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.
Go Insane
Fleetwood Mac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Winners, losers
I lost my power in this world
'Cause I did not use it
So I go insane
Like I always do
And I call your name
Two kinds of trouble in this world
Living, dying
I lost my power in this world
And the rumors are flying
So I go insane
Like I always do
And I call your name
She's a lot like you
So I go insane
Like I always do
And I call your name
She's a lot like you
The lyrics of "Go Insane" express a sense of frustration and loss of control in the world. The singer describes two types of people - winners and losers, and living and dying. He laments that he has lost his power in the world because he did not use it effectively. This loss of control causes him to go insane and call out for someone who reminds him of the person who may have had the power he lost.
The repetition of the phrase "like I always do" implies a pattern of behavior the singer finds difficult to break free from. The lyrics suggest that the singer has found himself in a difficult situation where he feels powerless and out of control, and he simply cannot help but go insane.
"Go Insane" is a song that reflects the sense of frustration and lack of control that one can feel in life. It speaks to the struggle of maintaining control and the difficulty in breaking free from a pattern of behavior that may not be helpful. The song is an expression of the human desire for control and the difficult reality that we often cannot control everything in our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Two kinds of people in this world
There are only two types of people in this world.
Winners, losers
These two kinds of people are either winners or losers.
I lost my power in this world
The singer has lost their power or control in their life.
'Cause I did not use it
The reason why the artist lost their power/control is that they didn't make use of it.
So I go insane
As a result of losing their power and control, the artist becomes crazy.
Like I always do
This seems to be a frequent occurrence for the singer when they lose control.
And I call your name
The singer reaches out to someone they care about when they are going through a difficult time
She's a lot like you
The person the artist is reaching out to is similar to someone else the artist knows.
Two kinds of trouble in this world
Like people, there are two types of trouble in this world.
Living, dying
These two types of trouble are either dealing with living or death.
And the rumors are flying
There are rumors about the singer that are being spread around.
So I go insane
Due to the rumors, the artist is losing their mind.
And I call your name
As with the previous verse, the singer reaches out to someone they care about for comfort and support.
She's a lot like you
This person they call out for is once again similar to someone else the singer knows.
So I go insane
Despite the source of their mental breakdown being different, the result is the same for the singer.
Like I always do
Their breakdowns seem to always come about in a similar fashion.
And I call your name
The artist will always reach out to someone they care about when they are in distress.
She's a lot like you
The person they call out for is always similar to someone else the singer knows.
Lyrics © HIPGNOSIS SONGS GROUP, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
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?