“Dreams” offers a glimpse into the romantic chaos that defines Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 blockbuster, Rumours. While rock music has no shortage of breakup anthems, the Stevie Nicks-penned “Dreams” documents the tumult of her relationship with bandmate and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. But the track, like the album, is also fueled by the rest of the group’s personal turmoil: Christine and John McVie’s divorce, as well as Mick Fleetwood’s crumbling marriage.
Play the Way You Feel It
This is the couple splintering. Here you go again, Nicks says. But she warns her partner that loneliness is likely to accompany his freedom.
Now, here you go again,
You say you want your freedom.
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It’s only right that you should,
Play the way you feel it.
But listen carefully to the sound,
Of your loneliness.
Here, she says the heavy silence of the night will trigger regret.
Like a heartbeat drives you mad,
In the stillness of remembering.
What you had and what you lost,
And what you had and what you lost.
Crystal Visions and Dueling Emotions
Nicks often places her songs inside dreams or at night. There’s a supernatural vibe to many of them. And while Buckingham’s breakup songs are angrier (“Shacking up’s all you want to do”), Nicks floats above the bitterness in the hazy wisdom of “Dreams”.
Of the diverging perspectives, she told The New Yorker, “He’s looking at it from a very unpleasant, angry way, and I’m saying, in my more airy-fairy way, we’re gonna be all right. We’ll get through this.”
Oh, thunder only happens when it’s raining.
Players only love you when they’re playing.
Say, “Women, they will come and they will go.”
When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know,
You’ll know.
In “Dreams”, she has crystal visions, yet keeps them to herself. Still, the track reads like a warning. You can go your own way. But beware, the new path is a lonely one.
Now, here I go again,
I see the crystal vision.
I keep my visions to myself.
It’s only me who wants to,
Wrap around your dreams.
And have you any dreams you’d like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness.
Photo by Richard Creamer/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images