Oh Diane

Last updated
"Oh Diane"
Ohdiane.jpg
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Mirage
B-side "Only Over You", "The Chain" [12"] (UK) / "That's Alright" (USA)
ReleasedDecember 1982 (UK) [1]
  • February 1983 (US) [1]
Recorded1981–1982
Genre Pop [2]
Length2:33
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s) Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut
Producer(s) Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut, and Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac UKsingles chronology
"Gypsy"
(1982)		"Oh Diane"
(1982)		"Can't Go Back"
(1983)
Fleetwood Mac USsingles chronology
"Love in Store"
(1982)		"Oh Diane"
(1983)		"Big Love"
(1987)

"Oh Diane" is a song by British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. It was written by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut for the 1982 album Mirage , the fourth album by the band with Buckingham. It was the third single released from the album in Europe and reached the top ten in the UK. "Oh Diane" was also issued as the album's fourth single in North America after "Love in Store".

Contents

Background

"Oh Diane" is one of the three songs on Mirage that Buckingham co-wrote with Richard Dashut, who developed the chord progression on a grand piano in Hérouville. [3] [4] Billy Burnette, who later joined Fleetwood Mac to replace Buckingham, said in a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone that he assisted with some of the lyrics for "Oh Diane". In 1982, Buckingham had asked Burnette to accompany him for a performance on Saturday Night Live ; around that time, the two began writing material together. Buckingham was not pleased with the lyrics that Burnette generated for "Oh Diane", but he maintained that some of his lyrics were still used. [5] The liner notes for Mirage do not list Burnette as a co-writer. [6]

Despite the previous two singles from the album ("Hold Me" and "Gypsy") being unsuccessful in the United Kingdom, the song became a hit there when released in December 1982. [1] [7] It charted at number 69 on 18 December 1982 and took 10 weeks to gradually climb the chart, peaking at number 9 in February 1983, helping to push its parent album Mirage into the Top 10. [8] [9] The song took on special meaning in the UK as it was just the previous year that Prince Charles and Princess Diana had married. [10]

The sleeve for "Oh Diane" saw the band return to using the penguin trademark in a nod to the band's earlier years; their 1973 album was called Penguin . [11] "Oh Diane" was released in Britain on 7" and 12", with "The Chain" being featured on the 12" editions. [1]

In the US, another track from Mirage, "Love in Store", was released as the third single instead and reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. [12] "Oh Diane" was therefore the fourth single issued in the US; it was released in February 1983, but failed to chart. However, it did become a minor hit on the American Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number 35. [13] Despite being a Top 10 hit in the UK, "Oh Diane" does not appear on the 2002 UK version of the album, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (or the 2009 re-issue), although it was included on 2018's 50 Years – Don't Stop . [14] Despite charting in Europe, "Oh Diane" was never performed live in concert. [15]

Critical reception

Writing for Sounds , Sandy Robertson described the song as "Bobby Vintonesque in its unashamed schoolboy schlockiness." [16] In a retrospective review of Mirage, Clark Collis from Blender labelled "Oh Diane" as one of the album's standout tracks along with "Hold Me". [17] Rolling Stone ranked the song number 33 on its list of the 50 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs. [18]

Track listings

In the UK, "Oh Diane" was released as the band's first 12” single featuring the additional b-side track "The Chain" from the 1977 album Rumours .

UK 7" single (Warner Brothers Records FLEET 1)

  1. "Oh Diane" – 2:33
  2. "Only Over You" – 4:08

UK 12" single (Warner Brothers Records FLEET 1)

  1. "Oh Diane" – 2:33
  2. "Only Over You" – 4:08
  3. "The Chain" – 4:28

US 7" single (Warner Brothers Records 7–29698)

  1. "Oh Diane" – 2:33
  2. "That’s Alright" – 3:09

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1982–1983)Peak
position
Canada Adult Contemporary ( RPM ) [19] 27
German Singles Chart [20] 46
Irish Singles Chart [21] 8
UK Singles Chart [22] 9
US Billboard Adult Contemporary [13] 35

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 296. ISBN   9780862415419.
  2. ↑ Snapes, Laura (September 26, 2016). "Fleetwood Mac - Mirage". Pitchfork . Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  3. ↑ Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. p. 262. ISBN   978-0-316-40342-9.
  4. ↑ Reed, Ryan (2018). Fleetwood Mac FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Iconic Rock Survivors. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Backbeat Books. pp. 152–153. ISBN   978-1-61713-667-2.
  5. ↑ Greene, Andy (6 December 2022). "Billy Burnette on His Brief, 'Magical' Stint in Fleetwood Mac: 'No Regrets'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  6. ↑ Mirage (CD liner notes). Fleetwood Mac. California, United States: Warner Bros. 2016. p. 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ Wild, David (2013). Opus Collection (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. US: Rhino. OPCD-8755.
  8. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2001). The Great Rock Discography. UK: Canongate. p. 378. ISBN   1841950173.
  10. ↑ "From the archive: The Prince and Princess of Wales visit Scotland". 4 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "Happy 45th: Fleetwood Mac, PENGUIN". Rhino.com. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  12. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac – Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 25 January 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Billboard - Volume 96, Number 47" (PDF). Billboard. 16 April 1983. p. 36. Retrieved 25 January 2025– via World Radio History.
  14. ↑ Cashmere, Paul (9 September 2018). "Fleetwood Mac To Release Career Spanning Collection '50 Years – Don't Stop'". Noise11.com. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  15. ↑ Mirage (CD liner notes). Fleetwood Mac. California, United States: Warner Bros. 2016. p. 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ↑ Robertson, Sandy (17 July 1982). "Fleetwood Mac: Mirage" . Sounds . Retrieved 25 June 2025– via Rock's Backpages.
  17. ↑ Collis, Clark (April–May 2002). "Fleetwood Mac: Mirage". Blender . No. 7. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  18. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher; et al. (2 May 2022). "Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Adult Contemporary - Volume 38, No. 9". RPM . 30 April 1983. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  20. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Oh Diane". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  21. ↑ The Irish Charts (November 9, 2009). "The Irish Charts - All there is to know : Search by Artist (Fleetwood Mac)". Irish Charts / IRMA - Irish Recorded Music Association. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21.
  22. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac: Artist Discography". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.