| "Rattlesnake Shake" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Fleetwood Mac | |
| from the album Then Play On | |
| B-side | "Coming Your Way" |
| Released | September 1969 (US) [1] |
| Recorded | 1969 |
| Genre | Blues rock Psychedelic blues |
| Length | 3:32 |
| Label | Reprise |
| Songwriter(s) | Peter Green |
| Producer(s) | Fleetwood Mac [2] |
"Rattlesnake Shake" is a song by British rock group Fleetwood Mac, written by guitarist Peter Green, which first appeared on the band's 1969 album Then Play On . The track was one of the band's crowd-favorites in the late 1960s. [3]
Although "Oh Well" was a hit in the UK in October 1969, the song was not released in the United States at that time. Instead, Clifford Davis, who was Fleetwood Mac's manager at the time, selected "Rattlesnake Shake" to be released in the US, since he thought it would become a big hit, [4] but it did not chart. After the commercial failure of "Rattlesnake Shake", "Oh Well" was released as the follow-up single in January 1970, and subsequently became a minor hit, reaching No. 55 on Billboard. Mick Fleetwood ranked "Rattlesnake Shake" in his top 11 favorite Fleetwood Mac songs of all-time list since he was able to participate in bringing out the character of the song. [5]
According to Mick Fleetwood, the double-time shuffle near the end of the song was derived from an improvised jam. "It incorporated the freedom to go off on a tangent, to jam – the classic ‘Do you jam, dude?’ We learned that as players. You hear that alive and well in the double-time structure that I put in at the end, which on stage could last half an hour. It was our way of being in the Grateful Dead." [5]
In a 1999 Q&A with The Penguin, Peter Green admitted that "Rattlesnake Shake" was about masturbation and reckoned that the lyrical content was inspired by Fleetwood. [6] Fleetwood would later back up this claim in his 2014 autobiography Play On, stating that "Rattlesnake Shake" is an ode to masturbation as a cure for the blues. "I'm named in it, as a guy who does the rattlesnake shake to jerk away my sadness whenever I don't have a chick. That was an appropriate immortalisation of my younger self..." [7] To achieve the rustling noises heard at the end of each chorus, Green used the sounds of an actual rattlesnake found on an audio tape. [8]
The song has been well-received; the magazine Rolling Stone hailed the track as Peter Green's best song along with "Albatross". [9] Ultimate Classic Rock placed it at No. 7 on their Top 10 'Peter Green Fleetwood Mac Songs' list. [10] Paste Magazine also ranked the song number No. 19 on the 20 Best Fleetwood Mac Songs Of All Time; it was one of two Peter Green songs to appear on the list along with "Oh Well". [11]
| Chart (1970) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade) [12] | 4 |
A different recording of "Rattlesnake Shake" also appears on Mick Fleetwood's solo album, The Visitor . Released in 1981, this recording featured Peter Green, the track's composer, on guitar and vocals. During this time, Peter Green was beginning to reemerge professionally and released a series of solo albums up through the first half of the decade. The rerecorded 1981 version reached No. 30 on the Mainstream Rock chart. [13]
Also in 1981, Bob Welch recorded a live version of the track on his album Live at The Roxy, with contributions from Stevie Nicks (tambourine), Christine McVie (maracas), Mick Fleetwood (drums), Robbie Patton (cowbell), Alvin Taylor (guitar), Robin Sylvester (bass), Joey Brasler (guitar), and David Adelstein (keyboards). The album was released in 2004. [14]
A 1973 live version of "Rattlesnake Shake" appears on Aerosmith's 1991 box set Pandora's Box . [15]
In 2005, former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Rick Vito covered "Rattlesnake Shake" on an album of the same name. [16] The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band recorded a live version of "Rattlesnake Shake" for their album " Blue Again! in 2008". [17] This version featured Rick Vito on guitar and vocals.
Five years later, the song was rehearsed for a Mick Fleetwood Blues Band concert. Christine McVie had given Mick Fleetwood a call and asked him if she could play at an upcoming gig in Hawaii, to which Fleetwood agreed. The same day, Fleetwood and Rick Vito brought a piano to her hotel suite and rehearsed "Don't Stop" and "Rattlesnake Shake", both of which were played at the Hawaii concert along with "Get Like You Used to Be" and "World Turning". [18]
Personnel (Mick Fleetwood version)
Then Play On is the third studio album by the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 September 1969. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan and the last with Peter Green. Although still an official band member at the time, Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things". The album offered a broader stylistic range than the straightforward electric blues of the group's first two albums, displaying elements of folk rock, hard rock, art rock and psychedelia. The album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's fourth Top 20 LP in a row, as well as their third album to reach the Top 10. The album's title, Then Play On, is taken from the opening line of William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night—"If music be the food of love, play on".
