Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks writing scathing breakup songs about one another is nothing new. In fact, it’s how most of the world first came to know the former folk-rock duo that joined British-American blues band Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s. From “Go Your Own Way” to its response, “Dreams”, and many, many, many songs in between, some of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits are just musical barbs each artist threw at the other.
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But there’s something especially contentious and slanderous about the two musicians writing songs about one another after they parted ways. After all, “Silver Springs” is a heartbreaker of a track, but Nicks staring down Buckingham while she’s singing makes the whole concept seem more like “healthy albeit uncomfortable confrontation” instead of the less-enlightened, good ol’ trash talk. So, when Buckingham played a song during his solo shows in the early 2010s, detail-oriented fans were quick to point out the possible references to Nicks.
Tensions between Fleetwood Mac members continued well past the 1970s (the only thing they really seemed to leave behind was the rampant drug use). So, it’s absolutely within the realm of possibility that Buckingham would still be writing songs about Nicks around that time. And if this fan theory is correct, then this particular song was quite the doozy.
Fans Pointed Out the Potential Meaning Behind Lindsey Buckingham’s “Dancing”
Lindsey Buckingham closed his eponymous seventh solo studio album with a track called “Dancing”, which was a rare addition to his live performances. When the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter did play the song in his set, many fans took to the internet to speculate as to whether or not he wrote the song about Stevie Nicks. And considering the lyrics, it wouldn’t be an unreasonable assumption.
“Poor little raven, how she’s lost her way / Buys all she can, but she can’t seem to pray / All those who love her just wasting away / dancing, dancing,” Buckingham begins. In the bridge, he sings, “Oh, in this world that no one wants to know / how will we get along? / Oh, see the girl with no place to go / This is her song.” Finally, Buckingham concludes the track with the lines, “Promises, promises already banned / emptiness goes where supply meets demand / business and murder, they go hand in hand / dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing.”
To Buckingham’s credit, there are no ultra-explicit references to his former bandmate. But the description of a dark-clothed raven dancing and dancing, breaking promises, spending exorbitant amounts of money, whispers of business and murder…it seems more likely than not that Nicks played at least a small inspirational role in the writing of this song.
The Song Seems to Line up With a Major Business Debacle in the Early 2010s
The first instances of “Dancing” showing up in Lindsey Buckingham’s set pop up around 2012, six years before he would include it on his seventh solo album. While all connections between “Dancing” and Stevie Nicks can only be assumptions without direct comments from the artists themselves, the timing certainly seems to line up. The early 2010s saw another highly public feud in Fleetwood Mac as Nicks pushed back against the band’s hopes of putting out a new album ahead of their 2013 world tour. Speaking to Rolling Stone in late 2012, Buckingham made it clear that Nicks was the reason why this album never came to fruition.
“My intention was that she would come in, hear the songs, and then get engaged and want to bring some material to the table, and we could have a new album,” Buckingham said. “That didn’t happen. It kind of languished there.”
Photo by Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images
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