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.
What Makes You Think You're The One
Fleetwood Mac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who can laugh without cryin'?
What makes you think you're the one
Who can live without dyin'?
Every little bit is there to see
Every little bit of you and me
Who'll be there when you're callin'?
What makes you think I'm the one
Who will catch you when you're fallin'?
Every little bit is there to see
Every little bit of you and me
What makes you think I'm the one
Who will love you forever?
Everything you do has been done
And it won't last forever
And every little bit is there to see
And every little bit of you and me
At the surface level, the lyrics of Fleetwood Mac's song What Makes You Think You're the One might seem like a series of questions and statements directed towards someone who is feeling overconfident or narcissistic. However, upon further interpretation, the song might be hinting at the complexities of human relationships, the transient nature of love, and the inevitability of mortality.
The repeated questions "What makes you think you're the one who can laugh without crying?" and "What makes you think you're the one who can live without dying?" could be viewed as rhetorical, as no one person is capable of such invulnerability. The lyrics allude to the idea that everyone, no matter how strong or invincible they may seem, will have moments of vulnerability and eventually face their own mortality.
The final verse "What makes you think I'm the one who will love you forever? Everything you do has been done and it won't last forever" encapsulates the fleeting nature of emotions and experiences. The singer questions the idea of eternal love and suggests that love, like life, is not everlasting.
Overall, the song explores the human condition and the inevitable challenges that we will all face in life. It hints at the idea that even the most confident and invincible individuals will eventually face moments of vulnerability and that love and life are both transient.
Line by Line Meaning
What makes you think you're the one
What leads you to believe that you are uniquely capable or suited for this?
Who can laugh without cryin'?
Who has the ability to experience joy without pain?
Who can live without dyin'?
Who has the power to avoid death and live eternally?
Every little bit is there to see
All the small details are visible and present for observation.
Every little bit of you and me
Every aspect of our beings is present and accounted for.
What makes you think I'm the one
What gives you the impression I am the person to rely on?
Who'll be there when you're callin'?
Who will respond and come to your aid when you reach out?
Who will catch you when you're fallin'?
Who will support and prevent you from hitting the ground when you stumble or fail?
Who will love you forever?
Who has the capacity to love you infinitely, without end?
Everything you do has been done
All actions and behaviors have been performed before, nothing is truly original.
And it won't last forever
Eventually, everything comes to an end and ceases to exist.
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?