What a beautiful song this is and it was between the Green and the Buckingham/Nicks era. Thanks to Sharon for bringing this wonderful song up. The song was written by Danny Kirwan and was on the album Kiln House released in 1970.
18-year-old guitarist Danny Kirwan joined Fleetwood Mac in 1968 and one of the first recordings he played on was Albatross. He couldn’t take the pressure of touring and eventually fired in 1972.
The album peaked at #69 in the Billboard Album Charts, #67 in Canada, and #39 in the UK. The song didn’t chart. This is the first album after Peter Green left the band. Christine McVie contributed to the album with backup vocals, keyboards, and even cover art. After this album, she became a full member.
It doesn’t really sound like the Peter Green blues era or the later pure pop sound. It has more of a power-pop sound.
Jewel Eyed Judy
Moonshine time Thoughts of you Spinning round As thoughts do I just wondered if Your eyes still shine As they did When you were mine
I can see In a dream Thougts so clear And jewels that gleam Would your eyes Still sparkle then If we were, once again
Jewel eyed Judy please come home Jewel eyed Judy don’t leave me alone Jewel eyed Judy please come home Jewel eyed Judy don’t leave me alone
Lovely Judy Can you see Where it is You’re meant to be Where you lay Your head tonight May the stars Find your light So am I Sitting here Moonlight glistens On my tears Is this all That we could find Chains of memories Left behind
Jewel eyed Judy please come home Jewel eyed Judy don’t leave me alone Jewel eyed Judy please come home Jewel eyed Judy don’t leave me alone
One of my favorites off of the band’s most successful album Rumors.
Second Hand News” was written by Fleetwood Mac frontman Lindsey Buckingham. The turmoil making this album would have made a thrilling TV movie or soap opera…take your pick.
This song was originally an acoustic demo titled “Strummer.” But when Buckingham heard the Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin’,” he rearranged it with more audio tracks and the rhythmic effect from “playing” the faux-leather seat of a studio chair to make it evoke a slightly Celtic feel.
On recording Rumors…Stevie Nicks: “It lasted thirteen months and it took every bit of inner strength we had. It was very hard on us, like being a hostage in Iran, and to an extent, Lindsay was the Ayatollah.”
It was not released as a single but could have been…the album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1977.
From Songfacts
It is the first track on the Rumours album – the most successful album of Fleetwood Mac’s career with sales of over 40 million worldwide, going 19x platinum in the US and 10x platinum in the UK. The band’s original drummer Mick Fleetwood calls it the most important album they ever made.
Like many of the songs on the Rumours album, this one shows a darker side in the lyrics. It’s asking you to move on, leave the singer alone. Fleetwood Mac was experiencing the shatter of all of their emotional ties with not one, not two, but three break-ups! That was the divorce of the McVies, Buckingham and Stevie Nicks breaking up, and Fleetwood going through a divorce from his wife.
In Frank Moriarty’s book Seventies Rock: The Decade of Creative Chaos, Stevie Nicks is quoted from a Creem interview in July 1977, explaining the acrid lyrics: “We were all trying to break up and when you break up with someone you don’t want to see him. You especially don’t want to eat breakfast with him the next morning, see him all day and all night, and all day the day after…”
In Bill Martin’s Avant Rock: Experimental Music from the Beatles to Bjork, while meditating on the dichotomy between Yuppies and Yippies of the ’60s/’70s, the author states: “If I had to pick the ultimate musical document of AOR [Adult-Oriented Rock]/Yuppie rock, it would probably be the 1977 album by Fleetwood Mac, Rumours.” Well, take that!
