You Make Loving Fun

"You Make Loving Fun" was inspired by Christine McVie's affair with the band's lighting director, Curry Grant. "To avoid flare-ups", she told her then-husband and fellow band member, John McVie, that the song was about her dog. The song uses descending seconds in its chord progression.{{cite book|last1=Stephenson|first1=Ken|url=https://archive.org/details/whattolistenfori0000step/page/107|title=What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis|year=2002|isbn=978-0-300-09239-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/whattolistenfori0000step/page/107 107]|publisher=Yale University Press }} In an interview with the New York Post, McVie remarked that she wanted it to be the third US single from the album, but "Don't Stop" was chosen instead.{{cite book|last=Furman|first=Leah|title=Rumours Exposed: The Unauthorized Biography of Fleetwood Mac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SW31aVVDc_AC&pg=PA133|year=2003|publisher=Kensington|isbn=9780806524726|pages=105–106, 133–34}}

Early tracking of the song was done, according to Christine McVie, in the absence of Lindsey Buckingham, which gave her the freedom to "build the song on [her] own". For the February 8 session, Fleetwood was on drums, Stevie Nicks played the tambourine, and Christine McVie played a Rhodes piano that was sent through a Stratoblaster, which boosted the instrument's output by 15 decibels. John McVie's bass was re-recorded, and Christine McVie overdubbed a Hohner Clavinet, which was fed through a wah-wah pedal.{{cite book|last1=Caillat|first1=Ken|last2=Stiefel| first2=Steve|title=Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album|url=https://archive.org/details/makingrumoursins00cail|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118282366|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingrumoursins00cail/page/101 101], 106–110, 195}} McVie struggled to play the clavinet in tandem with the wah-wah pedal, so Fleetwood got on the floor and operated the pedal with his hands while McVie played the keys of the clavinet.{{Cite web |last=Bosso|first=Joe |date=2022-12-13 |title="Christine Started Playing Something She Had Written on the Piano One Day, and it Floored Me" – Fleetwood Mac Rumours Track-by-Track With Co-Producer Ken Caillat |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/fleetwood-mac-rumours-interview-track-by-track |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=MusicRadar |language=en}} Buckingham arrived at the studio in the late afternoon and chose to play a Gibson Les Paul for the rhythm guitar parts, which was plugged into a rotating Leslie speaker. A Hammond organ was also overdubbed during the recording session, which lasted until six in the evening.

Buckingham wanted accented tom-tom beats in the chorus, but Fleetwood was unwilling to try this idea. Instead, Buckingham played the instrument himself. Producer Ken Caillat remarked that "Lindsey was the accent king. He could accent with guitars, he could accent with toms [and] he could accent with Naugahyde chairs."{{cite web|title=Ken Caillat Revisits Rumours|url=https://www.grammy.com/news/ken-caillat-revisits-rumours|website=GRAMMY.com|access-date=July 29, 2015}}

During the tracking of the backing vocals, Caillat recalled that Nicks and Buckingham were engaged in "vicious name calling": "The tape would start rolling and they’d sing, 'Yooooooou make loving fun,' just beautiful, two little angels. The tape would stop and they’d be calling each other names again. They didn't miss a beat."

"You Make Loving Fun" was a concert staple for Fleetwood Mac and was played during every tour that included Christine McVie from 1976 until 1997, a year before McVie's departure from the band and retirement from touring. However, the song was revived for Fleetwood Mac's 2014–2015 tour when McVie rejoined the band,{{cite magazine |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/6274217/fleetwood-mac-madison-square-garden-concert |title=Fleetwood Mac Relives Past Peaks & Lows at Madison Square Garden Concert |author=Kenneth Partridge |magazine=Billboard |date=October 7, 2014 |access-date=October 29, 2014}} as well as their 2018-2019 tour with new members Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.{{cite web |title=Fleetwood Mac began NYC-area run at Madison Square Garden (pics, setlist) |url=http://www.brooklynvegan.com/fleetwood-mac-began-nyc-area-run-at-madison-square-garden-pics-setlist/ |website=BrooklynVegan |access-date=May 27, 2019 |date=March 12, 2019 |location=United States}}

