Lindsey Buckingham Told This Fleetwood Mac Bandmate to ‘Just Write About Sex’
Lindsey Buckingham worked extensively with Christine McVie when she rejoined Fleetwood Mac after a 15-year hiatus. Here’s how the classic rock musicians collaborated in their new dynamic and why Buckingham told McVie to “just write about sex.”
Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie collaborated on an album together after she rejoined Fleetwood Mac
Singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Christine McVie left Fleetwood Mac shortly after the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
McVie has said in multiple interviews that her fear of flying and panic attacks were among the reasons why she left the group. But 15 years later, after some help from Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and a therapist, the “Songbird” singer was able to overcome her phobia and return to the band.
Separate from their work with Fleetwood Mac, McVie and the band’s guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham, recorded a 2017 album called Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie (often shortened to Buckingham/McVie). Other members of the band, including Fleetwood and John McVie, contributed to the project.
“We didn’t have an idea what it was going to be, we just wanted to welcome her back,” Buckingham said of the album to The Washington Post. “Less than a week in we were like, ‘Oh, my god, this is better than it’s ever been.’”
Lindsey Buckingham told Christine McVie to ‘just write about sex’
When Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac after a 15-year hiatus, Lindsey Buckingham gave her a crucial piece of advice.
“I had a conference call with Lindsey and Mick. John was absolutely fine with everything,” McVie told CBS News about her return to the band. “And Lindsey said, ‘What are you doing now, if you’re coming back? You can’t be coming and going. You’ve gotta, like, commit, you know?’ And I said, ‘I commit. I commit. I do. I do.’”
Once McVie and Buckingham started working together again, the guitarist had more advice for the keyboardist. McVie told Elle that when she got stuck on a lyric, Buckingham told her to “just write about sex.”
When asked if those songs were inspired by her hiatus years spent living in the country, McVie said, “You mean the nunnery?” before clarifying, “I was by no means a nun.”
The keyboardist said her Fleetwood Mac bandmate helped fix her ‘horrible little demos’
Although Christine McVie added her unique flavor of music to Fleetwood Mac when she returned to the group, she said she relied heavily on Lindsey Buckingham’s help to produce what she called her “horrible little demos.”
“And so then we started exchanging tapes and things back and forth, Lindsey and I, my horrible little demos that I’d written,” McVie told Elle, describing how she reintegrated into the band. “And he then listened to them and rebuilt them in Buckingham style. ’Cause Lindsey’s always produced my songs. And I love the way he plays and works with my songs. And so he sent them back to me, his version of my demos, and loved them.”