Second Hand News
I know there’s nothing to say Someone has taken my place When times go bad When times go rough Won’t you lay me down in tall grass And let me do my stuff
I know I got nothin’ on you I know there’s nothing to do When times go bad And you can’t get enough Won’t you lay me down in the tall grass And let me do my stuff
One thing I think you should know I ain’t gonna miss you when you go Been down so long I’ve been tossed around enough Awh couldn’t you just Let me go down and do my stuff
I know you’re hopin’ to find Someone who’s gonna give you piece of mind When times go bad When times go rough Won’t you lay me down in tall grass And let me do my stuff
I’m just second hand news I’m just second hand news yeah I’m just second hand news I’m just second hand news yeah I’m just second hand news I’m just second hand news yeah I’m just second hand news I’m just second hand news yeah, yeah Yeah
Peter Green has passed away at age 73. I’ve been listening to that version of Fleetwood Mac a lot lately and he was a great guitar player and songwriter.
Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died at the age of 73.
His family have confirmed his death in a statement released by solicitors Swan Turton, who are acting on their behalf.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep,” the statement read. “A further statement will be provided in the coming days.”
The guitarist was born in London on October 29, 1946. He played in several bands after beginning to play professionally at the age of 15, including Bobby Dennis And The Dominoes, and The Muskrats.
In 1965, he met drummer Mick Fleetwood while a member of Peter B’s Looners, with whom he would go on to form Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac alongside guitarist Jeremy Spencer. John McVie later replaced Bob Brunning on bass and the band released their self-titled debut album in February 1968.
This was the first single off the Fleetwood Mac album released in 1975. This was the first Fleetwood Mac album with newcomers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
McVie has said that she composed the song using a portable Hohner electric piano in Malibu, California, where she and then-husband John McVie lived after completing a concert tour to promote the previous album Heroes Are Hard to Find.
The song was written by Christie McVie and peaked at #20 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada in 1976.
The single itself was edited…the fade-in intro that appeared on the album version was removed, and louder guitars were added in the chorus. It became their first song to reach the American charts since 1970s Oh Well.
Over My Head
You can take me to paradise, And then again you can be cold as ice I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice. You can take me anytime you like, I’ll be around if you think you might love me baby, And hold me tight. Your mood is like a circus wheel, You’re changing all the time, Sometimes I can’t help but feel, That I’m wasting all of my time. Think I’m looking on the dark side, But everyday you hurt my pride, I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice, I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice.
I heard this song when I was younger. It wasn’t on the radio but a friend of mine who had some old Fleetwood Mac albums. Peter Green was/is a great guitar player and his voice fit the band perfectly.
This is among the last songs Peter Green wrote before quitting the band. A consistent riff carries the rhythm, while Green wails the lyrics. At the time, he was taking a lot of acid, but has always maintained this was about the evils of money.
The song didn’t chart in America but did peak at #10 in the UK in 1969.
Judas Priest covered this on their Hell Bent for Leather album in 1979.
Peter Green:“When I woke up I found I was writing this song. Next day I went out to the park and the words started coming. The Green Manalishi is the wad of notes, the devil is green and he was after me. Fear, inspiration is what it was, but it was that tribal ancient Hebrew thing I was going for. Ancient music.” More recently he admitted, “It took me two years to recover from that song. When I listened to it afterward there was so much power there… it exhausted me.”
From Songfacts
As Green explained in a 1996 interview with Mojo, the song is about the evils of money: the Green Manalishi was the devil manifested as a wad of cash. Green explained: “I had a dream where I woke up and I couldn’t move, literally immobile on the bed. I had to fight to get back into my body. I had this message that came to me while I was like this, saying that I was separate from people like shop assistants, and I saw a picture of a female shop assistant and a wad of pound notes, and there was this other message saying, ‘You’re not what you used to be. You think you’re better than them. You used to be an everyday person like a shop assistant, just a regular working person.’ I had been separated from it because I had too much money. So I thought, How can I change that?”
Peter Green built quite a legend by giving away most of his money. He gave most of his savings to a London-based charity called War On Want, which provided aid to developing nations, mostly in Africa. Green explained: “Last thing at night they used to put pictures on telly of starving people and I used to sit there eating a doughnut and thinking, Why have I got this big stash that I don’t need when probably I’m going to die with it and all this is going on?”
