the An Evening with Fleetwood Mac Tour in 2018–2019. [14] [15] On the An Evening With Fleetwood Mac Tour, "Monday Morning" was sung by Neil Finn, who was one of the musicians who replaced Buckingham following his dismissal from the band in 2018. Finn identified "Monday Morning" as a "strange song with a weird lyrics" that was difficult to perform live due to the strain it caused to his voice. He attributed this to the lack of gaps in the lyrics and the song being in a key that required him to sing in a high vocal register. Finn said that he was "blowing [his] voice out every night singing it" and asked if the song could be dropped the song down a few semitones, although the band instead dropped the song from the setlist entirely. [16]

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Unterberger, Richie (2016). Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. pp. 197–198. ISBN   978-0-7603-5176-5.
  3. ↑ Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now, Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York: Little, Brown And Company. pp. 164, 169. ISBN   978-0-316-40342-9.
  4. 1 2 3 "Lindsey Buckingham on Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Songwriting". Best Classic Bands. 3 October 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  5. ↑ Sheffield, Christopher R. Weingarten, David Browne, Jon Dolan, Corinne Cummings, Keith Harris, Rob (11 July 2017). "Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 28 May 2019.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Greenwald, Matthew. "Monday Morning - Fleetwood Mac Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Graff, Gary (11 January 2018). "Fleetwood Mac Shares Early Version of 1975 Classic 'Monday Morning': Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Scoppa, Bud (25 September 1975). "Fleetwood Mac". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  9. ↑ Mitchell, Matt (7 August 2023). "The 30 Greatest Fleetwood Mac Songs". Paste . Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "TOUR ARCHIVE: 1975-1976 – The Changing Times of Stevie Nicks" . Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Rhino repackage Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' super deluxe edition – SuperDeluxeEdition". 6 October 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  12. ↑ Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. New York: Sterling. p. 179. ISBN   978-1-4027-8630-3.
  13. ↑ Live (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. United States: Warner Bros. 1980.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac/ March 8, 2009/ Auburn Hills, Mich. (The Palace)". Billboard. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac began NYC-area run at Madison Square Garden (pics, setlist)". BrooklynVegan . United States. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  16. ↑ Irwin, Corey (3 October 2024). "The Song Neil Finn Had to Drop From Fleetwood Mac's Set". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
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