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Fleetwood Mac · S7 E6
Tango in the Night
Number one in the UK, top ten worldwide. Three million copies in Britain alone. The classic lineup's final triumph
A Tudor manor house in Wickhambreaux, Kent, 1998. Christine McVie closes the door on thirty years of rock and roll, trades the tour bus for a garden, and decides she is done with Fleetwood Mac.
"Peacekeeper" (Fleetwood Mac, 2003). The lead single from Say You Will, Fleetwood Mac's first studio album without Christine McVie since 1970. Written by Lindsey Buckingham, it's urgent, driving, and built on the kind of rhythmic intensity that only surfaces when Buckingham has something to prove. This is what the band sounds like with a hole in the middle where Christine used to be.
The Quiet Goodbye
Christine's reasons for leaving were layered. Her father had died in England, and she wanted to be closer to her family. The 1994 Northridge earthquake had triggered a fear of flying so severe she couldn't face another transatlantic tour. She moved into a Grade II-listed Tudor manor house in the Kent countryside and spent her days cooking, gardening, and restoring the home.
Sources
NME. "Christine McVie says she quit Fleetwood Mac because of a 'fear of flying.'"
Far Out Magazine. "Christine McVie's 'huge mistake' with Fleetwood Mac."
“She could have come on board in the early stages of the recording, but, as time went on, that became more impractical.”
— Mick Fleetwood on Christine McVie and the Say You Will sessions, Ultimate Classic Rock
Peacekeeper, Fleetwood Mac (2003)
"Peacekeeper" is one of only two songs on Say You Will that Lindsey Buckingham wrote specifically for Fleetwood Mac, not for himself. Nearly all of his other contributions started life as demos for an aborted solo album. You can hear the difference: "Peacekeeper" has the full band locked in from the opening beat, with Stevie Nicks' harmonies lifting the chorus in a way Lindsey's solo recordings never could. It peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100, a modest return, but the energy of the track makes it clear that this version of the band still had teeth.
Sources
Ultimate Classic Rock. "When Fleetwood Mac Mounted a Semi-Reunion on 'Say You Will.'"
Billboard Hot 100 chart history, 2003.
TAP TO REVEAL: How much of Say You Will was actually a Lindsey Buckingham solo album?
Wickhambreaux, Kent, England
The village where Christine McVie retreated to a Tudor manor house after leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998. She didn't fly for fifteen years, didn't tour, and spent her time restoring the house, cooking, and writing songs nobody heard.
Half a Band, Whole Album
Say You Will debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 218,000 copies sold in its first week. Not a number one, not a disaster, just the sound of a band that was two-thirds of what it used to be. Critics noticed the absence of Christine's melodic warmth and the lopsided Buckingham-Nicks split that replaced her centering influence. The album was certified gold, and the world tour that followed proved people would still show up, even with a chair missing from the stage.
Sources
Billboard chart history, April 2003.
Something Else Reviews. "Fleetwood Mac's 'Say You Will' sorely missed Christine McVie."
Say You Will: The Facts
Say Goodbye, Fleetwood Mac (2003)
A Stevie Nicks track buried near the end of Say You Will that feels like it was written for Christine. "Say Goodbye" carries the weight of someone who has watched people leave and learned to let them go. In an album where Christine's absence is the elephant in every room, Stevie sings the farewell that nobody else in the band was willing to put into words.
Say Goodbye, Fleetwood Mac (2003)
Stevie Nicks has always written about endings better than anyone in rock. "Say Goodbye" strips away the mythology and the shawls and delivers something plain: the acknowledgment that some people you love will leave, and the best you can do is let them go with grace. On an album missing its emotional center, this song fills the gap for three and a half minutes before the silence rushes back in.
How long had it been since Christine McVie appeared on a Fleetwood Mac album before Say You Will?
Say You Will tours the world without Christine, and for sixteen years she stays in her English garden. Then, in 2014, she conquers her fear of flying, walks back into a rehearsal room, and the sound of Fleetwood Mac is whole again.
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