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Fleetwood Mac · S4 E3
Dreams
Stevie writes it in ten minutes on a Fender Rhodes in a studio hallway. It will become their only number one single
1976, a hallway at Record Plant Studios, Sausalito. Stevie Nicks finds a Fender Rhodes piano pushed against a wall, sits down, and writes "Dreams" in ten minutes flat.
Fleetwood Mac, Dreams (official music video, 1977). The only number-one single in Fleetwood Mac's history. Stevie wrote it about Buckingham, and every line is a message to the man sitting in the next room recording guitar overdubs.
Dreams, Fleetwood Mac (1977)
The genius of "Dreams" is its simplicity. The entire song is built on two chords, F major and G major, with Nicks' vocal floating over a bed of Fender Rhodes, bass, and one of the most hypnotic drum patterns Mick Fleetwood ever recorded. Buckingham's guitar is barely there, tucked underneath, letting Stevie's voice own every inch of space.
“I sat down at the piano and the words just came. "Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom." I knew exactly who I was talking to. I was talking to Lindsey.”
— Stevie Nicks, VH1 Storytellers, 1998
The Response
"Dreams" is Stevie's direct answer to "Go Your Own Way." Where Buckingham's song is angry and accusatory, Nicks' response is calm, knowing, and devastating in a completely different way. She does not raise her voice once, and she does not have to.
TAP TO REVEAL: How did "Dreams" become Fleetwood Mac's only number-one single?
What instrument did Stevie Nicks use to write "Dreams"?
Storms, Fleetwood Mac
A Stevie Nicks ballad from Tusk (1979) that picks up where "Dreams" left off, but with the composure stripped away. Where "Dreams" is controlled and knowing, "Storms" is raw, pleading, and openly hurt. Nicks' vocal cracks with emotion in a way she rarely allows, and the arrangement builds from a whisper to a devastating climax.
Storms, Fleetwood Mac (1979)
Read the lyrics while you listen. "I have always been a storm." Nicks with the composure stripped away, raw and pleading in a way she rarely allows.
Buckingham has heard "Dreams" and he is not going to let it go unanswered. Next: "Go Your Own Way," the angriest love song of the decade, and the nightly ritual of playing it directly to the woman who inspired every word.
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