Fleetwood MacThe Chain (4:30)

On 9 albums see all

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About This Track

The Chain is a song from Fleetwood Mac’s best-selling album Rumours. “The Chain” is unique in being the only song credited to all five members of the Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac lineup: Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks; this is partly due to the fact that John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are generally not songwriters. The band has used the song as a signature, citing the lyric, “Never break the chain.”

According to interviews on the writing of Rumours, the final section of “The Chain” — beginning with a bass progression — was created by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. It seemed like an ending, not a beginning. Stevie Nicks had written the lyrics separately and thought they would be a good match; she and Christine McVie did some reworking to create the first section of the tune. To complete the song, Lindsey Buckingham recycled the intro from an earlier Buckingham/Nicks song - “Lola My Love”, originally released on their eponymous 1973 album. Thanks to its use as a TV theme (for the BBC’s Formula One coverage), the ending bass line is one of the most recognizable in the world, and although not released as a single, it does get air play.

The song itself has a basic rock structure, although it has two distinct portions: the main verse and chorus, and the outro. The song would be classified as rock, but shows the influence of hard rock, folk, and country.
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Albums featuring this track

  • The Dance
    Fleetwood Mac Play
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  • Rumours
    Fleetwood Mac
    Buy
  • The Very Best
    Fleetwood Mac Play
    Buy
  • The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (disc 2)
    Fleetwood Mac Play
    Buy
See all 9 albums

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  • Bought_New_Soul

    Guitar solos are always necessary

    last week
  • charlieandval

    an all time great

    last week
  • gitfacehal

    The best bass line ever. Full stop. Makes me cry. It's also the only time where a guitar solo seems absolutely necessary.

    14 days ago
  • Clembot

    That bass riff, holyffffff-

    25 days ago
  • deadgrave

    the bass line at the end is beyond this word \nn/

    last month
  • Ghost_Buster

    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.

    last month
  • Bobak

    chaaaaaaaaaaaaaain! you must never love this ish so hard

    last month
  • moresweetb

    I have this CD. I fell in love with Stevie Nicks a long time ago. She's one of a kind. Outstanding voice;) Love them.

    last month
  • Shaye_Borealis

    i just stopped and soaked in this song for a moment. outstanding

    last month
  • sk8witch

    Still a perfect song all these years later. I can't stop listening to this lately.

    last month
  • littledan77

    Simply an amazing song on an amazing album

    last month
  • X3mist

    Part of guitar sound reminds me of The Offspring's song Dirty Magic.

    last month
  • pjbird

    Just brilliant. Nothing else has to be said

    March 2012
  • Elodave

    Being both a Mac fan and a fan of Formula One this song has a double resonance for me.Outstanding stuff.

    March 2012
  • NitaD1

    Mac..nificent!!

    March 2012
  • MikesDmusic

    Great drumming, vocals, guitar - everything for a song to be considered a Rock and Roll standard!

    March 2012
  • OldMan_Adam

    This is so good ... when I was in aweful emotional mess, listening to this healed my wounds, and gave me something to be happy about!

    March 2012
  • bianca_lg_xx

    ooh i like this

    March 2012
  • nitehawk868

    Awesome tune!!!!

    February 2012
  • Nintendoman64

    Best song from Rumours. That Bassline, DAYUM!

    February 2012
See all 328 shouts

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