Packing up/
Shacking up is all you want to do.

Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” might be the greatest breakup song of all-time. Lindsey Buckingham sounds pissed off and he’s going to let Stevie Nicks know that he is not happy with their (ex?) relationship. Is he going to have a rational discussion with her?

Hell no! He’s going to write a blistering song blaming her for everything wrong in the relationship. And then he is going to make her sing backup vocals for him until she gets it right.

What resulted was some of Fleetwood’s most impassioned work, their best harmonies and perhaps Lindsey at his best. It might not have made for the most pleasant work environment.

“Go Your Own Way” is a guitar song. There is an electric guitar with an acoustic guitar plus another killer bass-line by John McVie. I don’t ever hear about him amongst the great bass players, but he certainly has some iconic bass-lines with this and The Chain (for example). Of course, Lindsey plays all the guitar parts. If you listen to them carefully, individually, you will hear the difference between a great producer and an average one.

A great producer (like Lindsey) hears layers of sounds and it often requires different instruments playing non-traditional parts to add to other sounds to add up to something greater than the sum of their pieces. Good production simply captures good sound and reproduces it.

Go Your Own Way Lyrics

Loving you-
Isn’t the right thing to do.
How can I ever change things
That I feel?

If I could
Maybe I’d give you my world.
How can I,
When you won’t take it from me?

You can go your own way.
Go your own way.
You can call it
Another lonely day.
You can go your own way.
Go your own way.

Tell me why,
Everything turned around.
Packing up-
Shacking up is all you want to do.

If I could,
Baby, I’d give you my world.
Open up-
Everything’s waiting for you.

You can go your own way.
Go your own way.
You can call it
Another lonely day.
You can go your own way.
Go your own way.

You can go your own way.
Go your own way.
You can call it
Another lonely day.
Another lonely day.
You can go your own way.
Go your own way.
You can call it
Another lonely day.

You can go your own way.
You can call it
Another lonely day.
You can go your own way.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I made my baby cry.

Joni Mitchell’s “River” is an interesting song in that it adopts part of its melody from Jingle Bells. If you were to tell me, “You have to hear this great song, it sounds a little like Jingle Bells” I would tell you to GTFO. But somehow it works. Mitchell’s “River” is not about Christmas. it is about a breakup that happens around Christmas time. Mitchell hurts her lover and by hurting him, she hurts. It makes her want to do anything to escape. Where to? On a river of course.

She sees the rivers that seem to go on indefinitely and she thinks that maybe if she starts skating she’ll escape her current predicament. She takes a lot of blame for the hurt caused in the relationship. It is a refreshing take to hear her assessment of her part of the breakup: “I’m so hard to handle/ I’m selfish and I’m sad/ Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby I’ve ever had.”

This is the third and final song called “River” on this list. We had the one by Vanessa Carlton, Springsteen and now Joni Mitchell. Clearly rivers are ripe for song imagery. Springsteen also thought of a river as a means to an escape as well. His concept was different though. He wanted to take his girlfriend down to the unfrozen river for some frolicking. Carlton viewed the river as a symbol of change.

River-Joni Mitchell-Lyrics

It’s coming on Christmas,
They’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

But it don’t snow here,
It stays pretty green.
I’m going to make a lot of money,
Then I’m going to quit this crazy scene.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I made my baby cry.

He tried hard to help me,
You know, he put me at ease.
And he loved me so naughty,
Made me weak in the knees.
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I’m so hard to handle,
I’m selfish and I’m sad.
Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby,
That I ever had.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

Oh, I wish I had a river so long,
I would teach my feet to fly.
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on.
I made my baby say goodbye.

It’s coming on Christmas,
They’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer,
And singing songs of joy and peace.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I said something wrong/
Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday’s melody really is so good. We might have heard it hundreds of times by now, so it loses a bit of that oomph, but the first few times were gut-retching. And you wish the song were another verse or two. I think the guitar work on the song is excellent: It is a unique arraignment and picking pattern that accompanies the melody well. Altogether, “Yesterday” is pretty close to a perfect song.

Let’s talk about the emotional side of “Yesterday”. Paul captures the sadness of a breakup quite well. He is taking it hard, and he is not sure what happened. All he knows is that he said something wrong and now the relationship is over. He says he’s not half the man he used to be and has a shadow hanging over him. He’s down in the dumps from his breakup yesterday. His guitar arraignment coupled with the strings capture that–even if you couldn’t understand the lyrics. That is important.

The song has so many things going for it that make it an iconic song. We can compare it to Imagine. Both have iconic one word titles, a great melody, simple arraignments, easy to comprehend lyrics, great vocals and strings over either guitar or piano. Both are emotionally moving. You don’t need all of these things to make a great song, but if you hit all of these things your song will probably be great.

Yesterday Lyrics

Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as through they’re here to stay.
Oh I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
I’m not half the man I used to be,
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go I don’t know,
She wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong now I long
For yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away, oh.
I believe in yesterday.

Why she had to go I don’t know,
She wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such and easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh I believe in yesterday.

written by lennon/mccartney