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Fleetwood Mac · S3 E4
Rhiannon
Stevie writes about a Welsh witch and becomes one herself. The song that makes her a star
1976, The Midnight Special, NBC studios. Stevie Nicks steps to the microphone in a black chiffon dress, the band kicks into a churning guitar riff, and by the time the song is over, America has a new rock and roll witch.
Fleetwood Mac, "Rhiannon" (The Midnight Special, 1976). The performance that turned Stevie Nicks from a backup singer into a rock icon. She is wild, possessed, and absolutely terrifying in the best possible way.
Rhiannon
The studio version is controlled and pretty, built on Buckingham's arpeggio guitar figure and Christine's piano padding the arrangement with warmth. But the live version is something else entirely. Stevie's voice drops into a lower register, she starts growling and screaming, and the band pushes harder behind her. The Midnight Special performance captures the exact moment she discovered what she could become on stage. Buckingham's guitar gets rougher, Fleetwood's drums get louder, and Stevie spins until she is barely standing. By the final chorus, she is no longer performing a song. She is channeling something.
The Novel
Stevie finds the name Rhiannon in a paperback she picks up at an airport, a novel called Triad by Mary Leader. She writes the song in ten minutes, the melody arriving fully formed. She has no idea she has just written the most important song of her career.
TAP TO REVEAL: Who is the real Rhiannon?
“When I sing "Rhiannon," something takes over. My eyes change, my voice changes, and I go somewhere else completely. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.”
— Stevie Nicks, VH1 Behind the Music, 1998
Bonus Listening
"Sisters of the Moon", a dark, witchy deep cut from Tusk (1979) that picks up exactly where Rhiannon left off. If Rhiannon is Stevie discovering the mystical side of herself, "Sisters of the Moon" is what happens when she lets it consume her completely. Heavier, stranger, and more hypnotic, it is the Rhiannon persona pushed to its furthest extreme.
Sisters of the Moon, Fleetwood Mac (1979)
Read the lyrics while you listen. The Rhiannon persona pushed to its darkest extreme. Stevie letting the witchcraft consume the writing completely.
Where did Stevie Nicks find the name "Rhiannon"?
Stevie has her anthem, but it is a quiet Christine McVie single, not a witchy rock song, that cracks open the door to radio and sends this album to number one. Next: "Over My Head," and the moment America realizes Fleetwood Mac has three voices, not one.
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