Most have heard the numerous diss tracks released by rap and hip-hop artists; however, that is not the only genre that produces passionate lyrics against another person. Many classic rock songs are notable “diss tracks.” Some of which are about fellow band members.
Members of The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac fuel passionate feelings behind their lyrics, directed to someone close by.
“Too Many People” by Paul McCartney
The song “Too Many People” by Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda McCartney, was directed at John Lennon. The song was written and released after The Beatles broke up, in 1971.
Many of the lyrics in the song take direct jabs at Lennon:
“That was your first mistake / You took your lucky break and broke it in two / Now what can be done for you? / You broke it in two.“
McCartney and Lennon formed The Beatles together, and thus, when they broke up, it was “broken in two.” In these lyrics, McCartney suggests that Lennon had destroyed the success of The Beatles.
“There were a few digs on his album before mine. He’s so obscure that other people didn’t notice them, but I heard them. I thought, Well, I’m not obscure, I just get right down to the nitty-gritty,” Lennon told Playboy magazine in 1980.
“How Do You Sleep?” by John Lennon
Much like how McCartney aimed his song at Lennon, Lennon aimed a song at McCartney. The song, “How Do You Sleep?” took jabs at McCartney.
The lines, “The only thing you done was yesterday / And since you’ve gone you’re just another day,” attack McCartney’s writing and dedication to the band. McCartney wrote the song “Yesterday,” and in Lennon’s song, he proposes that’s about all he ever did.
Despite having some heated back-and-forth rivalries, Lennon and McCartney did begin to mend their friendship before Lennon’s passing in December 1980.
Songfacts: How Do You Sleep? | John Lennon
Lennon discussed this song in an interview with BBC Radio 1 DJ Andy Peebles on December 6, 1980, two days before his death. He recalled: “I used my resentment against Paul, that I have as a kind of sibling rivalry resentment from youth, to write a song. It was a creative rivalry… It was not a vicious vendetta… but I felt resentment, so I used that situation the same as I used withdrawing from heroin to write Cold Turkey; I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and the Beatles to write How Do You Sleep?” (Source Q magazine November 2010)
“Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac
Many would not perform a diss track and break-up song with the person it is about; however, that is what Stevie Nicks did. Nicks wrote the song “Silver Springs” in 1977 following her breakup with fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham. The two began dating in 1972 and broke up in 1976. However, the tension does not stop there.
Most iconically, Fleetwood Mac performed “Silver Springs” live at the Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California, in 1997. During the performance, Nicks and Buckingham locked eyes as they delivered the lyrics to one another.
Nicks passionately delivered the lines, “Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me / I know I could have loved you but you would not let me,” while looking at Buckingham, 21 years after they had broken up.
Songfacts: Silver Springs | Fleetwood Mac
Nicks got the idea for the title when she saw a sign for Silver Spring, Maryland (just north of Washington, DC) while driving with Buckingham. The name was, to her, so beautiful that she wrote it into the song. Note that the song title adds an “s” to the city, so it’s “Silver Springs.”
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NEW YORK – MAY 19: Stephen Colbert and David Byrne on the CBS series The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, scheduled to air on the CBS Television Network. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
