Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie Is Still ‘[Brought] to Tears’ by Some Beatles Songs
She’s a songwriter and Fleetwood Mac member. Christine McVie also shared her appreciation for other popular bands in the 1960s and 1970s, specifically naming the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Christine McVie appeared as a songwriter for Fleetwood Mac
At the time of Rumours’s release, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Mick Fleetwood were full-time band members. McVie took on an added role as a songwriter for the band, writing “Songbird” and other tracks for the band.
Christine McVie mentioned some of her favorite artists — including the Beach Boys and The Beatles
McVie later shared her support of other musicians and bands. That includes the legendary rock band behind “Here Comes the Sun,” “Let It Be,” and “Twist and Shout” — The Beatles, who was added to a list of artists that “move [her] the most.”
“I’m a big fan of Steely Dan; the Beach Boys; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young,” McVie said during an interview with Rolling Stone. “I like quite a broad range of people, and my favorite… the Beatles, of course. Some of their songs move me to tears.”
McVie briefly had a relationship with the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson. McVie even dedicated a song on Fleetwood Mac’s last LP, Mirage, to her ex-boyfriend. That was “Only Over You,” with the record sleeve stating “with special thanks for inspiration to Dennis Wilson.”
“I related to them, and obviously to Dennis really well, although Dennis was a bit of a madman,” McVie elaborated. “But we got on really well. I just really loved their music. Carl Wilson in particular — loved his voice.”
The Beatles mentioned how Fleetwood Mac inspired their music
The Beatles released music around the same time as Fleetwood Mac, with both groups pulling inspiration from one another. That’s especially true of the Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road.
“That’s where we pretend to be Fleetwood Mac for a few minutes,” John Lennon said in a 1969 interview, according to Cosmic Magazine after Abbey Road’s debut. George Harrison also mentioned how Fleetwood Mac inspired “Sun King” in 1987.
“At the time, ‘Albatross’ was out,” Harrison said, according to the same website, mentioning the 1968 Fleetwood Mac single, “with all the reverb on guitar.“
“We did the introduction, we call it the ‘Sun riff,’ the little instrumental bit that’s like Fleetwood Mac,” Lennon said of the same song, according to the same source, “before we start singing, and we did it again at the end, so we are able to sing it to make them different, you know, so it wasn’t just the same riff.”
Lennon even mentioned meeting Fleetwood Mac (before Nicks and Buckingham joined) during the Disney+ documentary series The Beatles: Get Back.
“They’re so sweet, man,” John told the other Beatles. “And their lead singer’s great. You know, looks great, and he sort of sings quiet as well. He’s not a shouter.”
