Primarily a British blues band, Fleetwood Mac scored a UK number one with "Albatross", and had other hits such as the singles "Oh Well" and "Man of the World". All three guitarists left in succession during the early 1970s, to be replaced by guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker. By 1974, all three of them had either departed or been dismissed, leaving the band without a male lead vocalist or guitarist. In late 1974, while Fleetwood was scouting studios in Los Angeles, he was introduced to American folk-rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac soon asked Buckingham to be their new lead guitarist, and Buckingham agreed on condition that Nicks would also join the band.
The addition of Buckingham and Nicks gave the band a more pop rock sound, and their 1975 self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac, reached No. 1 in the United States. Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac's second album after the arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles and remained at number one on the American albums chart for 31 weeks. It also reached the top spot in various countries around the world and won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978. Rumours has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in history. The band went through personal turmoil while recording the album, as both the romantic partnerships in the band (one being John and Christine McVie, and the other being Buckingham and Nicks) separated while continuing to make music together.
The band's personnel remained stable through three more studio albums, but by the late 1980s began to disintegrate. After Buckingham and Nicks each left the band, they were replaced by a number of other guitarists and vocalists. A 1993 one-off performance for the first inauguration of Bill Clinton featured the lineup of Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Nicks, and Buckingham back together for the first time in six years. A full reunion occurred four years later, and the group released their fourth U.S. No. 1 album, The Dance (1997), a live compilation of their hits, also marking the 20th anniversary of Rumours. Christine McVie left the band in 1998, but continued to work with the band in a session capacity. Meanwhile, the group remained together as a four-piece, releasing their most recent studio album, Say You Will, in 2003. Christine McVie rejoined the band full-time in 2014. In 2018, Buckingham was fired from the band and was replaced by Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House.
Fleetwood Mac has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands. In 1979, the group was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Danny Kirwan, guitarist, songwriter and early member of Fleetwood Mac (1968–1972) died in London, England, on 8 June 2018, aged 68. An obituary in The New York Times said he had died in his sleep after contracting pneumonia earlier in the year. The British music magazine Mojo quoted Christine McVie as saying: "Danny Kirwan was the white English blues guy. Nobody else could play like him. He was a one-off ... Danny and Peter [Green] gelled so well together. Danny had a very precise, piercing vibrato – a unique sound ... He was a perfectionist; a fantastic musician and a fantastic writer." One of Kirwan's songs, "Tell Me All the Things You Do" from the 1970 album Kiln House, was included in the set of the 2018–19 An Evening with Fleetwood Mac tour.
On 28 May 2020 Neil Finn, featuring Nicks and McVie, with Campbell on guitar, released the song “Find Your Way Back Home” for the Auckland, New Zealand homeless shelter Auckland City Mission.
Founding member Peter Green died on 25 July 2020 at the age of 73. In October 2020, Rumours again entered the Billboard top 10. The album received 30.6 million plays on streaming platforms the week of October 15, after a TikTok video of the song "Dreams" went viral.
On 30 November 2022, it was announced that band member Christine McVie died at the age of 79, after a short illness.
Book of Love
Fleetwood Mac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Walked out, goodbye
I swore I never would cry
Tore a page of my heart
She wants me to be her friend
I'm lonely again
Tore a page of my heart
Oh, tell me who wrote the book of love
Was it somebody from above (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Surely he must know all the rules (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Knowledge not meant for mortal fools
Must have been someone from above
Tell me, who wrote the book of love
(Oh, oh, oh, oh)
In silence the lonely make
All their mistakes
Tore a page of my heart
Someone in Heaven above
Show me how to love
Tore a page of my heart
Oh, tell me who wrote the book of love
Was it somebody from above (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Surely he must know all the rules (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Knowledge not meant for mortal fools
Must have been someone from above
Tell me, who wrote the book of love (ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
(Ha, ha, ha, ha)
The lyrics to Fleetwood Mac's song Book Of Love reflect the singer's pain and confusion over a recent breakup. The opening lines signal an ending in a relationship and a different kind of separation, where the singer decides to walk away and not look back with tears in eyes. The song speaks to loneliness and the feeling of being lost in the aftermath of a breakup. The image of tearing a page of one's heart figuratively suggests how painful the experience is for the singer. The central question that drives the song is who wrote the book of love, a rhetorical question that seeks the answers to the mysteries of the heart.
The song contemplates the concept of love and whether there is a specific formula or set of rules for it. The singer believes that someone from above must have written these rules since mere mortals cannot fully comprehend love. Even at their most desperate, humans will often turn to the heavens to make sense of the unexplainable. For the singer, this higher being or deity represented a force beyond human control and mortal understanding. The song concludes with the singer's plea to this higher power to show them how to love again.
Line by Line Meaning
Walked out, goodbye
My partner left me, saying goodbye
I swore I never would cry
I made a promise to myself not to cry over my partner leaving me
Tore a page of my heart
My heart is broken and I feel like a part of me is missing
She wants me to be her friend
My ex-partner wants to remain friends, but it's difficult for me
I'm lonely again
Even though I have my ex-partner as a friend, I still feel lonely
Tell me, who wrote the book of love
I want to know the origin of the concept of love and relationships
Was it somebody from above (ha, ha, ha, ha)
I'm questioning if love is a divine principle or just a human invention
Surely he must know all the rules (ha, ha, ha, ha)
If love is a divine principle, then surely the one who created it knows how it all works
Knowledge not meant for mortal fools
Perhaps the knowledge of love and relationships is not something that humans are meant to completely understand
In silence the lonely make
Loneliness can lead to mistakes and bad decisions when made in isolation
All their mistakes
This line reiterates the idea that being alone can lead to making mistakes
Someone in Heaven above
This line suggests that a higher power, such as God, may hold the answers to love and relationships
Show me how to love
I'm asking for guidance and knowledge on how to love and be in a healthy relationship
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Henri Hudson
on Tusk
Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay?
Why don't you ask him if he's going away?