Silver Springs (song)

"Silver Springs" is a song written by Stevie Nicks and performed by Fleetwood Mac. It was originally intended for the band's 1977 album Rumours, but became a B-side to the song "Go Your Own Way". A live version was released as a single from the 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 in 1998.

"Silver Springs"
Cover of the 1997 single
Song by Fleetwood Mac
A-side"Go Your Own Way"
Released1976
1997 (Live re-release)
Recorded1976
GenreSoft rock
Length4:29
LabelWarner Bros./Reprise
Songwriter(s)Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)

History

Written by Stevie Nicks, "Silver Springs" was intended for the album Rumours. Years after the fact, Nicks commented that the song's exclusion from the album marked a growing tension in the band. The track describes Nicks's perspective on the ending of the romantic relationship between her and Lindsey Buckingham.[1][2] She has said,

I wrote "Silver Springs" about Lindsey. And we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Springs (sic), Maryland. And I loved the name...Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me. And 'You could be my silver springs', that's just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me.[3]

According to Rolling Stone, "Nicks' tender yet vengeful post-mortem on her breakup with Buckingham [became] an emotional lightning rod. The song would have behind-the-scenes repercussions for decades to come – nearly leading to the breakup of the band."[1] For multiple reasons, including its length and relatively slower tempo and — over strenuous objections from Nicks — the song was excluded from the Rumours album.[1] In a 1997 documentary on the making of Rumours, Richard Dashut, the engineer and co-producer, called it "the best song that never made it to a record album".[4] The song was, however, released in late 1976 as the B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single,[1] a Buckingham-written song about the Nicks-Buckingham breakup.[5][6]

Years later, the band went on a world tour to promote the Fleetwood Mac album Behind the Mask. After the tour concluded, Nicks left the group over a dispute with Mick Fleetwood, who would not allow her to release "Silver Springs" on her 1991 album Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks because of his plans to release it on a forthcoming Fleetwood Mac box set.[7] The song did appear in the 1992 box set 25 Years – The Chain.[8]

In 1997, the song got a second life on the reunion album The Dance. During the filming of the reunion concert that reunited Nicks and Buckingham, "Silver Springs" was on the set list. 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 [the relationship with Lindsey] was.'"[1] In 1998, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the live version of "Silver Springs" that was included in The Dance.[9][1][10] "I never thought that 'Silver Springs' would ever be performed onstage [again]," Nicks reflected during a 1997 MTV interview. "My beautiful song just disappeared [20 years ago]. For it to come back around like this has really been special to me".[1] The live version appeared on several music charts, including the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart (number 41),[11] the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart (number 38),[12] and the Dutch Single Top 100 (number 96).[13]

When the remastered edition of Rumours was released in 2004, "Silver Springs" was included (as a previously unreleased, slightly longer version of 4:47) between "Songbird" and "The Chain". The song also appeared on Nicks' compilation album Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks. She wrote in the album's liner notes that the song was intended as a gift for her mother, who later referred to it as her "rainy day song", and that the exclusion of the song from Rumours was a source of anger for many years.

Personnel

Charts

References
  1. Spanos, Brittany (August 17, 2017). "'Silver Springs': Inside Fleetwood Mac's Great Lost Breakup Anthem". Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  2. "Nicksfix.Com". Nicksfix.Com. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  3. "Stevie Nicks on Silver Springs". www.inherownwords.com.
  4. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours: Classic Albums. Dir. David Heffernan. Isis Productions/Daniel Television 1997
  5. Sanburn, Josh. "Top 10 Angry Breakup Songs" – via entertainment.time.com.
  6. Song, No Words, No (March 24, 2019). "'Go Your Own Way' — Fleetwood Mac". Medium.
  7. "Fleetwood Mac Timeline for the 1990s". Fleetwoodmac-uk.com. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. "25 Years: The Chain - Fleetwood Mac | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
  9. Silver Springs at AllMusic
  10. "Grammy Award Results: Fleetwood Mac". Grammy.com. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  11. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Radio Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  12. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3355." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Fleetwood Mac – Silver Springs (Live)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  14. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 3370." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  15. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  16. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  17. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  18. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  19. "RPM '97 Year End Top 100 Adult Contemporary Tracks". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
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