Cities Made of Song, 1977

Cities Made of Song, 1977 - Dreams by Fleetwood Mac

In the world of popular music, 1977 was most notable for a landmark shift in the rock-and-roll landscape. Although punk had been percolating in American and British garages since the end of the Sixties, it was this year that finally saw it explode across the cultural landscape. To take the word of some on face value, this is the sea change that finally felled all those prog rock dinosaurs, and changed the musical landscape forever. One of those things is even true!

Heedless of the oncoming New Wave, however, we instead stop by this year to look in on the musical accomplishments of a very different band. One could be forgiven for not knowing that Fleetwood Mac actually started way back in '67 as a blues rock outfit. They went through quite a metamorphosis before entering the more familiar incarnation we know today. It was in the context of this "classic lineup" (Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham) that the world was first treated to Rumours, the group's biggest hit.

The fact that this is one of the best-selling albums of all time is totally justified. There really aren't any weak tracks on Rumours, and the stronger tracks are classics. But it's hard listening to the record without keeping in mind just how devastating the process of recording the album was for the band on a personal level. To believe it from the interviews, most or all of the band's members were falling apart the entire time they were recording in Sausalito, a session fraught with both interpersonal conflict and a good amount of drugs.

Perhaps the most poignant song from the album is "Dreams". It's far from the only song drawn from the ongoing tensions in the band that found its way onto the record, but it is the most poignant. "Dreams" is a brilliant little song which is deceptively simple in its construction, mostly following the same bass line and the same few chords. For all its simplicity, though, it's also a very beautiful song, which reflects the troubles that the band were going through, but also has a somewhat bittersweet but optimistic outlook.

That first line of the chorus is what really hooks me, I think: "Thunder only happens when it's raining." This is a beguiling lyric (and inaccurate, from a meteorological standpoint, but never mind that). On a metaphorical level, it can be interpreted in one of a million different ways, even when only interpreted as a statement on the breakup between Stevie Nicks (who wrote this particular track) and Lindsey Buckingham. This could mean that excitement (thunder) is often accompanied by sadness or hardship (rain), but alternatively it could mean something like thunder (a sign of trouble) presaging coming rain (heartbreak). The clue as to what it really means probably rests in the last line of the chorus: "When the rain washes you clean you'll know." Following a couple of lines about unfaithful partners, and finding hollow new relationships after a breakup, this would seem to indicate that, in the context of the song, "rain" really refers to heartbreak.

Whatever it really means, it's a song that sticks in the mind. A lot of people seem to agree with me there, because the song has been streamed on Spotify 744,305,118 times as of this writing, which is really something.

Enough of music for now. The infinitely less enjoyable task of reviewing Underworld awaits me next. Back with you soon.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 July 2021.)