Silver Springs (song)
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"Silver Springs" is a song written by
Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album ...
and performed by British-American band
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
. It was originally intended for the band's 1977 album '' Rumours'' but became a
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
to the single "
Go Your Own Way "Go Your Own Way" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their eleventh studio album, '' Rumours'' (1977). The song was released as the album's first single in December 1976 in the United States. Written and sung by L ...
" instead. The subject of the song is the breakup of the romantic relationship between Nicks and Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist
Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with ...
. Conflicts over "Silver Springs" led Nicks to leave Fleetwood Mac in 1991. The song appeared on Fleetwood Mac's 1992 box set, '' 25 Years – The Chain''. A live version of "Silver Springs" was released as a single from the band's 1997 album '' The Dance''; this version of the song was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011 (in its final year, it was awarded for recordings issued in 2010). The award had several minor name changes: *From 1966 to 1967, the award ...
in 1998. A version of "Silver Springs" appeared on a remastered edition of ''Rumours'' in 2004, and the song was also included in Nicks' 2007 compilation album, '' Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks''.


Background


Composition and recording

Written by Stevie Nicks, "Silver Springs" describes Nicks' perspective on the ending of her romantic relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. She said: The band recorded the basic tracks for "Silver Springs" at the
Record Plant The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...
in Sausalito on 11 February 1976 with drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, a
Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
electric piano, and a scratch vocal. According to Caillat, this version possessed "a much harder feel" compared to the final mix. Two days later they attempted 19 takes that session, but none were deemed satisfactory. On the 14th, the band played the song to a
click track A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a Film, moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where optical marks were made on the film to indicate precise ...
for the purpose of time keeping.
Christine McVie Christine Anne McVie (; Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, notably Chic ...
switched over from the Fender Rhodes to a grand piano, which was situated in an isolation room to prevent audio spill from the drums. Buckingham's guitars were fed through a
guitar amplifier A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic amplifier, electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a Pickup (music technology), pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce so ...
in one room and a
Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
in another. Nicks sang her vocals into a directional microphone in a siphoned-off section of the studio with sound baffles on the walls. Take eight was deemed satisfactory and used for overdubs. Further work was conducted at
Wally Heider Studios Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Between 1969 and 1980, numerous notable artists recorded at the studios, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, J ...
, where Buckingham redid his guitar part. Caillat applied
reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...
tape delay to the instrument and picked up the high-frequencies of the Stratocaster's guitar strings with a Lavalier microphone; in Caillat's estimation, this gave the guitar a "delicate, glasslike, music box-type sound." During the song's mixing process, Ken Caillat applied EQ to the
kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...
to remove certain
frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...
that resulted in a "nasty popping sound when it was turned up too loud."


Omission from ''Rumours'' and ''Timespace''

"Silver Springs" was intended to be released on the album ''Rumours''. However, for reasons including its length and relatively slow tempo, the song was excluded from ''Rumours'' despite strenuous and repeated objections from Nicks. In his book ''Making Rumours'', Ken Caillat described "Silver Springs" as "gorgeous", "powerful", and "a masterpiece". Caillat added, "There was only one problem: I knew the song was too long to fit on the album." "Silver Springs" was released in late 1976 as the B-side of the "
Go Your Own Way "Go Your Own Way" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their eleventh studio album, '' Rumours'' (1977). The song was released as the album's first single in December 1976 in the United States. Written and sung by L ...
" single, a Buckingham-written song about his breakup with Nicks. In a 1997 documentary on the making of ''Rumours'', engineer and co-producer Richard Dashut called it "the best song that never made it to a record album". Years later, after Fleetwood Mac's '' Behind the Mask'' tour concluded, Nicks left the group owing to a dispute with
Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and actor. He is the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of the group's bassist John Mc ...
: the drummer would not allow her to release "Silver Springs" on her 1991 album '' Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks'' because he planned to include it on a forthcoming Fleetwood Mac box set. Fleetwood felt that "Silver Springs" was in high demand for inclusion on a Fleetwood Mac release as its only other appearance had been as the B-side to "Go Your Own Way". "Silver Springs" subsequently appeared on the 1992 box set '' 25 Years – The Chain''.