Rumors had it that “Green Manalishi” was a kind of LSD, but Peter Green insists that is was about money. It was based upon a recurrent dream he had in which he woke up unable to move while messages about money formed in his brain. Green recalls: (from an article by Neil Slaven on Union Square Music)
In retrospect, the song seems like an obvious cry for help from Peter Green, but this wasn’t so clear to his bandmates, who say that his descent was a gradual process, and that they didn’t read so much into this song. “Peter going off the rails was not an immediate thing,” Mick Fleetwood explained. “He left Fleetwood Mac under the most controlled circumstances.”
Fleetwood Mac – Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)
Now, when the day goes to sleep And the full moon looks The night is so black that the darkness cooks
Don’t you come creepin’ around Makin’ me do things I don’t wanna do
Can’t believe that you need my love so bad Come sneakin’ around tryin’ to drive me mad Bustin’ in on my dreams Makin’ me see things I don’t wanna see
‘Cause you’re da Green Manalishi with the two prong crown All my tryin’ is up, all your bringin’ is down
Just takin’ my love then slippin’ away Leavin’ me here just tryin’ to keep from followin’ you
This song was from Fleetwood Mac…the 60’s version of the band with the great guitar player Peter Green. The song peaked at #55 in the Billboard 100 in 1970.
Fleetwood Mac was six years away from their Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham era when this song was released. The lineup on this track was Peter Green (vocals, guitar), John McVie (bass), Danny Kirwan (guitar), Mick Fleetwood (drums), and Jeremy Spencer (piano).
This is the only song that has been played in every decade of Fleetwood Mac, starting in the ’60s. When Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers joined the band in 2018, the song became a feature for him, and his only lead vocal in their set.
The single was released in two parts. Radio stations usually play the A-side, “Oh Well (part 1).” The B-side is “Oh Well (part 2),” an orchestral piece that sounds completely different. Both parts were written by Peter Green and go together on the album, but Green always thought the best part wasn’t played.
Peter Green: “The best bit was Part 2 on the other side of the record,” “You miss the best bit, the Spanish guitar break. The first side was what we played on stage. I didn’t think it would be a hit and I used to hate playing that one because we played the part that wasn’t as good. I wanted a bit of moody guitar playing. They wanted the bit that was easy to do, that everyone knew.”
From Songfacts
At the time, Fleetwood Mac was a successful blues band known for their raucous stage shows. Their albums consistently sold about 300,000 copies and they were known as outstanding musicians. When Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band in 1974, they changed their sound and became one of the best-selling bands ever. Until then, “Oh Well” was the only Fleetwood Mac song that made the Hot 100 in America; they did have several UK hits in this era, including the #1 “Albatross.”
This was one of Peter Green’s last contributions to Fleetwood Mac. He was revered as one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters of the time, having replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before forming Fleetwood Mac in 1967. He became a high profile acid casualty in 1970 when he suffered a mental breakdown and left the band, devoting himself to religious practice and proclaiming money as evil. An oft-repeated tale has him entering his manager’s office with a shotgun, demanding that his royalty checks be discontinued.
Mick Fleetwood was sure this song would go nowhere. He bet Green that it would tank.
The stop and start technique inspired Led Zeppelin to do the same thing on “Black Dog.”
Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes released a version on their 2000 album Live At The Greek.
Oh Well – Part 2
The original with Peter Green
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
Now, when I talked to God, I knew He’d understand He said, “Stick by my side 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” Ooh, well
Most people today know the Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac but the band has a long winding history. The band members at this time in 1968 were Peter Green – Guitar, Mick Fleetwood – Drums, John McVie – Bass, Jeremy Spencer – Guitar and Piano, and Danny Kirwan on guitar. Christine Perfect contributed keyboards from the second album on and then married John McVie and joined in 1970.
Peter Green is a great guitar player, good singer and a very good songwriter. The Peter Green era produced songs such as Oh Well, Albatross, and The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown).
