Silver Springs (song)

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 the lead guitarist, 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, the song was excluded from the Rumours album despite strenuous and repeated objections from Nicks.[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 couple's 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 subsequently appeared on the 1992 box set 25 Years – The Chain.[8]

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.[9] Nicks was particularly upset that "Silver Springs" initially earned minimal royalties for her mother.[10]

The Guardian and Paste ranked the song number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.[17][18]

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