Fleetwood Mac"s "Dreams": It Took HOW Long To Write
Fleetwood Mac was, personally, coming apart at the seams.
John McVie was separating from Christine McVie.
Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were breaking up after eight years.
And Mick Fleetwood was in the midst of divorcing Jenny Boyd.
Drugs were everywhere.
The turmoil was so great that Fleetwood, in his autobiography, referred to the recording of "Rumours" with the words, "Yesterday's gone...
Thank God.
" And it was amidst this tsunami of turmoil that the band delivered its only number one U.
S.
hit, Nick's "Dreams".
"Rumours" was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California.
One day when she wasn't needed in the main studio where the band was working Stevie Nicks went to an adjoining studio next door, a Fender Rhodes piano in tow.
This side studio which belonged to Sly (of "Sly & the Family Stone" fame) was a black-and-red room, with red velvet on the walls and a sunken pit in the middle containing a piano.
It even had its own bed, a big black velvet affair with Victorian drapes to match.
There are songs which take literally weeks, months or even years to write.
So, how long do you think it took Nicks to write her hugely successful hit in this other-worldly studio while all this chaos was happening with her band? Let Nicks tell it herself: "I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me.
I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote 'Dreams' in about 10 minutes.
Right away I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat, because that made it a little unusual for me.
" In other words, it took about as long to compose it as would be needed to play it twice with a minute or two to spare.
Granted it was only a rough draft, just Nicks and her piano.
She then handed the demo cassette to Buckingham, who was still in an angry state over their breakup-in-progress.
For one moment, though, his anger was forgotten as he heard the demo for the first time and smiled.
The band recorded it the next day, even though Christine McVie originally thought the song was boring.
And all they kept from the Sausalito sessions was a drum track and Nick's vocal.
But when the guitars tracks and bass were added afterward in Los Angeles Buckhingham came through with an arrangement that made each part of the song sound unique, causing McVie to change her mind.
John McVie was separating from Christine McVie.
Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were breaking up after eight years.
And Mick Fleetwood was in the midst of divorcing Jenny Boyd.
Drugs were everywhere.
The turmoil was so great that Fleetwood, in his autobiography, referred to the recording of "Rumours" with the words, "Yesterday's gone...
Thank God.
" And it was amidst this tsunami of turmoil that the band delivered its only number one U.
S.
hit, Nick's "Dreams".
"Rumours" was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California.
One day when she wasn't needed in the main studio where the band was working Stevie Nicks went to an adjoining studio next door, a Fender Rhodes piano in tow.
This side studio which belonged to Sly (of "Sly & the Family Stone" fame) was a black-and-red room, with red velvet on the walls and a sunken pit in the middle containing a piano.
It even had its own bed, a big black velvet affair with Victorian drapes to match.
There are songs which take literally weeks, months or even years to write.
So, how long do you think it took Nicks to write her hugely successful hit in this other-worldly studio while all this chaos was happening with her band? Let Nicks tell it herself: "I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me.
I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote 'Dreams' in about 10 minutes.
Right away I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat, because that made it a little unusual for me.
" In other words, it took about as long to compose it as would be needed to play it twice with a minute or two to spare.
Granted it was only a rough draft, just Nicks and her piano.
She then handed the demo cassette to Buckingham, who was still in an angry state over their breakup-in-progress.
For one moment, though, his anger was forgotten as he heard the demo for the first time and smiled.
The band recorded it the next day, even though Christine McVie originally thought the song was boring.
And all they kept from the Sausalito sessions was a drum track and Nick's vocal.
But when the guitars tracks and bass were added afterward in Los Angeles Buckhingham came through with an arrangement that made each part of the song sound unique, causing McVie to change her mind.
Source...