The Fleetwood Mac Hit Stevie Nicks Wrote in 10 Minutes

Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours is packed with plenty of hits like "Go Your Own Way," "The Chain," and "You Make Loving Fun." The song "Don't Stop" was even used by Bill Clinton during his 1992 presidential run.

The band shared songwriting duties, with different members writing songs for the album, giving it a unique sound. Christine McVie, for example, wrote "You Make Loving Fun" and "Songbird" while Lindsey Buckingham penned the defiant "Go Your Own Way."

But it was Stevie Nicks who brought a different song to balance out the bitter feeling from Buckingham's songs about their crumbling relationship. Here's how her quick writing session became a huge hit for the band that fans still love today.

Stevie Nicks' Dreamy 10-Minute Song

In early 1976, Fleetwood Mac was working in a studio in California, putting music together while trying to navigate relationships that were falling apart. Band members Christine and John McVie divorced in the middle of producing the album, Mick Fleetwood was going through his own divorce, and the relationship between Nicks and fellow band member Buckingham was falling apart.

Through all of that, they were also trying to record an album that eventually became Rumours.

During one particular recording session, Nicks had some time to go her own way and headed to a studio that was being used by Sly and the Family Stone, who weren't there at the time. She set down the keyboard she had taken with her and started to work on a new song for the album on her own.

"I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote ‘Dreams’ in about 10 minutes," she told Blender in 2005. "Right away, I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat, because that made it a little unusual for me."

There were mixed reviews from band members about the song when Nicks first brought it to them, with Buckingham seeming to be an early supporter despite the fact that it was written about him.

"I walked in and handed a cassette of the song to Lindsey," Nicks told the Daily Mail in 2009. "It was a rough take, just me singing solo and playing piano. Even though he was mad with me at the time, Lindsey played it and then looked up at me and smiled."

But not everyone was impressed. McVie recalled that her first thought was that the song was really boring, improving after Buckingham added more to the song before recording the final version.

"He created the impression that there’s a thread running through the whole thing," she later said of his addition to the song.

"Dreams" became a phenomenal success for the band, eventually reaching number one on the Billboard music chart. Today, it's still the band's only American number-one hit.

It's a Companion to Another Rumours Hit

The breakup between Nicks and Buckingham showed itself not only in the songs she wrote but also in Buckingham's songs, giving his own take on the demise of their relationship. Nicks addressed the dichotomy of "Dreams" with a Buckingham song she considered its twin in the liner notes she wrote for a reissue of Rumours in 2013.

“Even though ‘Go Your Own Way’ was a little angry, it was also honest,” Nicks wrote. “So then I wrote ‘Dreams,’ and because I’m the chiffony chick who believes in fairies and angels, and Lindsey is a hardcore guy, it comes out differently ... We were coming at it from opposite angles, but we were really saying the same exact thing.”

It was a tough balancing act with the group, who were trying to deal with their personal issues while making the record, and it somehow worked.

“We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial, keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other,” Buckingham told Blender.

It Went Viral in 2020

The song even saw a revival in 2020, reaching the Billboard Hot100 chart again after a video featured "Dreams" for the soundtrack of a man riding a skateboard while drinking juice. Nathan Apodaca picked up millions of views on TikTok after the video went viral.

"Everybody just needed something to relax to and vibe out with," he told NPR at the time.

His video made its way to Mick Fleetwood, who recorded his own version of it in tribute.

"It could have been any song, but it was ours," Fleetwood told NPR. “For us bunch in Fleetwood Mac, the inspiring thing was that it was just so off the wall. Did we expect it? No. Are we happy and delighted? Absolutely."

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