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Fleetwood Mac lived hard and created some of the best music of the 1970s. Mick Fleetwood said the band snorted seven miles of cocaine, but the band’s tunes continue to earn honors even The Beatles can’t achieve. We’re hoping it doesn’t happen for some time, but when Fleetwood dies, he wants a Christine McVie song from Fleetwood Mac’s catalog played at his funeral.

Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood, who wants a McVie song played at his funeral, at a 2018 event.
(l-r) Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood | Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Christine McVie wrote 8 of Fleetwood Mac’s charting singles

McVie held her own in a band filled with expert songwriters. Stevie Nicks penned the band’s only No. 1 single, which her bandmate found boring, but McVie wrote or co-wrote several of Fleetwood Mac’s charting singles:

  • “Little Lies”
  • “Hold Me”
  • “Over My Head”
  • “Love in Store”
  • “As Long as You Follow”
  • “You Make Loving Fun”
  • “Think About Me”
  • “Save Me”

“Little Lies” and “Hold Me” reached No. 4 on Billboard’s singles chart, and “You Make Loving Fun” peaked at No. 9 in 1977. McVie also sang the Fleetwood Mac song that came back on the charts nearly 30 years after it came out. She wrote several standout Mac songs, but none are the McVie song Mick Fleetwood wants to be played at his funeral.

Mick Fleetwood wants McVie’s ‘Songbird’ played at his funeral, and it’s a fitting choice

Mick Fleetwood was a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, and he’s been behind the drum kit ever since. Yet he has just one songwriting credit with the band. According to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Fleetwood co-wrote the instrumental “What a Shame” from the 1971 album Future Games. McVie and her husband John McVie contributed to the song.

Fleetwood doesn’t have any of his own tunes to play at his funeral, so he picked a Christine McVie song. According to NME, McVie’s “Songbird” is the tune Fleetwood wants playing at his funeral:

“The song at my funeral, which will be in five minutes! Wow, that is maudlin. I’d probably pick ‘Songbird’ by Christine McVie to send me off fluttering.”

Mick Fleetwood

McVie’s “Songbird” is a fitting choice for a funeral. The piano-and-voice ballad is delicate and heartfelt. Its lyrics share a message of deep and sincere love that makes everything all right. 

Fleetwood Mac had a tangled web of intraband relationships and what could be described as dysfunctional behavior when the band was at its peak. Fleetwood picking that specific McVie song could be sending the message that he never lost his love for his bandmates, no matter how bad things got. Given his song choice, Fleetwood might have a somber yet celebratory sendoff in mind. 

‘Songbird’ was an outlier on ‘Rumours’

Related

Christine McVie Was Happy ‘all the Time’ When She Was in Fleetwood Mac, ‘Contrary to Public Opinion’

“Songbird” sits smack dab in the middle of Rumours, an album with its fair share of songs about relationship strife. The album included a few tunes with a more positive spin, but McVie’s “Songbird” is still an outlier.

It’s the only ballad on the album played solo. Lindsey Buckingham kept the rest of Fleetwood Mac outside the studio for “Never Going Back Again,” but that song leans more in the direction of being an anthem. The McVie penned “Oh Daddy” could be considered a ballad, but it involves other members of the band.

Despite its lack of chart success, “Songbird” is a standout Christine McVie song that Mick Fleetwood wants playing at his funeral.

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