The Making of a Masterpiece: Fleetwood Mac “Gold Dust Woman”

 One of the bonuses in the remastered deluxe editions of the classic 1976 Fleetwood Mac album “Rumours” is the treasure trove of unreleased songs, takes and demos, and one that really stood out for me was the ‘early demo” of Stevie Nick’s ethereal “Gold Dust Woman".

In its conceptual stage, Gold Dust woman is really more of a folky or country sounding tune, an entirely different sound from what became the  album’s masterpiece closing track! Stripped down to  sparse instrumentation, Stevie’s voice is sweet and gentle as she sings out the now familiar by heart lyrics, it's so intersting to hear the bare-bones structure of the tune, so fresh and yet so familiar...and when she hits the refrains, you just get goosebumps!

Mesmerizing as it is, it’s a joy and wonder to hear the finalized version right afterwards. THIS version is a rock-anthem proper, with Stevie’s voice now strong and commanding, full backing choruses, Buckingham’s tasty guitar licks, hypnotic, dreamy dobro and of course the driving sound of Fleetwood’s cowbell throughout the song to that huge, haunting conclusion…you realize just why this group was as lauded as they were- just pure genius!

As some of you know well, Stevie Nicks is one of my Favorite artists and "Gold Dust Woman" is certainly among her very BEST compositions!!!

From my Stevie Nicks Collection...

Back around mid-1983, I was MASSIVELY in LOVE with chanteuse Stevie Nicks, mostly buoyed by her then-recent album "The Wild Heart" of which I ADORED to DEATH then (and still cite as my fave album from her)...

Anyway, back then you could go to the record shops and over the counter they would have these professionally shot photos for sale of your favorite artists, and I still have  a whole bunch of the ones I bought with my dear Stephanie Lynn in them! These are just a small sample of all I bought that summer! 

What a Goddess!

More Misheard Lyrics: “Green Air, Now”

 In the era of environmentally conscious efforts all over the world to make the world’s ecosystem clean and nature-friendly, there must be a ton of compaines and agencies calling themselves “Green Air” but when I was a kid, the term Green Air only meant one thing: The refrain to the latest Fleetwood Mac stop 40 single!

The song in question was the Stevie Nicks penned (strange how so many of her songs are featured in my Misheard Lyrics posts) tune “Rhiannon”, which, for SOME reason, instead of the title refrain, my ears heard them drawling ‘Green Aiiiiiiiiir- NOW!”

Later when I learned they were saying Rhiannon, I tried to justify my confusion by saying, “But listen, it really sounds liek they’re saying Green Air!” to which my friend Larry listened for a second and exclaimed, “Oh YEAH!” then, “no.” D’OH