All language subtitles for Fleetwood Mac - A Musical History - Vol 1

I listen to Fleetwood Mac every day

because artists like that
unlock the doors of perception.

They connect you to a creative soul.

In terms of being able to do music
across a multiplicity of genres,

they're kind of incomparable.

For me, it's the marriage
of those tones,

both of the voices
but of the instruments.

And what I love about Fleetwood Mac
is that no song

is really a show-off song
for anyone.

Everyone kind of gets their moment.

They're the perfect example of
letting go

and just, just
letting your thing flow.

Where it leads, if you let it flow,

is these songs that came out of
these different marriages.

Well, Fleetwood Mac were invented
by Peter Green,

who was a blues guitarist

and part of the British
blues guitar explosion of the time.

A kind of Clapton-y, Yardbirds
thing was going on around there,

and he started Fleetwood Mac
and it's very much his baby.

Peter Green recruited Mick Fleetwood
on drums and John McVie on bass,

and they were the name -
Fleetwood Mac.

They were huge.

At one point they were selling
more than the Beatles

and the Rolling Stones combined,

and had a really big
hard-core blues following.

Albatross changed that slightly

in that they became
slightly more mainstream.

But in doing that, it lost them
a lot of those hard-core blues fans,

but it gained them
a lot of new fans.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: Albatross

It sounds incredible,
even all these years later.

It's just got that
classic Americana...

..kind of dream pop,
dream-like vibe.

But it also wouldn't feel out
of place on kind of...

almost like a '90s chill-out album
as well.

To have established a blues fan base

and to then present them with this,

I can't imagine it was well-received
by all of their fans.

It certainly would
confound expectations.

Certainly, I think, a lot of people
would be surprised

if they heard
the entire back catalogue.

I used to listen to a lot of kind of
rock and roll and punk music,

and there's a Fleetwood Mac song,

I think it's called Somebody's Going
to Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight.

That's certainly the kind of,
the chorus of the main line.

# Somebody's going to
get their head kicked in tonight. #

And I just...

I don't think
when I first heard that song

I realised it was Fleetwood Mac
that sang it.

Then when I realised it was
and it was the same people

that sing, like, Everywhere,
I was just like,

"What? That doesn't make sense."

So, yeah, there's
lots of surprising gems

in the Fleetwood Mac back catalogue.

We're now going to do our
latest single, called Oh Well.

# I can't help
about the shape I'm in

# I can't sing, I ain't pretty
and my legs are thin

# But don't ask me
what I think of you

# I might not give the answer
that you want me to... #

Guitars are
the coolest...instrument.

Look at those guys!

Look at them, they're having fun.

They don't care that you're there.

The way he's playing, the way his
fingers are, and they look so cool.

# Now, when I talked to God
I knew he'd understand

# He said, stick by me
and I'll be your guiding hand

# But don't ask me
what I think of you

# I might not give the answer
that you want me to. #

It was very, erm, intense kind of
12-bar, it has to be 12-bar.

The anorak crowd, the sort of
hard-core blues guys were like,

"Oh, you're a sell-out."

And with "Oh Well" as well,
they're already losing fans,

haemorrhaging hard-core blues fans.

They lost almost all
of their fan base in the UK

and then they lose
their main songwriter.

So they don't just lose their crowd,
they lose their main guy.

Apparently, two band members,
Peter Green being one of them,

had a bad acid trip in Germany,
this is the folklore of it.

And after that, Peter Green
did not feel right.

So at this point, obviously, Peter
Green just needs a really good rest.

So Peter leaves
and you still have Mick and John,

Fleetwood and Mac,

who obviously want to continue
as a band.

And so you have this kind of
almost barren period

where they're not making music,
they're constantly searching

and trying out new members.

Then in comes Christine,
John's wife,

who comes in on merit

because she's an incredibly
accomplished songwriter,

great keyboard player.

Which led to this craziest luck
ever with Mick Fleetwood going

into a studio in Los Angeles
to check out the studio,

and the producer, like, puts on
a reel to show him what he can do,

"This is what I last...
This is my latest thing."

Apparently, Mick Fleetwood
heard a record by a duo called

Buckingham Nicks,
so he asked them out for dinner.

