Say Goodbye (Fleetwood Mac song)

Last updated
"Say Goodbye"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Say You Will
Released15 April 2003
Recorded2001–2002
Studio
  • The Village (Los Angeles)
  • Lindsey Buckingham's home studio (Bel Air)
Genre
Length3:26
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter Lindsey Buckingham
Producers

"Say Goodbye" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written by guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham. It was released as the seventeenth track on the band's seventeenth studio album, Say You Will (2003).

Contents

Background

Lindsey Buckingham wrote "Say Goodbye" about his relationship with Stevie Nicks after his departure from Fleetwood Mac in 1987. [1] [2] He commented that by the time he wrote the song "most of our experience together was behind us." [3] Buckingham wrote the lyrics to "Say Goodbye" before the instrumentation, which he said was an atypical compositional approach for him. [4]

This song was written quite a long time ago, after I had left the band. I don't know if I was going for anything in particular, but I was in a place where I could feel compassionate, understanding, and nonjudgmental about the other people in the band, and about everything that had happened. The lyric was really important to me, and the fingerpicking part makes it a really nice guitar piece. [1]

He commented that the guitar part was "not an easy thing to work out." After attempting different arrangements that he was unsatisfied with, Buckingham took one of his guitars and detuned the G string down a step, which rendered it easier for him to handle the guitar parts he envisioned. [4]

The song's composition is built around Buckingham's acoustic fingerpicking style. Buckingham cited "Say Goodbye" as an extension of the approach he employed on acoustic renditions of "Big Love" where he centered the arrangement around a single guitar. [5] During the recording sessions, which were documented in the Destiny Rules documentary, Buckingham and Nicks worked closely to refine the vocal harmonies. [6]

Live performances

"Say Goodbye" was included on the Fleetwood Mac's 2003–2004 Say You Will Tour. [7] It was also one of the songs performed on Sound Stage Presents – Lindsey Buckingham, which aired in 2005 on PBS. For this rendition, Buckingham performed the song as a duet with Nicks. [8] On the band's 2013 tour, "Say Goodbye" was also the only song that Fleetwood Mac played from their Say You Will album. [3]

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 Thompson, Art (April 2003). "The Eternal Return". Guitar Player. Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2023– via The Blue Letter Archives.
  2. ↑ Soeder, John (11 June 2003). "Fleetwood Mac still a dialogue of ex-lovers". The Ann Arbor News . p. E4. Retrieved 22 December 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Greene, Andy (7 May 2013). "Lindsey Buckingham Talks Fleetwood Mac Tour, New EP" . Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 Zollo, Paul (October 2003). "Taken by the Wind". Acoustic Guitar . Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2025– via The Blue Letter Archives.
  5. ↑ Lanham, Tom (June 2003). "Mac Daddy". Guitar One . Vol. 6, no. 6. Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2025– via The Blue Letter Archives.
  6. ↑ Destiny Rules (Documentary DVD). Warner Bros. 2004.
  7. ↑ Finn, Tim (15 August 2003). "Mac reunion has feel of a swan song". The Kansas City Star . p. E6. Retrieved 21 December 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Soundstage Presents Lindsey Buckingham". AllMusic . Retrieved 23 December 2025.
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