"Songbird" | |
---|---|
Single by Fleetwood Mac | |
from the album Rumours | |
A-side | "Dreams" |
Released | February 1977 |
Recorded | March 3–4, 1976 |
Studio | Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley, California |
Genre | Soft rock |
Length | 3:20 |
Label | Warner Bros. |
Songwriter(s) | Christine McVie |
Producer(s) | Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut |
"Songbird" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. The song first appeared on the band's 1977 album Rumours and was released as the B-side of the single "Dreams". It is one of four songs written solely by Christine McVie on the album.
McVie frequently sang the song at the end of Fleetwood Mac concerts. [1] Her former husband, John McVie, recalled that "When Christine played "Songbird", grown men would weep. I did every night." [2]
In 2022, the song was given an orchestral arrangement by Vince Mendoza on McVie's Songbird (A Solo Collection) compilation album. [3] This version received a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. [4]
McVie wrote "Songbird" in half an hour around midnight, but didn't have anyone around to record it. To ensure she did not forget the chord structure and melody, McVie remained awake the entire night. [5] The next day, McVie played the song for producer Ken Caillat at the Sausalito Record Plant. [6]
Caillat loved the track and suggested she record it alone in a concert style approach. Their first venue of choice, the Berkeley Community Theatre, was unavailable, so the band instead booked the Zellerbach Auditorium for March 3, 1976. [7] To create the appropriate ambience, Caillat ordered a bouquet of flowers to place on McVie's piano. He then requested three spotlights to illuminate the flowers from above. When McVie arrived at the auditorium, the house lights were dimmed so her attention was brought to the illuminated flowers on the piano. [8]
For the recording session, 15 microphones were placed around the auditorium to capture the performance. [7] The recording session went into the next morning due to the difficulty of recording the song live in one take. [8] Lindsey Buckingham strummed an acoustic guitar offstage to keep the tempo. [9]
Chart (2022) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles Downloads (OCC) [10] | 27 |
US Digital Song Sales ( Billboard ) [11] | 26 |
US Rock Digital Songs (Billboard) [12] | 9 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [13] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Eva Cassidy's version was released in 1998 on her posthumous compilation album of the same name Songbird . Despite being released two years after her death from melanoma, the album eventually reached number 1 in the UK in 2001. [14] "Songbird" finally entered the UK Singles chart in September 2009 at number 56, after a contestant (Shanna Goodhead) performed the song on The X Factor .
Willie Nelson covered "Songbird" on his 2006 album Songbird , making it the second album to be named after the song. The album peaked at number 87 on the Billboard 200. [15]
Mick Fleetwood collaborated with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro and released their own rendition of "Songbird" on July 12, 2023, which would have been McVie's 80th birthday. [16]
On November 30, 2023, The Corrs covered "Songbird" on the one year anniversary of Christine McVie's death. [17]
Christine Anne McVie was an English musician and singer. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of Fleetwood Mac.
Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 12 October 1979 by Warner Bros. Records. It is considered more experimental than their previous albums, partly as a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk. The production costs were initially estimated to be about $1 million but many years later were revealed to be about $1.4 million, making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.
Rumours is the eleventh studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The recording sessions took place in the aftermath of several relationship breakups among the band members in addition to heavy drug use, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.
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"Hold Me" is a 1982 song by the British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. It was the first track to be released as a single from the band's thirteenth album Mirage. Written by Christine McVie and Robbie Patton, McVie and Lindsey Buckingham shared lead vocals on the song. The single reached #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the band's first to break the top five since 1977.
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