Richard Francis Vito is an American guitarist and singer. He was part of Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991. Vito took over as lead guitarist after Lindsey Buckingham left the group. He is best known for his blues and slide guitar style, whose influences include Elmore James, Robert Nighthawk, B.B. King, Alvino Rey, Les Paul, George Harrison, and Keith Richards.
Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in March 1972. It was their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the album's supporting tour. The album peaked at number 70 on the US Billboard 200 chart dated 3 June 1972.
Future Games is the fifth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 3 September 1971. It was recorded in the summer of 1971 at Advision Studios in London and was the first album to feature Christine McVie as a full member. This album was also the first of five albums to feature American guitarist Bob Welch. "He was totally different background – R&B, sort of jazzy. He brought his personality," Mick Fleetwood said of Welch in a 1995 BBC interview, "He was a member of Fleetwood Mac before we'd even played a note."
Time is the sixteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 10 October 1995. This album features a unique line-up for the band, featuring the addition of country vocalist Bekka Bramlett and former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason. It was the second album released after the departure of Lindsey Buckingham in 1987, and the only Fleetwood Mac album since 1974's Heroes Are Hard to Find to not feature any contribution from Stevie Nicks. Additionally, it is the final Fleetwood Mac studio album to feature Christine McVie as an official member.
Live in Boston is a live album by British blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac that was first released in 1985.
25 Years – The Chain is a box set by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac originally released on 24 November 1992. The set contains four CDs, covering the history of the band from its formation in 1967 to 1992. The set features four new tracks as well as several previously unreleased studio and live tracks from the archives, while some of the classic tracks were included in different and new mixes. The four new songs were "Paper Doll", which was recorded earlier than the others as it was written by and recorded with Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito, both of whom had left the band in 1991, "Love Shines" and "Heart of Stone", both Christine McVie songs, and "Make Me A Mask", contributed by then-former member Lindsey Buckingham. "Love Shines" was released as a single to promote the box set in the UK, whereas "Paper Doll" was the single in the US.
The Visitor is an album by Mick Fleetwood, released by RCA Records in 1981. All the songs were recorded in Accra, Ghana between January and February 1981 at the "Ghana Film Industries, Inc. Studio" and produced by Richard Dashut, and were later mixed in various studios in England. The album has been re-released several times, including a US CD release by Wounded Bird Records on October 18, 2011.
English Rose is a compilation album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in December 1968. It was originally a US-only compilation, combining six tracks from the UK release Mr. Wonderful, three UK non-album single sides, two not-yet-released songs from the UK version of Then Play On and one other previously unreleased track. It was released some months before the UK release of The Pious Bird of Good Omen, sharing four songs with that album. Mick Fleetwood appears in drag on the cover.
"I'm So Afraid" is a song written by Lindsey Buckingham for the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac for their tenth album, Fleetwood Mac. The song was intended for a second Buckingham Nicks album, but the album never came to fruition.
"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. The song was included on the band's 2002 compilation album, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. "Monday Morning" was performed on all of the band's tours from 1975 to 1978. It reappeared on the Unleashed Tour in 2009 and the An Evening with Fleetwood Mac Tour in 2018–2019.
Blue Again is a live album by the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, featuring Rick Vito, released in 2008. It was recorded at The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri on 8 February 2008.
"In the Back of My Mind" is a song by British-American band Fleetwood Mac from their 15th studio album, Behind the Mask (1990). The song was released as the album's second single for select European markets but only had a minor impact in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 58. It was not made commercially available in North America, where "Hard Feelings" was released as a single instead. Both singles were co-written by Billy Burnette, who was one of the guitarists enlisted to replace Lindsey Buckingham in 1987. On the Behind the Mask Tour, "In the Back of My Mind" was played as the opening song of the set.
"Tango in the Night" is a song by British–American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their album of the same name. The song received airplay and reached No. 28 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. However, the title track was overshadowed by the album's hit singles.
"Love Is Dangerous" is a single released in 1990 by British-American band Fleetwood Mac from their album Behind the Mask. The single failed to chart on the US Hot 100, but reached number 7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and number 70 in Canada. It was one of the album's two songs co-written by Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito. Vito recorded a solo version of the song for his album Crazy Cool in 2001.
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"Walk a Thin Line" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1979. Composed and sung by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, it was one of his nine songs that appeared on the Tusk album. The song was issued as the B-side to "Sisters of the Moon", which was the fourth single from Tusk in North America.
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