He invited Lindsey Buckingham,
the guitarist,

to join Fleetwood Mac
and Lindsey Buckingham said,

"Well, actually, I'm going out with
Stevie Nicks,"

who is the other partner in
the duo, "We come as a package.

"We don't go anywhere
without each other."

So, unbeknownst to Mick Fleetwood,

suddenly he's got Stevie Nicks
in the band.

And probably this was a sort of,

"Is she going to work? Is this going
to work? What are we going to do?"

But actually, suddenly,
the magic happens.

# Have mercy, baby
on a poor girl like me

# You know, I'm falling, falling
Falling at your feet

# I'm tingling right through
my head to my toes

# So help me, help me, help me
make the feeling go

# Cos when the loving starts
and the lights go down

# And there's not
another living soul around

# You woo me until the sun comes up

# And you say that you love me

# Have pity, baby

# Just when I thought it was over

# You got me running, running,
running for cover

# I'm begging you
for a little sympathy

# And if you use me again
it'll be the end of me

# Cos when the loving starts
and the lights go down

# There's not another little... #
Oh, look at that!

# You woo me
until the sun comes up... #

And they're so different voices,
as well.

You know, Christine and Stevie's
voices are worlds apart.

But together...

..it's so special.

So much of the success of
the songwriting has come from

Stevie and Christine. Their talent
as performers and musicians,

you know, no arguments there.

But in terms of what went on,
in terms of the songwriting,

I don't think they get the credit
that they're due for how much

of the success of Fleetwood Mac
is due to them.

# Baby, baby, hope you're
gonna stay away

# Cos I'm getting weaker, weaker,
weaker every day

# I guess I'm not as strong
as I used to be

# And if you use me again
it'll be the end of me

# Cos when the loving starts
and the lights go down

# And there's not another
living soul around

# You woo me until the sun comes up

# And you say that you love me

# Yes, when the loving starts
and the lights go down

# There's not another
living soul around

# You woo me until the sun comes up

# And you say that you love me

# Say that you love me

# Say that you love me. #

Rhiannon is written by Stevie Nicks,

and I really think
it's a phenomenal song.

It only reached 46 in the UK charts,
I believe,

which is a shockingly low
chart position.

In the Rolling Stone magazine vote
of the 500 top songs,

it comes in at 488, which I think
is a very respectful place

when you think of how many songs
there are in the world.

But what I like about this song,
Stevie Nicks always introduces it

as being about a Welsh witch.

This is a song about a Welsh witch.

# Rhiannon rings like a bell
through the night

# And wouldn't you love to love her?

# She rules her life
like a bird in flight

# And who will be her lover?

# All your life
you've never seen a woman

# Taken by the wind

# Would you stay
if she promised you heaven?

# Will you ever win?

# She is like a cat in the dark
and then she is the darkness

# She rules her life
like a fine skylark

# And when the sky is starless

# Once in a million years
a lady like her rises

# Rhiannon... #

At the time, she was very much into
Welsh mythology

and was starting to learn about
the goddess of horses,

which is very prominent
in Welsh folklore.

But it's the way she's written it.

She writes in
a stream of consciousness,

which really only
Stevie Nicks could do.

She doesn't finish her phrases,
so she writes words that fit

the musical phrase
more than they fit the sense,

but it works
because that's how she writes.

It's ingrained,
it's part of her DNA,

she's not faking it.

She's discovered what works
for her voice.

# She rings like a bell
through the night

# And wouldn't you love to love her?

# She rules her life
like a bird in flight

# And who will be her lover?

# Once in a million years
a lady like her rises

# Rhiannon, you cry when she's gone
and your life knows no answer

# And your life knows no answer. #

Stevie Nicks was the only member
of the band

who didn't play an instrument,

so she wrote in a different way
to everybody else.

But she has this stage presence.

She's 5'1" and she has that thing
of suddenly she's the focal point.

I don't think they predicted
the success she would have,

just as being an icon,
just as being herself.

Yes, you can't mistake her
for anybody else.

# Taken by, taken by the sky

# Taken by, taken by the sky

# Taken by, taken by the sky