This was a hit for Santana, and their version was a cover of this Fleetwood Mac song that hit #37 on the UK charts. Peter Green, who was a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, wrote the lyrics. The original’s music sounds very similar to the sound Santana added on his version. Mick Fleetwood once described this as “three minutes of sustain reverb guitar with two exquisite solos from Peter.”
Black Magic Woman
Got a black magic woman Got a black magic woman I’ve got a black magic woman Got me so blind I can’t see That she’s a black magic woman She’s trying to make a devil out of me
Don’t turn your back on me, baby Don’t turn your back on me, baby Yes, don’t turn your back on me, baby Stop messing about with your tricks Don’t turn your back on me, baby You just might pick up my magic sticks
You got your spell on me, baby You got your spell on me, baby Yes, you got your spell on me, baby Turnin’ my heart into stone I need you so bad Magic woman I can’t leave you alone
This song was a B side of “Don’t Stop” with both songs coming on the great album Rumors. This is a nice short acoustic Lindsey Buckingham written song. It’s a very understated but powerful song compared with the other ones on the album and one of my favorites.
Lindsey is a great guitar player. He is not flashy but he plays just what is needed like the sustained solo in “Go Your Own Way.” This song is what made me start listening to his playing.
from Rolling Stone Magazine: In the studio, co-producer Ken Caillat asked Buckingham to restring his guitar every 20 minutes. “I wanted to get the best sound on every one of his picking parts,” Caillat said. “I’m sure the roadies wanted to kill me. Restringing the guitar three times every hour was a bitch. But Lindsey had lots of parts on the song, and each one sounded magnificent.”
According to Q magazine, June 2009 the inspiration for this Lindsey Buckingham penned song was a brief relationship with a woman whom he’d met on the road. Buckingham had only recently broken up with his Fleetwood Mac co-singer Stevie Nicks.
Most of the Rumours album was recorded at The Record Plant in Sausalito, California, but this song was recorded at Studio City Sound Recording Studios in Los Angeles. According to recording assistant Cris Morris, this song took a while to record. Said Morris: “It was Lindsey’s pet project, just two guitar tracks but he did it over and over again. In the end his vocal didn’t quite match the guitar tracks so we had to slow them down a little.”
Never Going Back Again
She broke down and let me in Made me see where I’ve been
Been down one time Been down two times I’m never going back again
You don’t know what it means to win Come down and see me again
Been down one time Been down two times I’m never going back again
One of my favorites of Fleetwood Mac and I was surprised to find out that is was the B side to “Say You Love Me” and did not chart. I love the bouncy guitar and catchy verse and chorus. This song was written by Lindsey Buckingham and intended for the follow up to the Buckingham Nicks album that never came. Instead, it was the song that kicked off the new Fleetwood Mac album in 1975.
This was written by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. He and his girlfriend at the time Stevie Nicks were recording as the duo Buckingham-Nicks and had released one album when they were asked to join Fleetwood Mac. This song was written for a second Buckingham-Nicks album, but when they joined Fleetwood Mac they brought this with them along with “Landslide” and “Rhiannon.” These songs helped make Fleetwood Mac a force in the pop music world and establish a strong radio presence for the band.
Monday Morning
Monday morning you sure look fine Friday I got travelin’ on my mind First you love me and then you fade away I can’t go on believin’ this way I got nothing but love for you Tell me what you really want to do First you love me, then you get on down the line But I don’t mind, I don’t mind, yeah
I’ll be there if you want me to No one else that could ever do Got to get some peace in my mind
Monday morning you sure look fine Friday I got travelin’ on my mind First you love me and then you say it’s wrong You know I can’t go on believing for long
But you know it’s true You only want me when I get over you First you love me, then you get on down the line But I don’t mind, no, I don’t mind, yeah
I’ll be there if you want me to No one else that could ever do Got to get some peace in my mind
But you know it’s true You know you only want me when I get over you First you love me, then you get on down the line But I don’t mind, no, I don’t mind, yeah
I’ll be there if you want me to No one else that could ever do Got to get some peace in my mind
