Silver Springs (song)

For reasons including its length and relatively slow tempo, the song was excluded from Rumours despite strenuous and repeated objections from 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".Fleetwood Mac - Rumours: Classic Albums. Dir. David Heffernan. Isis Productions/Daniel Television 1997 The song was released in late 1976 as the B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single, a Buckingham-written song about the couple's breakup.{{Cite magazine|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2010/08/25/top-10-angry-breakup-songs/slide/go-your-own-way-by-fleetwood-mac/|title=Top 10 Angry Breakup Songs|first=Josh|last=Sanburn|magazine=Time |date=24 August 2010}}{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@NoWordsNoSong/go-your-own-way-fleetwood-mac-120b7fd25266|title='Go Your Own Way' — Fleetwood Mac|author=((No Words, No Song))|date=24 March 2019|website=Medium}}

Years later, after Fleetwood Mac's Behind the Mask tour concluded, Nicks left the group owing to a dispute with Mick Fleetwood: 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".{{Cite book |last=Hanson|first=Amy|title=Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters |publisher=Chicago Review Press |date=November 21, 1997|isbn=978-161373-234-2 |editor-last=Egan |editor-first=Sean |chapter=Never Break the Chain - Goldmine |publication-date=2016|pages=232–233 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fleetwoodmaconfl0000unse_f7y2/page/232/mode/2up|chapter-url-access=registration}} "Silver Springs" subsequently appeared on the 1992 box set 25 Years – The Chain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/25-years-the-chain-mw0000461340|title=25 Years: The Chain - Fleetwood Mac | Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic}}

On a remastered edition of Rumours, issued in 2004, "Silver Springs" was included (as a previously unreleased, slightly longer 4:47 version) between "Songbird" and "The Chain". "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."{{cite journal|first=James |last= McNair |title= The Mojo Interview |journal= Mojo |date=December 2013|issue=241|page=39}}

The song also appeared on Nicks' compilation Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks in 2007. She wrote in the liner notes 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.{{Cite AV media notes |title=Crystal Visions...The Very Best of Stevie Nicks |title-link=Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks|others=Stevie Nicks |year=2007 |first=David |last=Wild|type=Liner Notes |publisher=Reprise Records}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Richards |first=Bailey |date=2 October 2023|title=The Story of Stevie Nicks' 'Silver Springs': 'Probably the Best Song I've Ever Written' (Exclusive) |url=https://people.com/stevie-nicks-silver-springs-the-story-of-the-fleetwood-mac-track-7975700 |access-date=5 October 2023|website=People|language=en}} 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."{{Cite book |last=Neal|first=Chris|title=Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters |publisher=Chicago Review Press |date=June 2007|isbn=978-161373-234-2 |editor-last=Egan |editor-first=Sean |chapter=Vision Quest - Performing Songwriter |publication-date=2016|pages=232–233 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fleetwoodmaconfl0000unse_f7y2/page/356/mode/2up|chapter-url-access=registration}}

Written by Stevie Nicks, "Silver Springs" was intended for the album Rumours but was cut due to its length and tempo. Caillat commented in his book Making Rumours that he found the song to be "as gorgeous as it name, and it was powerful. "Silver Springs was a masterpiece. There was only one problem: I knew the song was too long to fit on the album."{{Cite book |last=Caillat |first=Ken |title=Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac ALbum |last2=Stiefel |first2=Ken |publisher=Trade Paper Press |isbn=978-1-68336-590-7 |location=United States |publication-date=2012}}{{Reference page|page=119}} Years later, Nicks commented that its exclusion from the album marked a growing tension in the band. The track describes Nicks' perspective on the ending of her romantic relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.{{cite web|url=http://www.nicksfix.com/offtherecord.htm |title=Stevie Nicks Interview - Off The Record|via=Nicksfix.Com|access-date=4 December 2012}} She said:

:I wrote "Silver Springs" about Lindsey. And we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Springs {{bracket|sic}}. 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.inherownwords.com/silver.htm|title=Stevie Nicks on Silver Springs|website=inherownwords.com}}

The band recorded the basic tracks for "Silver Springs" on 11 February 1976 with drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, a Fender Rhodes electric piano, and a scratch vocal. 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 for the purpose of time keeping. Christine McVie 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 in one room and a Leslie speaker in another.{{Reference page|pages=122–124}} During the song's mixing process, Caillat applied EQ to the kick to remove certain frequencies that resulted in a "nasty popping sound when it was turned up too loud."{{Reference page|page=330}}

In 1997, "Silver Springs" got a second life on the reunion album The Dance. 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.'" The Dance was recorded across three performances at Warner Bros. Studios in June 1997.{{cite magazine|title=Fleetwood Mac Back with Album, Video|last1=Flick|first1=Larry|author-link1=Larry Flick|last2=Newman|first2=Melinda|magazine=Billboard|volume=109|issue=33|pages=11, 78|date=16 August 1997|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1997/Billboard-1997-08-16.pdf|accessdate=8 November 2024}} "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."

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 reported in early August that it was the most added song on Adult Alternative, Hot Adult Contemporary and Adult Contemporary stations, including 51 adds in the latter category.{{Cite web |date=7 August 1997 |title=FLEETWOOD MAC BACK |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=614&c=18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230221444/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=614&c=18 |archive-date=30 December 2015 |access-date=30 January 2024 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}} According to Broadcast Data Systems, 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 Top Singles chart (number 38), and the Dutch Single Top 100 (number 96). In 1998, the track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/fleetwood-mac|title=Grammy Award Results: Fleetwood Mac|work=Grammy.com|access-date=10 January 2020}}

Rolling Stone observed, "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."{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/silver-springs-inside-fleetwood-macs-great-lost-breakup-anthem-201303/|title='Silver Springs': Inside Fleetwood Mac's Great Lost Breakup Anthem|first1=Brittany|last1=Spanos|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=17 August 2017|access-date=10 January 2020}} 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 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. 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.{{Cite web |last=Petrusich |first=Amanda |date=17 July 2016|title=Fleetwood Mac: Tusk |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21924-tusk/ |access-date=24 November 2024|website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} The Guardian and Paste ranked the song number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.{{cite web |first=Alexis|last=Petridis |date=19 May 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/may/19/fleetwood-mac-ranked-30-best-songs|title=Fleetwood Mac's 30 greatest songs – ranked!|work=The Guardian|accessdate=10 August 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/fleetwood-mac/30-best-fleetwood-mac-songs|title=The 30 Greatest Fleetwood Mac Songs|first=Matt|last=Mitchell|work=Paste|date=7 August 2023|accessdate=10 August 2023}}

• Stevie Nicks – vocals
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, backing vocals
• Christine McVie – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Fleetwood Mac|title=Silver Springs|award=Gold|relyear=2007|certyear=2023|id=19388-1472-1|access-date=20 October 2023}}

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Category:1976 songs

Category:1997 singles

Category:Breakup songs

Category:Fleetwood Mac songs

Category:Reprise Records singles

Category:Silver Spring, Maryland

Category:Songs about parting

Category:Songs written by Stevie Nicks

Category:Warner Records singles