Music

Stevie Nicks created 'Silver Springs' for 'Rumours,' even if this original became a 'B-Side' for the full-length album. Here's what her producer said about her experience in the studio.

Published on January 14, 2023

Stevie Nicks is the songwriter behind “Silver Springs,” even playing it for the other band members on the piano. Here’s what producer Ken Caillat said about her experience in the studio for Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.

Stevie Nicks wrote ‘Dreams,’ ‘Gold Dust Woman,’ ‘Silver Springs,’ and other songs for Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’

Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac as a duo. As a result, Nicks became the mastermind behind several Fleetwood Mac hits. What made their band unique, though, was their personal connection to their lyrics. 

For Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Nicks detailed much of her breakup with Buckingham through songs like “Dreams” and the “B-Side” fan favorite “Silver Springs.” Buckingham did the same with “Go Your Own Way,” even if the lyrics weren’t entirely accurate to their relationship. 

Stevie Nicks was ‘thrilled’ to play ‘Silver Springs’ on piano for Fleetwood Mac

While creating Rumours, Nicks was asked to perform “Silver Springs” for the band, as noted in Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album by Ken Caillat and Steve Stiefel.

“Stevie was thrilled — there was nothing she liked to do better than play her songs on the piano,” Caillat wrote. “Much of the time, Stevie sat curled up on the couch behind us in the control room, with a shawl around her and Ginny at her feet.” 

“Sometimes she took baby tokes off a joint and drank tea,” he added. “She could sit for hours on that couch, observing and chatting; she loved to laugh.”

As noted by Genius, this song was excluded from the original Rumours tracklist, with Nicks losing a “battle” for the original. Instead, “Silver Springs” became the B-side to the album’s lead single, “Go Your Own Way.” On Spotify, Nicks is credited as the sole songwriter behind “Silver Springs, with lyrics detailing her relationship with Buckingham. 

“Time cast a spell on you,” the outro states. “But you won’t forget me / I know I could have loved you / But you would not let me.”

Did Stevie Nicks play the piano?

While performing live, Nicks functioned as a vocalist and tambourine player. “Songbird” writer, Christine McVie, often played the keyboard for Fleetwood Mac. During an interview with the Guardian, McVie commented on tour life — and how Nicks always had a piano at her disposal. 

“I don’t think I ever had a piano in my room. Stevie always did, but she couldn’t play it,” McVie laughed. “So she’d have me come down and play. Nothing made me cringe.” 

As noted in LitHub, Nicks could play the piano, which was especially important for her songwriting. However, she rarely played instruments for the band’s studio-recorded albums. In the same memoir, Caillat described Nicks as a singer-songwriter “foremost” — “she wasn’t into the technical end of the music.”

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