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.
Wish You Were Here
Fleetwood Mac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And you're on my mind
As I lay here in the darkness
I can't find no peace inside
I wish you were here holding me tight
If I had you near it would make it alright
I wish you were here
There's rain on my window
And I can count the drops
But I can't help feeling lonely
There's no way, no way that I could stop
I wish you were here holding me tight
If I had you near you'd make it alright
I wish you were here
'Cause I feel like a child tonight
Each moment, ooh, is a memory
Time's so unkind
Every hour, filled with an emptiness I can't hide
Oh, there's distance between us
Can't get you off of my mind
As I lay here in the darkness
I can't find no peace inside
I wish you were here holding me tight
If I had you near it would make it alright
I wish you were here
'Cause I feel like a child tonight
I wish you were here
In Fleetwood Mac's song "Wish You Were Here," the singer is longing for the presence of a loved one who is far away. The opening lines, "There's distance between us, and you're on my mind," set the tone of the song as one of homesickness and yearning. As the singer lays in the darkness, they are unable to find peace within themselves. The chorus expresses the singer's desire for their loved one to be near, imagining that their embrace would make everything right. The repeated phrase "I wish you were here" conveys the depth of the singer's longing.
The second verse introduces the sound of rain, adding a sense of melancholy to the already somber mood. The singer counts the drops on the window but cannot help feeling lonely. Again, the chorus expresses the singer's longing for their loved one's physical presence, imagining that it would provide comfort and ease the ache they feel. The final verse describes each moment as a memory, implying that time is passing slowly and painfully without the loved one present. The final chorus reinforces the wish for the loved one to be near, as the singer feels like a child in need of their embrace.
Overall, "Wish You Were Here" is a poignant expression of longing for someone who is far away. The repeated refrain of "I wish you were here" conveys the depth of the singer's yearning, while the imagery of rain and darkness add a sense of melancholy to the song's mood. The lyrics capture the universal feeling of missing someone deeply, and the desire for their physical presence to ease the ache of separation.
Line by Line Meaning
There's distance between us
We are physically apart from each other and it is affecting me emotionally.
And you're on my mind
I cannot stop thinking about you even though you are not here with me.
As I lay here in the darkness
I am feeling sad and alone as I lie in bed in the darkness.
I can find no peace inside
My thoughts are racing and I cannot find inner peace or calmness.
I wish you were here holding me tight
I long for your physical presence and embrace to comfort me.
If I had you near it would make it alright
Your presence would make everything okay and ease my worries.
I wish you were here
I deeply desire for you to be here with me right now.
'Cause I feel like a child tonight
My emotions are overwhelming me and I feel vulnerable and childlike.
Rain on my window
It is raining and the sound of the rain is audible through my window.
I can count the drops
I am so focused on the sound of the rain that I can distinguish each individual drop.
But I can't help feeling lonely
Despite being able to hear the rain, I still feel lonely and sad.
There's no way I can stop
I cannot prevent myself from feeling lonely and missing you.
Each moment is a memory
Every moment that goes by without you feels like a memory that I will never get back.
Time is so unkind
The passing of time is not helping me to forget about you or feel better.
Every hour, filled with an emptiness I can't hide
Every hour that goes by without you, I feel a deep emptiness that I cannot conceal or ignore.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Christine Mcvie, Colin Eric Allen
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?