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Fleetwood Mac · S4 E4
Go Your Own Way
Lindsey writes the angriest breakup song of the decade and plays it for the woman it's about every night on tour
1977, a sold-out arena, the Rumours world tour. Lindsey Buckingham steps to the microphone, locks eyes with Stevie Nicks across the stage, and sings "Go Your Own Way" directly to her face for the 200th consecutive night.
Fleetwood Mac, Go Your Own Way (live, The Dance, 1997). Twenty years later and Buckingham is still singing it to Nicks across the stage. The reunion show that proved some arguments never end, they just get better arrangements.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why was Stevie Nicks so furious about "Go Your Own Way"?
Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac (1977)
The studio version is pure controlled fury. Fleetwood's tom-heavy drum pattern was inspired by the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," with Buckingham insisting on the unconventional approach over Fleetwood's objections. The guitar riff is deliberately rough, almost garage-rock, as if Buckingham was too angry to polish it. Three voices in perfect harmony singing words designed to wound: that contradiction is Rumours distilled into three minutes.
What lyric in "Go Your Own Way" made Stevie Nicks furious?
The Ritual
Every night on tour, Buckingham performs the song looking at Nicks. Every night, she stands on stage and takes it. The audience has no idea they are watching a real argument happen in real time, set to a melody they are already singing along to.
“I was not the one doing the leaving. She left me. But there was never really any chance to get anything like closure because that takes perhaps some distance.”
— Lindsey Buckingham
What Makes You Think You're the One, Fleetwood Mac
Buckingham at his most confrontational, a Tusk deep cut (1979) that takes the aggression of "Go Your Own Way" and strips away the pop polish entirely. The guitar is jagged, the rhythm is relentless, and Buckingham sounds like he is arguing with someone who has already left the room.
What Makes You Think You're the One, Fleetwood Mac (1979)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Buckingham arguing with someone who has already left the room, every word landing like a closed fist.
One song on Rumours belongs to nobody and everybody at the same time: assembled from scraps, held together by a bass line that shakes stadiums, and credited to all five members for the first and only time. Next: "The Chain."
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