Nile Rodgers Welcomes Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham on ‘Deep Hidden Meaning Radio‘

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham is the latest artist to sit down and chat with Nile Rodgers on Deep Hidden Meaning Radio on Apple Music 1, due out May 8.

“I’m really excited to have Lindsey Buckingham joining me on this month’s Deep Hidden Meaning show. He will be sharing some amazing backstories from the classic Fleetwood Mac songs that we all know and love,” Nile Rodgers tells American Songwriter. “Throughout our conversation, Lindsey also describes how the complex dynamics of the band were a breeding ground for their incredible songwriting which helped to inspire some of the most iconic lyrics of all time. Be sure to tune in for this great conversation!”

In an exclusive sneak peek, Rodgers shares snippets from their conversation where Buckingham reveals the secrets behind writing some of his best-loved songs from Fleetwood Mac, including “Go Your Own Way,” and his solo career.

Nile Rodgers: “Go Your Own Way.” Damn.

Lindsey Buckingham: That was interesting because that’s sort of Act Two, we had joined the band and Stevie and I are basically history, but still there’s some residue leftover and we’re still writing songs about each other a couple of years later. Musically, “Go Your Own Way” was just very, very interesting on a lot of levels because of the timing of the parts in there. We had cut it as a basic eighth note kind of chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk guitar. Then Mick had added… I’d really actually wanted Mick to play the pattern from “Street Fighting Man” that Charlie Watts plays, [imitates drum beat]. He had to sort of do it his own way and he left out some beats and it became more syncopated and a little bit harder to sort of follow in a way until the chorus kicked in. And then that led me to add this sort of back rhythm guitar part, which in some ways was even made the first verse even more disorienting in terms of finding the beat.
There is actually a story from that. I remember the first time I heard “Go Your Own Way” on the radio when it had just come out as a single. I was in my car and I was listening to KLOS or whatever it was. The famous classical DJ B. Mitchel Reed was on. He said, ‘Well, we got the new one from Fleetwood Mac. It’s called ‘Go Your Own Way,’’ and he played it and it sounded great on the radio. Then it was over and he came back on and there was a pause, and he says, ‘That was Fleetwood Mac, ‘Go Your Own Way.’’ Pause. ‘I’m not sure about that one.‘
Me being the ballsy person that I was back then, and I suppose still am, somehow I got the number of the station and I called him up and he, to his credit, got on the phone with me. I said, ‘B., What do you mean? What don’t you like about ‘Go Your Own Way?’ He says, ‘Well, I can’t find the beat.‘

Nile Rodgers: Find the one. Right.

Lindsey Buckingham: I mean, that was sort of a surprising aspect that never really even occurred to us while we were putting it together, because obviously we knew where the one was.

In the episode, Buckingham goes on to tell Rodgers about the “musical soap opera” of Fleetwood Mac, and how he and Mick Fleetwood are “kindred spirits” and share a special bond.

Nile Rodgers: Speaking of Mick, he’s always looked like a real imposing figure to me, and just recently, I think it was about a week ago, I saw that he had a restaurant, or has a restaurant in Maui and he was talking about having to furlough employees because of the situation, and he seemed like such a gentle, loving soul, and the one thing that instantly came across, which had nothing to do with the restaurant, was his attachment towards you, or for you. I was like, wow. So the drummer and the guitar player are the two guys who were really down, or at least that’s what it felt like to me.

Lindsey Buckingham: Oh yeah, we’re definitely kindred spirits, and because I don’t read music and I never had a lesson in my life and it was kind of the same thing. I mean, obviously, in a more sort of articulated way what I do, but his intuition for what feels right and what is truthful, is just beyond reproach, and he and I have always shared that bond. I think in many ways you are correct that he and I were kind of the spine of what held Fleetwood Mac together in that way.

To hear all of Lindsey and Nile’s conversation, tune in to the full episode for free on Saturday, May 8 at 8 a.m. LA / 11a.m. NY / 4p.m. London or anytime on-demand at apple.co/_DHMRadio