"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]
Bedouine closes her 2021 self-released album Waysides with a cover of "Songbird". [16]
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. [17]
On November 30, 2023, The Corrs covered "Songbird" on the one year anniversary of Christine McVie's death. [18]
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green. Green recruited drummer Mick Fleetwood, guitarist and singer Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, with John McVie replacing Brunning a few weeks after the band's first public appearance at the 1967 National Jazz & Blues Festival in Windsor. Guitarist and singer Danny Kirwan joined the band in 1968. Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician starting with the band's second album, married McVie and joined Fleetwood Mac as an official member in July 1970 on vocals and keyboards, two months after Green left the band; she became known as Christine McVie.
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has released seven solo studio albums and three live albums. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Buckingham was ranked 100th in Rolling Stone's 2011 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Buckingham is known for his fingerpicking guitar style.
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 in the United States and on 19 October 1979 in the United Kingdom 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 in the United States and on 11 February 1977 in the United Kingdom 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 as the band members dealt with breakups and struggled with heavy drug usage, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.
Mirage is the thirteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 2 July 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. This studio effort's soft rock sound stood in stark contrast to its more experimental predecessor, 1979's Tusk. Mirage yielded several singles: "Hold Me", "Gypsy", "Love in Store", "Oh Diane", and "Can't Go Back".
The Dance is a live album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 August 1997. It hailed the return of the band's most successful lineup of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night, a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982's Mirage.
"Don't Stop" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written by vocalist and keyboardist Christine McVie. The song was sung by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, and it was a single taken from the band's hit album Rumours (1977).
"Dreams" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written by singer Stevie Nicks for the band's eleventh studio album, Rumours (1977). In the United States, "Dreams" was released as the second single from Rumours in March 1977, while in the United Kingdom, the song was released as the third single in June 1977. A stage performance of "Dreams" was used as the promotional music video.
"Gold Dust Woman" is a song from British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac's 11th studio album, Rumours (1977). The song was written and sung by Stevie Nicks and released as a B-side to the "Don't Stop" single and the "You Make Loving Fun" single. The song's title, "Gold Dust Woman", comes from Gold Dust Lane, a street in Wickenburg, Arizona where Nicks spent time as a child.
"Go Your Own Way" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their eleventh studio album, Rumours (1977). The song was released as the album's first single in December 1976 in the United States. Written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham, it became the band's first top-ten hit in the United States. "Go Your Own Way" has been well received by music critics and was ranked number 120 by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of 500 greatest songs of all time in 2010, and re-ranked number 401 in 2021. They also ranked the song second on their list of the 50 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.
"Second Hand News" is a song written by Lindsey Buckingham. The song was first performed by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac as the opening track of their 1977 album Rumours.
"The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album Rumours. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members.
"You Make Loving Fun" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and sung by Christine McVie. It was released as the fourth and final 45 rpm single from the band's 1977 album Rumours. "You Make Loving Fun" peaked at No. 9 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became the album's fourth top-ten hit.
Live is a double live album released by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac on 5 December 1980. It was the first live album from the then-current line-up of the band, and the next would be The Dance from 1997. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1981. A deluxe edition of the album was released on 9 April 2021.
"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.
"Silver Springs" is a song written by Stevie Nicks and performed by British-American band Fleetwood Mac. It was originally intended for the band's 1977 album Rumours, but became a B-side to the song "Go Your Own Way". A live version was released as a single from the 1997 album The Dance; this version of the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1998.
"Think About Me" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in March 1980. The song was composed by Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie. "Think About Me" and "Not That Funny" were the first Tusk singles released in their remixed form.
"Oh Daddy" is a song written by Christine McVie that was first performed by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac as the tenth song off their 1977 album Rumours.
"Never Make Me Cry" is a song by Fleetwood Mac from the 1979 double LP Tusk. It was one of six songs from the album composed and sung by Christine McVie. The song was released a B-side to the album's title track in September 1979.