The Phoenix, Arizona-born songwriter and performer Stevie Nicks is known for her bright voice, skillful songwriting, and witchy ways onstage. She is also inextricably linked to the legendary British-born rock band Fleetwood Mac.
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Nicks was one of the Mac’s principle songwriters and singers during the band’s ’70s heyday, and continued to perform with them off and on through to the present day. She also created some of the group’s most popular songs—on her own. Here are four hit Fleetwood Mac songs you likely didn’t know Stevie Nicks penned solo for the band.
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1. “Dreams“
Written by Stevie Nicks
Written by Nicks, this song appeared on the smash 1977 Fleetwood Mac album Rumours, a tumultuous record made while several of the bandmates were experiencing divorce and relationship splits with one another. (More recently, many viewers were reintroduced to this number thanks to a skateboarding, cranberry juice-drinking fella named Nathan Apodaca who made this viral video.) Upon its original release, “Dreams” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Fleetwood Mac’s sole No. 1 in the U.S. Yet, despite all the turmoil surrounding Rumors, this song has lived on in major, even viral ways.
Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It’s only right that you should play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
And what you had
And what you lost
2. “Gypsy”
Written by Stevie Nicks
This Nicks-penned song was released on the 1982 Fleetwood Mac album Mirage, and hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its unveiling. Nicks, though, began writing it around 1979, with demos crafted the following year. She later dedicated the song to her friend Robin Anderson, who passed away from cancer. On the heartfelt, vocal-driven tune, Nicks sings,
So I’m back to the velvet underground
Back to the floor that I love
To a room with some lace and paper flowers
Back to the gypsy that I was
To the gypsy that I was
And it all comes down to you
Well, you know that it does and
Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice
Oh and it lights up the night
And you see your gypsy
You see your gypsy
3. “Rhiannon”
Written by Stevie Nicks
Released on the band’s self-titled 1975 album, this single hit No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ahead of her live performances of “Rhiannon,” as seen in the below music video, Nicks would often preface the song by saying, “This is a song about an old Welsh witch.” And during live performances, Nicks would become so taken with the song, the band’s drummer Mick Fleetwood said, “[H]er ‘Rhiannon’ in those days was like an exorcism.” On the track, Nicks sings,
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn’t you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you’ve never seen
A woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
4. “Silver Springs”
Written by Stevie Nicks
This song was intended for the band’s acclaimed 1977 album Rumours, and on some pressings it was included, but it was mostly sent out into the world as a B-side to the popular single “Go Your Own Way.” A live rendition of “Silver Springs” was released two decades later on the 1997 album The Dance, which was a reunion album for the band after breaking up a decade prior. This live version of “Silver Springs” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. On the song, Nicks sings,
You could be my silver spring
Blue-green colors flashin’
I would be your only dream
Your shinin’ autumn ocean crashin’
Don’t say that she’s pretty
And did you say that she loved you?
Baby, I don’t want to know
Photo by Ethan Miller/WireImage
