OMGlee – It’s Fleetwood Mac!

When I heard that Glee was doing Fleetwood Mac this past week, I knew I’d have to write about it. I’m obsessed with Fleetwood! For the most part I’m satisfied with how they worked the songs into the storyline, but I do have a few suggestions. And, of course, links to the songs so you can listen to the originals.

Dreams

Given that Broadway dreams were an underlying theme in this episode, this was an appropriate opener for the title alone. I didn’t really understand the reaction shots of the Glee club members because there didn’t necessarily seem to be anything in the song that related to their story lines, but then again the reaction shots always seem random to me. Without having yet delved into the meat of the plot, Dreams is a great song to introduce Fleetwood Mac. With haunting lyrics like

listen carefully to the sound / of your loneliness / like a heartbeat drives you mad / in the stillness of remembering what you had / and what you lost / what you had / you know what you lost

that are still relevant today, it’s indicative of the currents of complexity, emotion, and wisdom that run through their songs. [listen]

Never Going Back Again

Excellent context for the song. I love the meditative nature of it, with the simple guitar strumming. It’s a great song about making mistakes and swearing to do better (although alternately it could be interpreted as someone who is finally done running back to their lover). At first the guitar chorus annoyed me, but I appreciated the close-ups on Finn, Puck and Sam, who actually looked like they had their own reasons for being there. I think anybody can listen to this song and relate to it. [listen]

Songbird

I actually – gasp – like the Glee version better. Only because I’ve never liked the Fleetwood version. I found it too nice and pretty, such that I could never understand the meaning, or how it fit on the Rumours album. One thing that threw me off was the lyric “The songbirds are singing as if they know the score”. I always interpreted it as “keeping score” in a fight or something, but it actually seems to be the score of a song; the torch song that Santana sings for Britney. [listen]

The Chain

I WISH SO MUCH they gave this song more than 30 seconds underneath dialogue. The song is a MASTERPIECE; but they cheapened it by not showing the full arc of the song. They layered “If you don’t love me now / you’ll never love me again” over Finn seeing Quinn with Sam. But that’s not really what the song is about. It’s a dynamic meditation on love and promises, and thoughts about the future. Not a song that protrays disappointment or betrayal as in black & white as the scene does.

Incidentally it’s the only song all 5 bandmates wrote together, and it would have been perfect for the cast to sing together. Preferably over a montage of slinging accusations but coming together to heal after the rumors; then once the song crescendos, going together to buy back Sam’s guitar. [listen]

I Don’t Want To Know

I love this song but Quinn and Finn messed it up. I get that it was revealing the cracks in their relationship/trust issues, but I didn’t like their staging of it. It’s a joyous song – like, ‘I don’t know why this works, but let’s just go with it’; not a literal on-stage argument. A more appropriate song would have been Secondhand News – a song about being the last one to hear something your lover should have told you – which was totally a propos given their fight over what the Muckracker revealed. [listen]

Go Your Own Way

I love this song, and I love that Rachel gave it female vocals. It’s a bittersweet song, but empowering at the same time. [listen]

Don’t Stop

I caught the end of the episode before watching from start to finish, and I thought this was a saccharine and underwhelming rendition of the song. It’s sweet and positive, yes, but at the same time gritty and believable because it’s coming from individuals who have been through the fire and are still optimistic about the future. After watching the whole episode I was on board with their performance, because they also meant it as a song of encouragement after going through their high school drama. I also appreciate that they added some bottom (so to speak) to the song. I first heard this song on the live album the Dance which has the backing of a marching band, so the Rumours version has always felt a little light (although totally in line with the rest of the album). [Rumours] [The Dance]

Other songs that would have been cool:

Gold Dust Woman

Rachel singing to Finn, about not being able to trust Quinn:

Did she make you cry / Make you break down / Shatter your illusions of love / Is it over now do you know how / Pick up the pieces and go home.

[listen]

You Make Loving Fun

A sultry song that sounds like illicit love. If there were actually people sneaking around this song would have been perfect:

I never did believe in the ways of magic / But I’m beginning to wonder why / Don’t, don’t break the spell / It would be different and you know it will.

[listen]

Silver Springs

Originally recorded for Rumours although it wasn’t included on the album. Britney to Santana, after Santana maintains that she and Karofsky are happy together:

“I know I could have loved you / But you would not let me”

Rachel to Finn along the lines of “Go Your Own Way”, announcing that she’s moving on:

“I begin not to love you / Turn around, see me running”

[listen]

Overall I’m ecstatic that Glee devoted an entire episode to one of my favorite bands of all time. Fleetwood Mac never fails to affect me, and I hope the band has scored legions of new fans from this episode. Maybe this will inspire Christine McVie to rejoin the band… then maybe they would go on tour and I would finally be able to see them live. I can dream!

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