Day 141: Your favorite song by a band/artist whose name begins with “F”.
“Second Hand News” – Fleetwood Mac
I’ve got a knack for knowing if I’m going to really like a song the first time I hear it. I’m not perfect at it, as my love of “All Mixed Up” and “Mama” will show. But I’m right more than I’m wrong.
And then there are those times when I hear a song and I know I love it immediately. Like “Odds Are.” And “What About Everything?” And “Hollywood.”
And “Second Hand News.”
I was born just a little too late to have experienced the hoopla around Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Like every sentient being that was alive in 1977, though, I was aware of songs like “Dreams” and “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop.” If you lived within 20 miles of a radio, you’d heard them.
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But it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I actually heard the entire album. My brother bought the CD, and, by then knowing that Rumours had been a phenomenon, I listened through.
The album opens with “Second Hand News.” I was immediately drawn to the frenetic guitar playing of Lindsay Buckingham, the harmonies, and the catchy “Bam Bam Bam Bam” chorus (if that’s what you can call it). It makes for a very dynamic opening track. I immediately thought “If the rest of the album tracks are like this, I get it.” I could see why the album was such a smash.
And then, I have to admit, for most of the rest of the album I was a bit disappointed. Not that it wasn’t good, or even that I didn’t like it, but on that first listen, the rest didn’t deliver on the promise of the opening track. Maybe because the rest of the songs are more introspective, or maybe it’s because they don’t have the driving nature of “Second Hand News.” I don’t know.
I have since come around on that, although I’m not sure it’s their best album ever. But, as an adult, I understand the feelings that were going into the songs better. I can understand the sadness and angst. And, I can understand why it sold a bazillion copies.
Still, there’s nothing on the album I like as much as “Second Hand News.”
But I guess I knew that the first time I heard it.