Release as a live single

A live version of "Silver Springs" appeared on ''The Dance'', Fleetwood Mac's 1997 reunion album. Nicks said, "The fiery take on the song that appears in ''The Dance'' was 'for posterity… I wanted people to stand back and really watch and understand what he relationship with Lindseywas.'" ''The Dance'' was recorded across three performances at Warner Bros. Studios in June 1997. "I never thought that 'Silver Springs' would ever be performed onstage gain" Nicks reflected during a 1997
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
interview. "My beautiful song just disappeared 0 years ago For it to come back around like this has really been special to me." The live version of "Silver Springs" was released as a radio single in the United States on 22 July 1997, and it was physically issued in the Netherlands the same year. ''
Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
'' reported in early August that it was the most added song on Adult Alternative,
Hot Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
and
Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
stations, including 51 adds in the latter category. According to
Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as Nielsen BDS, BDS or Luminate BDS) was a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts publishe ...
, the song garnered 3.8 million audience impressions from its release on 22 July through the middle of August. "Silver Springs" appeared on several charts, including the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Airplay chart (number 41), the Canadian ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' Top Singles chart (number 38), and the Dutch
Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...
(number 96). In 1998, the track was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011 (in its final year, it was awarded for recordings issued in 2010). The award had several minor name changes: *From 1966 to 1967, the award ...
.


Inclusion on later releases

On a remastered edition of ''Rumours'' released in 2004, "Silver Springs" was included (as a previously unreleased, slightly longer 4:47 version) between "
Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...
" and "
The Chain "The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album '' Rumours''. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John ...
". "We always loved her," remarked musician Danielle Haim. "But when we heard 'Silver Springs' – a song that didn't make ''Rumours'' and landed on one of the box sets – we fell in love all over again." "Silver Springs" also appeared on Nicks' compilation '' Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks'' in 2007. Nicks wrote in the
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
that the song was intended as a gift for her mother Barbara, who later referred to it as her "rainy day song". Nicks said that the exclusion of the song from ''Rumours'' was a source of anger for many years. Nicks was particularly upset that "Silver Springs" initially generated little money for her mother, who was gifted publishing rights for the song in the 1970s. Barbara Nicks had encouraged her daughter to include the song on ''Crystal Visions'', who agreed. Stevie Nicks stated that "having that song on this package makes her a part of this."


Critical reception

''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' observed, "Nicks' tender yet vengeful post-mortem on her breakup with Buckingham ecamean emotional lightning rod. The song would have behind-the-scenes repercussions for decades to come – nearly leading to the breakup of the band." Jonathan Rush, a program director from WNOK, expressed skepticism that the live recording from ''The Dance'' would perform well commercially, saying that the song "doesn't jump off the radio like we'd like it to." He nonetheless found the concept of releasing a reworked and unearthed song to be intriguing. Amanda Petrusich of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' believed that the song epitomised "the story of how Buckingham and Nicks lost each other" more than any other song before the release of ''
Tusk Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine tooth, canine teeth, as with Narwhal, narwhals, chevrotains, musk deer, water deer, muntjac, pigs, ...
''. She also highlighted the dynamics between Nicks and Buckingham for live performances of the song and described Nicks' voice as "feral" during the ''"was I just a fool?"'' lyric. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and '' Paste'' ranked the song number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.


Personnel

*
Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album ...
 – vocals *
Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with ...
 – guitar, backing vocals *
Christine McVie Christine Anne McVie (; Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, notably Chic ...
 – keyboards, piano, backing vocals *
John McVie John Graham McVie (; born 26 November 1945) is a British bass guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock bands John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers from 1964 to 1967 and Fleetwood Mac since 1967. His surname, combined with that of drummer ...
 – bass guitar *
Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and actor. He is the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of the group's bassist John Mc ...
 – drums, percussion


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Notes


References

{{Authority control 1976 songs 1997 singles Breakup songs Fleetwood Mac songs Reprise Records singles Silver Spring, Maryland Songs about parting Songs written by Stevie Nicks Warner Records singles