Fleetwood Mac is a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fl… Read Full Bio ↴Fleetwood Mac is a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the lineup for their self-titled debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist in 1968. Keyboardist Christine Perfect (later known as Christine McVie), who contributed as a session musician from the second album, married McVie and joined in 1970.

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.

These Strange Times
Fleetwood Mac Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

These strange times I think of a friend
They said was a man of the world
When all the time he was in a fight
Between the dark and the light
Yes, I too my friend, find the devil (have faith)
Trying to make me do things I don't want to do (have faith)
And now I find myself crying out
God is nowhere, god is nowhere

These strange times I look in my heart
And see the dark not the light
And how I'm sad and wished I was in love
And I look to the sky and cry out
God is nowhere (God is nowhere), God is nowhere (God is nowhere) (have faith)
And this is hell
Being caught between the dark and the light

(Daddy, daddy, hold on)
(God is now here, god is now here)

(Faith, have faith)

These strange times I too have dreams
And things that make me wonder
If to walk a thin line is like dying alone
And I'm trying to find my way home
To where God is now here, and the dark is now light
Yes I'm crying out, God is now here
God is now here (God is now here), God is now here
And that was hell
Being caught between the dark and the light
Between the dark and the light

These strange times I look in my heart
And how I am sad and wished I was in love
(Have faith, have faith, have faith)

And I look to the sky and I cry out
God is now here, God is now here
God is now here, God is now here (faith)
(Have faith, have faith)

My friend, I do wish I was in love (faith)
I wished I was in love
I love you
I wished I was in love
I love you

I wished I was in love
I love you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Fleetwood Mac's song "These Strange Times" reflect on a personal struggle that the singer is going through. The song begins with the singer thinking of a friend who was once believed to be worldly but is now caught in a fight between dark and light. The singer then reflects on their own experience of being caught between the dark and light, as they express their inner turmoil of wanting to do good but feeling the temptation of the devil, and feeling that God is nowhere to be found. The singer then shifts to a more positive outlook, questioning if walking a thin line is like dying alone and trying to find their way home to where God is now, here, and the dark is now light.

Overall, the song presents a struggle with inner demons and the desire to find true love and spiritual guidance. It is a reflection on the emotional complexities that we face in life and the different roles that darkness, light, God, and the devil play in our thoughts and actions.

Line by Line Meaning

These strange times I think of a friend
In these strange times, I think about a friend who was once considered a worldly man but was actually struggling between good and evil.

When all the time he was in a fight Between the dark and the light
Even though he was labeled as a man of the world, he was constantly struggling between right and wrong.

Yes I too, my friend, find the Devil Trying to make me do things I don't want to do
Like my friend, I am also struggling with the Devil trying to lure me into doing things that go against my will.

God is nowhere, God is nowhere
Feeling overwhelmed by these strange times, I call out in desperation for God, lamenting his absence.

These strange times I look in my heart And see the dark not the light
In these confusing times, I introspect and find darkness overshadowing light within me.

And how I'm sad and wished I was in love And look to the sky and cry out God is nowhere, God is nowhere
I feel sad and long for love, causing me to cry out to God again, feeling weighed down by his apparent absence.

And this is Hell Being caught between the dark and the light Daddy, daddy, hold on God is now here, God is now here
The turmoil of being caught between right and wrong and living in the absence of God is like living in Hell, but I cling to the hope that God is now present and can save me.

These strange times I too have dreams Things that make me wonder If to walk a thin line is like dying alone And I'm trying to find my way home
I have dreams that make me ponder if living on the edge is akin to dying alone, and I am trying to find my way back to God.

To where God is now, here and the dark is now light Yes I'm crying out, God is now here God is now here and that was Hell Being caught between the dark and the light Between the dark and the light
When I find my way to where God is now, and darkness gives way to light, I realize that living in the absence of God was akin to living in Hell, but now I call out to Him with conviction, now that I find Him present.

My friend I do wish that I was in love I wished I was in love I love you, I love you.
I express a wish to be in love like my friend, and end with a declaration of love towards that friend.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Mick Fleetwood, Raymond Kennedy

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS