Best Fleetwood Mac songs of all time, from 'Dreams' to 'Go Your Own Way'

Fleetwood Mac had been through countless lineup changes since staking their claim on the frontlines of the British blues explosion by the time they invited two Yanks — a folk-rock duo named Buckingham Nicks — to join the party.

At that point, Fleetwood Mac had yet to truly crack the U.S. market. That all changed with the release of “Fleetwood Mac” on July 11, 1975.

It was the second time they’d called an album “Fleetwood Mac.” The first time was their first release in 1968.

In hindsight, one could read a lot into the naming of their first release with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, 10 albums in, as though they knew a sea change was afoot. Or maybe they’d just squandered all their creativity on the recording of that album and had nothing left to give when it came time to name it.

To celebrate that landmark album turning 50, here’s one longtime Fleetwood Mac fan’s unabashedly subjective countdown of their best songs, from the massive pop hits that defined their most successful lineup to assorted album cuts and highlights of their earliest recordings.

40. ‘Sisters of the Moon’ (1979)

This shadowy highlight of “Tusk” is every bit as haunting as you'd expect a Stevie Nicks song titled “Sisters of the Moon” to be, her bandmates weaving a mystical spell before she’s even made her entrance with “intense silence as she walked in the room, her black robes trailing.”

In the liner notes to the deluxe edition, she writes of "putting up an alter-ego or something, the dark lady in the corner… going inward in my gnarly trollness.”

That arrangement builds to an exhilarating climax largely fueled by Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar lead, from the eerie wailing of those high notes to its fiery conclusion. Released as the fourth U.S. single from the album, this one somehow stalled at No. 86 on Billboard’s Hot 100 but remains one of their most-streamed songs.

39. ‘Think About Me’ (1979)

A Christine McVie song, it rocks with a little more swagger than McVie songs tend to, Mick Fleetwood kicking it off with the kind of drum fill Charlie Watts might have played and Lindsey Buckingham, who shares the vocal spotlight with McVie, adding some suitably Stones-y guitar to the magic.

But the vocal hooks are pure McVie, from the time she makes her entrance with a wistful sigh of “All it took was a special look and I felt I knew you before,” to a singalong chorus that’s all the more contagious when she’s joined by those signature Fleetwood Mac harmonies.

“Think About Me” was the third of three singles from “Tusk” to go Top 20 on the Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 20 while feeling a bit like a tip of the hat to the Fleetwood Mac of “Rumours” in the context of their most experimental album.

38. ‘Seven Wonders’ (1987)

Primarily written by Stevie Nicks collaborator Sandy Stewart, “Seven Wonders” peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of four Top 20 hits from “Tango in the Night.” Nicks earned a writing credit for having misheard “All the way down you held the line” as “All the way down to Emmaline” on Stewart’s demo.

You can definitely hear the ‘80s in the mix, especially those synths, which underscore the raw emotion Nicks brings to her raspier-than-usual lead vocal, from her suitably intense delivery of “It's hard to find someone with that kind of intensity” to the shouted ad-libs over the repeated chorus.

37. ‘Oh Diane’ (1982)

A charming throwback to the early days of rock ‘n’ roll, it sounds exactly like the sort of record every Buddy Holly fan hoped they’d grow up to make. Lindsey Buckingham actually did it, though.

He even tosses in a hiccup while setting the scene with a swoon-worthy delivery of “Oh no, here I go again/ Falling in love again,” his vocal trembling just enough to sell the innocuous pop smarts of those lyrics like a real teen idol.

The dreamy backing vocals sighing “Diane” are a brilliant touch and that guitar riff is the perfect distillation of a long-gone era. Released as the Stray Cats were making America safe for rockabilly throwbacks, this one failed to leave a mark on Billboard’s Hot 100 but went Top 10 in the U.K.

36. ‘Bare Trees’ (1972)

Guitarist Danny Kirwan, who'd been on board since 1968, wrote and sang the title track to Fleetwood Mac’s sixth album, which turned out to be his swan song. He was fired by his bandmates during the subsequent tour in support of the album.

The opening riff sounds like it’s based on what Led Zeppelin did with “Killing Floor” by Howlin’ Wolf when they “borrowed” his riff for “The Lemon Song.”

But that’s just one ingredient in a classic that offsets its bluesy guitar with the sort of pop smarts that would soon replace their blues roots altogether, the wistful chorus hook pointing the way to their future as Kirwan sings of bare trees in gray light on a cold night, alone on a winter’s day while the woman he longs to be with is snug in her bed. 

35. ‘Shake Your Moneymaker’ (1968)

Jeremy Spencer sings this loose-limbed cover of an Elmore James song from their first release, a self-titled effort sometimes known as “Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.” It opens on somebody playing the riff to a different song before cutting away to giggling in the studio before the track begins in earnest, led by Spencer’s slide guitar and an absolutely joyous vocal.

He sounds like he’s having the time of his life, and it’s beyond contagious, shouting “Oh, ha!” with a grin you can practically see in a textbook example of what people mean when they say “boozy," this despite the fact that she won't shake her moneymaker. It rocks with the reckless abandon you expect when people talk about the Faces.

Spencer was a founding member who left the group in the midst of a tour to join Children of God, a religious movement in Los Angeles, just three years after this recording hit the street.

34. 'As Long As You Follow' (1987)

That impossibly dreamy guitar is Rick Vito, one of two guitarists Fleetwood Mac brought in when Lindsey Buckingham abandoned ship, arriving at a part that manages to sound a bit like something Buckingham would play.

The song itself is every bit as dreamy, one of two tracks Fleetwood Mac recorded for a greatest hits collection after Buckingham’s departure, co-written by Christine McVie and Eddy Quintela, her husband at the time.

The words are unabashedly romantic, from “I've been searching for a pot of gold like the kind you find at the end of the rainbow” to a breathtaking chorus that opens on “Now I know I can't lose as long as you follow.” This song made it all the way to No. 1 on the adult contemporary charts while losing steam at No. 43 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

33. 'That’s All for Everyone' (1979)

As Lindsey Buckingham told Billboard with regard to the experimental tendencies he mined on “Tusk”: “For me, being sort of the culprit behind that particular album, it was done in a way to undermine just sort of following the formula of doing 'Rumours 2' and 'Rumours 3,' which is kind of the business model Warner Bros. would have liked us to follow.”

He certainly pushed the envelope more than any of his bandmates on their most eccentric album.

But you couldn’t exactly accuse him of leaving his pop sensibilities by the wayside, not with moments as melodically intoxicating as “That’s All for Everyone,” a breathtaking ballad whose hazy wall of sound was inspired in part by Buckingham’s obsession with the Beach Boys still-unfinished “Smile” recordings, adding Kleenex-box percussion, an Andean charango and perhaps the key ingredient, an African kalimba, to a mix that effortlessly channels Brian Wilson at his most sublime.

32. 'I Don’t Want to Know' (1977)

You knew it was only a matter of time before we hit a song from “Rumours,” right? Stevie Nicks wrote this country-flavored rocker long before the sessions to that classic album, back when she and Buckingham were still performing as a duo.

It’s easy enough to imagine it fitting right in on the only album they managed as Buckingham Nicks before the Mac invited them to join. 

But it feels right at home on “Rumours” — this despite the complicated history of how it came to be, replacing “Silver Springs” at the last minute because “Silver Springs,” a true Nicks masterpiece that would’ve made the album even better, was believed to be too long.

Her bandmates even cut the song behind her back with Buckingham singing her part then had her go back in and add her voice (and handclaps). As Nicks told Rolling Stone, “That always put a shadow over ‘I Don’t Want to Know,’ even though I love it and it came out great.” She’s right about the way the song came out, especially that vocal blend, which Nicks herself has compared to the Everly Brothers.

31. ‘I Know I’m Not Wrong’ (1979)

This fuzzy rocker is one of several tracks on "Tusk" that feel like Lindsey Buckingham discovering punk and going his own way with what he liked about it, leaving room for twangy surf guitar, a double-tracked harmonica that sounds like it was captured in the world’s largest echo chamber and an overall aesthetic that could almost pass for Buddy Holly with some sweet falsetto on the chorus hook.

As Buckingham explained his headspace in an interview with Uncut, “Punk and new wave had kicked in during the meantime and although I wasn’t directly influenced by that music, it gave me a kick in the pants in terms of having the courage to try to shake things up a little bit.”

30. ‘Future Games’ (1971)

This is the title track to the album that ushered in Christine McVie as a full-time member following her guest appearance on 1970’s “Kiln House.”

But this song puts the spotlight on another new arrival —Jeremy Spencer’s replacement, guitarist Bob Welch, who wrote and sings this hazy, jazz-inflected psychedelic ballad, at times in a practically ghostly near-whisper, all while trading leads with Danny Kirwan.

It can feel like you’re drifting in space as Welch shares his mystical thoughts on the future, from “you invent the future that you want to face” to “the future sends a sign of things we will create,” fading out on a Lennon-esque mantra of “I know I’m not the only one.”

The end result is quintessential Welch, who went on to solo success with “Sentimental Lady,” a song he first recorded with the Mac, and “Ebony Eyes.”

29. ‘Can’t Go Back’ (1982)

Oh Lindsey Buckingham. Your mouth says “Can’t go back” while your pop sensibilities say, “Yeah, we’re just gonna double back and catch a vibe for this new album off those records you loved growing up on AM pop hits in the California sun.”

By the time he showed up to the sessions for “Mirage,” their first release since blowing up the formula on “Tusk,” the man was fast emerging as a master of this type of timeless-on-arrival pop confection.

This one opens on a keyboard hook that feels like waking up on Christmas morning to the realization that you live inside a snow globe in Wes Anderson’s imagination with drums that pitter patter like they’re sampling the beat to Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.”

And this is all before the chorus hits, where Buckingham divides the hook between three vocal parts that climb the stairs like the Temptations without sounding anything like “My Girl.” It’s an effortlessly charming reimagining of early rock ‘n’ roll in Buckingham’s own image with the pop smarts it would take to pull that off.

28. ‘Monday Morning’ (1975)

This is the opening salvo of the self-titled album that welcomed Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to a band their presence utterly transformed on impact, a Buckingham rocker initially intended for the duo’s second album, which never materialized after Polydor dropped them.

It’s a bracing introduction to a brave new world that was lost on bassist John McVie, the Mac in Fleetwood Mac, who felt they were straying too far from their blues roots. Fair enough. It’s also one of Buckingham’s best breakup songs, one of several classics inspired by the ups and downs of his relationship with Nicks.

As he told Deep Hidden Meaning Radio years later, “It really does sort of herald what became one of the big attractions of the band, which was the fact that we were this living soap opera, musical soap opera, that managed to push through to follow our destiny.”

27. ‘Over My Head’ (1975)

Fleetwood Mac had only hit the Billboard Hot 100 once before this song, which peaked at No. 20 as the first of four Top 20 singles from their first release with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham on board. Peter Green’s “Oh Well” had peaked at No. 55 in 1970.

Christine McVie had the honor of spearheading their U.S. breakthrough with “Over My Head,” the first single released from the self-titled album, although as she later revealed in Rolling Stone, “It was the last track we ever thought would be a single.”

To McVie's point, the version of “Over My Head” on the album doesn’t sound nearly as much like a single as the version they remixed for radio, which toughens up the sound with big guitars and trades the nuance of the fade-in for a power chord. That’s why the album version is the way to go. It lets it be the understated soft-rock gem McVie intended.

26. ‘Say You Love Me’ (1975)

This was the third of four Top 20 entries on the Hot 100 from Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album, two of which were provided by Christine McVie, whose husband didn’t like that they were straying from their blues roots but delivered one of his best basslines here. A living soap opera can have a multitude of plot lines.

“Say You Love Me” is among their most contagious pop hits, peaking at No. 11, from the time she sets the pace with that piano intro to the unabashedly romantic chorus, where “you woo me until the sun comes up” (regardless of the fact that you can be a drag sometimes), her vocal underscored by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks on harmonies.

McVie recalled their first rehearsal with the new arrivals, where they tried this on for size: “I heard this incredible sound — our three voices — and said to myself, ‘Is this me singing?’ I couldn’t believe how great this three-voice harmony was. My skin turned to goose flesh, and I wondered how long this feeling was going to last.”

25. ‘Black Magic Woman’ (1968)

To a lot of fans who came on board with that first album, Peter Green will always be the heart and soul of Fleetwood Mac. It was his baby, after all. And he’s the one who named it after Fleetwood and McVie.

It’s not the biggest U.K. hit he ever wrote for Fleetwood Mac. That would be “Albatross.” But this remains the Green song most of us who didn’t know there was a guy in Fleetwood Mac named Peter Green would recognize. And that’s because Carlos Santana, who had the foresight not to name a band in honor of his rhythm section, made the song his own and ran it up the pop charts.

Both versions are brilliant, but Santana edits out the coolest part of the original recording, where it hangs out on that reverb-laden minor chord, an eerie touch that really drives the lyrics home (most likely in a hearse).

24. ‘Hold Me’ (1982)

Christine McVie supplied the biggest U.S. hit on Fleetwood Mac’s return from “Tusk,” “Mirage,” out-charting anything they’d done since “Don’t Stop,” which she also wrote.

This richly textured triumph peaked at No. 4. And it certainly sounds like a pop hit, from that opening piano riff to the ascending guitar that underscores the mesmerizing tapestry of vocals on that simple yet fantastic chorus hook.

McVie is at her vulnerable best here, drawing inspiration from the end of her relationship with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson on a melancholy gem she wrote with Robbie Patton, a fellow Brit, in lines as true-to-life as “I'll be waitin' for ya if you ever wanna be there,” while Buckingham completes the picture with some dazzling and at times quite emotional guitar work.

23. 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)'

I could tell you this was written at a time when Peter Green was really into LSD, as he himself has said on more than one occasion. Or you could simply listen and arrive at that conclusion on your own.

This is clearly the work of a man familiar with the ways of psychedelics, inspired in part by a drug-induced dream of being barked at by a green dog from the afterlife, which he believed was meant to represent both money and the devil.

Should you care to Google “manalishi,” you will quickly realize it is not a common breed of devil-dog so much as something Green apparently made up, which obviously only makes it that much cooler.

This song hit the Top 10 in the U.K. But today, much like “Black Magic Woman,” a lot of people may be more familiar with a cover of the song — by British heavy metal legends Judas Priest, who truly made the song their own. I can detect no acid whatsoever in the mix on their recording.

22. ‘You Make Loving Fun’ (1977)

“Rumours” had its sweet side, too, as evidenced by this, the album’s fourth and final U.S. hit, which peaked at No. 9. It’s by Christine McVie, of course, their resident romantic, who establishes the groove here with some of the funkiest clavinet this side of Stevie Wonder while setting the lyrical tone with “Sweet wonderful you/ You make me happy with the things you do.”

She really hits her stride, though, on that near-euphoric chorus, where angelic harmonies swoop in to elevate her hopelessly romantic lyrics for one of the sunniest moments in the history of pop. “I never did believe in miracles,” she sings. “But I’ve a feeling it’s time to try/ I never did believe in the ways of magic/ But I’m beginning to wonder why.”

You’d never know those harmonies, by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, were captured in the middle of a heated argument. And the sweetness of the lyrics doesn’t even interrupt the soap opera. Those words were not inspired by her alcoholic husband, who turns in a really nice bassline.

21. 'Second Hand News' (1977)

There’s a reason they made it the opening track on “Rumours,” the embarrassment of riches that remains one of the biggest-selling albums in the history of life itself.

Doing his damnedest to channel the pulsating rhythms of disco by tapping the seat of a Naugahyde chair on a track you’d never know had anything to do with disco, Lindsey Buckingham sets the scene for this upbeat airing of romantic grievances (and the album as a whole) with a defeated, “I know there's nothin' to say/ Someone has taken my place.” But much like the chorus of “Tusk,” he’s still open to sex.

The wounded lyrics were inspired by the state of his relationship with Nicks, who gamely joins her ex on harmonies as he hits the bit about “When times go bad, when times go rough, won't you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff?”

20. ‘Tusk’ (1979)

This is, in many ways, the weirdest track on “Tusk,” with all that tribal chanting and a guest appearance by the USC Trojans Marching Band (recorded while actually marching) to underscore what feels like a demented masterclass in jealousy and paranoia built on a menacing drum loop of Mick Fleetwood doing all he can to sound like he’s about to storm a village.

“Why won’t you tell me what’s going?” Lindsey Buckingham demands in a seething near whisper. “Why won’t you tell me who’s on the phone?” By the chorus, it’s clear that he’ll settle for sex, though, joined by Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie in a primal scream of “Don’t say that you love me!” and “Just tell me that you want me!” “Real savage like,” as someone comments midway through the madness, which includes a total freakout on the drums by Fleetwood.

For all the weirdness, though — or could it be because of all its weirdness? — “Tusk” gave Fleetwood Mac another Top 10 hit both here and in the U.K., not to mention Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada. And it could’ve been weirder. They decided against including the recording of Fleetwood hitting a leg of lamb with a spatula.

19. ‘Sara’ (1979)

Beautifully sung by Stevie Nicks, this bittersweet ballad was the second song from “Tusk” to crack the Top 10 on the Hot 100, hitting No. 7. It’s a spellbinding six-and-a-half-minute epic with haunting piano underscoring Nicks’ dreamy vocals as she sets the scene with “Wait a minute, baby, stay with me a while.”

The lyrics find her looking back on a relationship that clearly left her wanting more. “Drowning in the sea of love, where everyone would love to drown,” she sighs. “But now it's gone/ It doesn't matter what for.”

In an interview with MTV, Nicks said "Sara" was inspired by the end of her relationship with Mick Fleetwood, which ended due to his relationship with Nicks' best friend, Sara, who went on to marry Fleetwood. “‘Sara’ was pretty much about Mick,” she said. “It was about everything that was going on at that particular time, too, but he was the reason for the beginning of it.”

18. ‘Never Going Back Again’ (1977)

This is all Lindsey Buckingham on acoustic guitar and vocals, one of several "Rumours" tracks whose lyrics find him drawing on the state of his relationship with Stevie Nicks, as summed up here with “Been down one time/ Been down two times/ I'm never going back again,” a line he sings with his entire broken heart before building a wall of harmonies with his multi-tracked voice.

It took some rebound sex to strengthen his resolve, inspiring the first verse (“She broke down and let me in/ Made me see where I’d been”).

But enough about the lyrics. Buckingham himself has dismissed it with “That was a very naive song.” That guitar part is what makes it stand out an album packed with brilliant songs and great performances, as memorable as “Blackbird” in its own way. His guitar-playing talents run deep.

17. ‘Songbird’ (1977)

You know this song has come for your emotions long before you know what it’s about, thanks to a heartbreaking piano intro by Christine McVie, who wrote the song, recording both her vocals and piano live in one take in an empty auditorium, Lindsey Buckingham strumming along on acoustic guitar offstage.

“For you, there'll be no more crying,” she vows in the opening line. “For you, the sun will be shining/ And I feel that when I'm with you, it's alright/ I know it's right.”

Those aren’t the saddest lyrics in the world, right? So why the sad piano and the mournful melody? The first hint that it may have been inspired by the end of her relationship with John McVie arrives much later, when the line “And I love you like never before” is followed by “And I wish you all the love in the world/ But most of all I wish it from myself.”

16. ‘Gypsy’ (1982)

This “Bella Donna” outtake ended up becoming one of Stevie Nicks’ biggest hits with Fleetwood Mac, a wistful meditation on the lifestyle she enjoyed with Lindsey Buckingham before they made it.

There are references to Nicks' favorite clothing store, the Velvet Underground, where Janis Joplin used to buy her clothes in San Francisco, and the way she used to pretty up their mattress on the floor with lace and paper flowers.

As with any song from that era reflecting on her time with Buckingham, it also touches on the breakup, with Nicks as the gypsy who's "dancing away from you now," reminding him, "Her memory is all that is left for you now." The second single from “Mirage,” it peaked at No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

15. ‘Oh Well’ (1969)

Fleetwood Mac’s first U.S. hit, it only got to No. 55, but did much better in the U.K, where it peaked at No. 2, topping the charts in the Netherlands. The single was divided into two parts, the A-side fueled by one of Peter Green’s most memorable riffs, the B-side exploring his interest in Spanish classic guitar and Spaghetti Western soundtracks. As Green has said, “It represents my two extremes.”

A disagreement with the rhythm section over whether it should even be a single may have played a role in Green leaving the band to go off on his own.

The A-side is a tightly scripted stroke of genius that crashes to a halt for Green to deliver the verses, which are brilliant (“I can't help about the shape I'm in/ I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin/ But don't ask me what I think of you/ I might not give the answer that you want me to”).

14. ‘Gold Dust Woman’ (1977)

In a 1997 interview with VH1, Stevie Nicks said this “Rumours” track was "really my symbolic look about somebody going through a bad relationship, and doing a lot of drugs, and trying to … just make it, trying to live, trying to get through it to the next thing." It also draws on her experience of watching groupies operate.

As she told Crawdaddy in 1976, it's "about women who stand around and give me and Christine dirty looks but as soon as a guy comes in the room are overcome with smiles."

What ultimately matters is the raw emotion she invests in the haunted chorus of "Well, did she make you cry? Make you break down? Shatter your illusions of love? And is it over now? Do you know how to pick up the pieces and go home?" 

13. ‘Don’t Stop’ (1977)

What’s with all the unabashed optimism on an album as mired in heartache, regret and romantic dysfunction as “Rumours”? That’s Christine McVie for you, offering the ray of sunshine listeners may have needed with an “Annie”-like faith that tomorrow will “soon be here”  and “better than before” because “yesterday's gone.”

And yet, it fits the running theme — in part because the song was written as an olive branch to John McVie as their relationship was ending. “All I want is to see you smile, if it takes just a little while,” she sings. “I know you don't believe that it's true, I never meant any harm to you.”

As Mick Fleetwood has said, this song is “Chris saying ‘I love you, but I’m not in love with you’ to John.” The third of four singles from “Rumours” to crack the Top 10 on the Hot 100, “Don’t Stop” peaked at No. 3, their second-highest entry on that chart.

12. ‘What Makes You Think You’re the One?’ (1979)

Mick Fleetwood’s snare hits are a brilliant introduction to a track that features some of Fleetwood’s most inventive drumming, which underscores the urgency of Lindsey Buckingham’s lead vocal as he goes from merely agitated to unhinged in the course of this primal garage-rock excursion from “Tusk,” in many ways the album’s purest distillation of the punk aesthetic (without sounding "punk").

You can hear why Buckingham would reach for “Instant Karma” as a frame of reference to describe the untamed genius of a drum part he insisted on recording on a boombox to achieve a more distorted sound. I’d been using that same “Instant Karma” frame of reference my entire life before I knew he said that.

And it’s all in service to a song that finds him Buckingham sneering his way through rhymes as acerbic as “What makes you think I'm the one who'll be there when you're callin'? What makes you think I'm the one who will catch you when you're fallin'?”

11. ‘Little Lies’ (1987)

This Christine McVie song, co-written with Eddy Quintela, gets off to a haunting start with a Fairlight synthesizer hook that sounds like it was beamed in from another galaxy before the drums kick in and McVie sets the scene for a song about having resigned herself to believing his “sweet little lies” with “If I could turn the page, in time then I'd rearrange just a day or two.”

That’s when a host of ghostly backing vocals chime in, sighing, “Close my, close my, close my eyes” like a proper Greek chorus.

McVie told Billboard, “The idea of the lyric is: If I had the chance, I'd do it differently next time. But since I can't, just carry on lying to me and I'll believe, even though I know you're lying.”

The highest-charting U.S. hit on 1987’s “Tango in the Night,” this brilliantly arranged production peaked at No. 4, becoming Fleetwood Mac’s last Top 10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100 while also spending four weeks in the top spot at Adult Contemporary.  

10. ‘Albatross’ (1968)

Peter Green sounds like he’s flirting with exotica on a slow boat to Hawaii on this sleepy instrumental, which gave Fleetwood Mac their first and only U.K. No. 1.

Green has cited something Eric Clapton played on a Bluesbreakers record and Santo & Johnny’s instrumental classic “Sleep Walk” as having played in role in shaping what he’s managed to accomplish here (which doesn’t really sound like “Sleep Walk,” but it doesn’t take much to imagine how he got from there to "Albatross").

Mick Fleetwood adds to the magic of that haunted melody, playing his drum kit with timpani mallets while steering it closer to the vibe of Chuck Berry’s moody “Deep Feeling.” Inspiration is a two-way street, though. “Albatross” went on to help a song on “Abbey Road” take shape.

George Harrison has said the Beatles used the instrumental as a frame of reference for “Sun King.” "At the time, 'Albatross' was out, with all the reverb on guitar," he revealed in 1987. "So we said, 'Let's be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.' It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac ... but that was the point of origin."

9. ‘Everywhere’ (1987)

This is Christine McVie at her most contagious, a shimmering pop confection that gave Fleetwood Mac another massive hit. Unlike the other hits on “Tango in the Night,” though, “Everywhere" did better in the U.K., where it peaked at No. 4 while somehow losing steam at No. 14 on the Hot 100, topping the adult contemporary for three weeks.

This track’s energy is irrepressible, the pop hooks undeniable, and much like every other hit on “Tango in the Night,” the song’s arrangement is meticulously crafted, the production custom-made to rule the airwaves as they stood in 1987.

That glistening intro was achieved by tracking Lindsey Buckingham’s guitars at half-speed, making it higher and faster when it’s played back at the right speed, for an otherworldly sensation. You want pop perfection? This is pop perfection.

And the lyrics make the most of her romantic streak with a joyous chorus of “I want to be with you everywhere.” That she sounds positively smitten only adds another layer to the ample charms infusing this entire track.

8. ‘Hypnotized’ (1973)

Bob Welch wrote this aptly titled masterstroke, inspired by his fascination with the UFO craze of the ‘70s. 

“It's the same kind of story that seems to come down from long ago,” he begins. “Two friends having coffee together when something flies by their window/ It might be out on that lawn, which is wide, at least half of a playing field/ Because there's no explaining what your imagination can make you see and feel.”

There’s a bewitching vibe to “Hypnotized” that almost feels like Fleetwood Mac preparing fans for the pending arrival of Stevie Nicks just two years later. There’s no way they could’ve known, you say? If this song doesn’t leave you questioning the very fabric of reality, is it fair to say you even listened?

Kudos to the great Mick Fleetwood, by the way, for setting the tone with a beat that never fails to leave me hypnotized before the inter-weaving jazz guitar lines of Welch and Bob Weston even start to weave their magic spell.

7. 'Rhiannon' (1975)

"Rhiannon" was the first hit single Stevie Nicks contributed to making Fleetwood Mac one of the most successful pop acts of all time, a suitably bewitching portrait of a woman who "takes to the sky like a bird in flight" that features one of Nicks' most entrancing vocals.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Nicks explained that the song had been inspired by "Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural," which tells the story of a Welsh woman who believes she’s been possessed by a spirit named Rhiannon.

As Nicks told Rolling Stone, “I wrote this song and made her into what I thought was an old Welsh witch. It’s just about a very mystical woman that finds it very, very hard to be tied down in any kind of way.” The song peaked at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 and according to the website setlist.fm, remains the Fleetwood Mac song her fans are most likely to hear at a solo show, narrowly edging out "Dreams."

6. ‘Man of the World’ (1969)

Peter Green sounds positively devastated on this deeply wounded blues, his aching vocal underscoring every ounce of pathos in his world-weary lyrics. “I guess I've got everything I need,” he sings. “I wouldn't ask for more/ And there's no one I'd rather be/ But I just wish that I had never been born.”

He just needs a good woman “to make me feel like a good man should,” he suggests at the top of the bridge, as his bandmates kick it up a notch. “I don't say I'm a good man/ Oh, but I would be if I could.”

There’s a reason Green was able to convey such sadness on this record, where the spareness of the band’s arrangement adds to the vulnerability of his soulful delivery.

The band leader’s life was beginning to go off the rails as he experimented more with LSD, which led to his departure from the band to join a commune a year after baring his soul on this record. Green would go on to be diagnosed with schizophrenia in the mid-’70s.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Fleetwood said when the song was recorded, “We had no idea that he was suffering internally as much as he was. But if you listen to the words, it's crucifyingly obvious what was going on. But a beautiful song. A poignant song.”

5. ‘Silver Springs’ (1976)

It's still amazing to consider that they chose to leave this song off "Rumours." Yes, it could be argued that the album did all right without it. But it would've made a more compelling masterpiece if "Silver Springs" had been included.

Stevie Nicks is at her vulnerable best as she trembles her way through an opening line about how "you could be my silver spring, blue-green colors flashin'" with no hint of the fiery intensity to follow as she taunts her former lover (the one over there on guitar) with a vow of "I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice will haunt you" and "You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you."

It should've been the final track (and it shouldn't have faded out so quickly). The original recording went on for nearly 10 minutes. As it stands, at half that length, it’s still brilliantly savage and savagely brilliant.

4. ‘Dreams’ (1977)

There's a reason this became the most enduring contribution to pop culture Stevie Nicks has ever written, from the timeless melody to the way she hits those high notes on "It's only right that you should play the way you feel it," a line she follows with a withering "But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness like a heartbeat drives you mad."

The production is flawless, the vocal sublime, the overall effect as timeless as pop music gets. It concerns the end of her eight-year relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, whose job was then to come up with the perfect guitar arrangement to accompany the venom in her lyrics "in the stillness of remembering what you had... and what you lost." Mission accomplished.

In an interview for "In the Studio with Fleetwood Mac," Nicks said, "I can remember how hard it was for me to play 'Dreams' the first time for the whole band, because I know it would probably really upset Lindsey, and probably really upset Chris and John, and probably really upset Mick and really upset me. And if I could even get through it I'd be lucky."

Fortunately, she got through it. And continues to get through it as a highlight of her live performances both solo and with Fleetwood Mac, who took the song to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, the first and only time that happened.

3. ‘Go Your Own Way’ (1976)

Lindsey Buckingham’s response to what was going down with Stevie Nicks is much closer in spirit to the bitterness his ex unleashed on “Silver Springs” than the more reflective (if admittedly still bitter) tone of “Dreams.” “If I could, baby, I'd give you my world,” he sings, playing the victim who would've like to work things out. “How can I when you won't take it from me?”

It certainly sounds like an angrier song, rocking with harder edge than anything he brought to the proceedings on that first self-titled album while doing his best to tap into the energy the Rolling Stones brought to “Street Fighting Man," a source of inspiration you can definitely pick out if you know it's in there.

Nicks was not amused. As she told Rolling Stone in 1997, “I very, very much resented him telling the world that ‘packing up, shacking up’ with different men was all I wanted to do. He knew it wasn’t true. It was just an angry thing that he said. Every time those words would come out onstage, I wanted to go over and kill him.”

In his defense, it starts with “Loving you isn't the right thing to do / How can I ever change things that I feel?” Released in advance of “Rumours,” this song peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

2. ‘The Chain’ (1977)

It was tempting to slot this in at No. 1. No song has ever felt more like a showcase for the essence of their most successful lineup, which may be why it’s credited to all five members, opening the second side of “Rumours” with a chorus hook that ties it all together (“And if you don't love me now, you will never love me again/ I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain”).

The harmonies here are more haunting than ever. The arrangement is so seamlessly conceived, you’d never know they spliced those individual parts together from assorted fragments of ideas.

John McVie takes a turn in the spotlight to deliver one of rock’s most memorable bass riffs, giving way to Lindsey Buckingham’s electrifying solo as a lead-in to the fade-out, where those voices join together once more, singing, “Chain, keep us together” in a way that’s hard to tell if that’s a blessing or a curse while Buckingham repeatedly responds with tortured cries of “running in the shadows," sounding like he'd almost certainly have answered curse at that particular recording session.

1. 'Landslide’ (1975)

This reflective acoustic-guitar-driven ballad finds Stevie Nicks, at 27, pondering the aging process and the changes that come with it, haunted by the thought that everything she'd spent her whole life working up to could come crashing down around her like an avalanche at any moment. 

"Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I've built my life around you," she sings, her trembling voice as vulnerable as Nicks has ever sounded. "But time makes you bolder / Even children get older / I'm getting older too."

In the liner notes to "Crystal Visions," Nicks is quoted saying that she wrote that song in Aspen, "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways."

This song hit me hard at 27. Hell, it hit me hard in junior high. What’s more remarkable is how the words she wrote at 27 haven’t lost their uncanny ability to make you feel was was feeling when she wrote it after 50 years.

Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.