Cash Box said McVie's "magical words are complemented by angelic backing vocals, strident guitar melodies, and the pulsating backbeat reinforced by her own electric keyboard."{{cite news|title=CashBox Singles Reviews|date=15 October 1977|page=22|newspaper=Cash Box|accessdate=2021-12-26|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1977/CB-1977-10-15.pdf}} Record World called it a "light rocker with a compelling love lyric."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=22 October 1977|accessdate=16 February 2023|title=Hits of the Week|page=1|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/77/RW-1977-10-22.pdf}} Writing for Rolling Stone, John Swenson compared the song structure to some of the musical output from The Byrds, specifically referencing the "sparse instrumental background and the chorus comes on like an angelic choir." He also praised the vocals, saying that McVie sounded "vital" and noting the harmonies working in tandem with the counterpoint guitar during the chorus.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/rumours-deluxe-edition-104834/|title=Rumours: Deluxe Edition|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=13 February 2013|access-date=9 December 2017|last=Rosen|first=Jody|author-link=Jody Rosen|archive-date=26 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026023329/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/rumours-deluxe-edition-104834/|url-status=live}} Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly selected "You Make Loving Fun" as a highlight on the album and said that it "benefits from relative underexposure."{{cite magazine |last=Brunner|first=Rob |url=https://ew.com/article/2003/04/18/then-play-bare-trees-fleetwood-mac-rumours-tusk-time/|title=Then Play On; Bare Trees; Fleetwood Mac; Rumours; Tusk; Time|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=18 April 2003|access-date=30 December 2024}} The Guardian and Paste ranked the song number 13 and number 14 respectively on their lists of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/may/19/fleetwood-mac-ranked-30-best-songs|title=Fleetwood Mac's 30 greatest songs – ranked!|first=Alexis|last=Petridis|work=The Guardian|date=19 May 2022|accessdate=2 October 2024}}{{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=2 October 2024}}

• Christine McVie – lead vocals, electric piano, clavinet, Hammond B3 organ
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, wind chimes, castanets, tambourine
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, tom toms, backing vocals
• Stevie Nicks – backing vocals

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{{Certification Table Entry|type=single|region=United Kingdom|artist=Fleetwood Mac|title=You Make Loving Fun|award=Platinum|relyear=2004|certyear=2025|id=16313-1472-1|access-date=January 13, 2023}}

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Cyndi Lauper covered "You Make Loving Fun" in 1984. A non-album single, it was only released in Japan.[https://www.discogs.com/Cyndi-Lauper-You-Make-Loving-Fun/master/559796 Cyndi Lauper – You Make Loving Fun], Discogs.com

As part of the Mick Fleetwood-produced 20th anniversary tribute album Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, "You Make Loving Fun" was covered by American singer-songwriter Jewel.{{Cite web |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas|title=Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours |website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/legacy-a-tribute-to-fleetwood-macs-rumours-mw0000034786 |access-date=20 September 2024|language=en}}

The outro for the Bob's Burgers episode "The Helen Hunt" parodied the song as "You Make Plumbing Fun".{{Cite web |title=Bob's Burgers S9E12 |url=https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BobsBurgersS9E12TheHelenHunt |access-date=2023-06-07 |website=TV Tropes}}

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• [https://www.songlyrics.com/fleetwood-mac/you-make-loving-fun-lyrics/ Lyrics of this song]

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Category:1977 singles

Category:Fleetwood Mac songs

Category:Songs written by Christine McVie

Category:Song recordings produced by Ken Caillat

Category:Song recordings produced by Richard Dashut

Category:1977 songs

Category:Warner Records singles