Album:
The song is on Rumours which entered the Australian albums chart* on 14 February 1977. It was #1 for a total of 8 weeks.
Songwriters:
Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks
Producers:
Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
Record label of Australian release:
Warner Bros
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
The Dance, 1997:
BONUS VIDEO BELOW – a splendid cover by Josh Turner, Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren
Wikipedia:
The Chain was created from combinations of several previously rejected materials, including compositions from Buckingham, Nicks, and McVie. The song was assembled, often manually by splicing tapes with a razor blade, at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, with engineers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut.
Following the critical and commercial success of Rumours, The Chain has become a staple of the band’s live shows, typically the opening song. It was featured as the opening track on the 1997 live concert CD/DVD release, The Dance.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chain
Songfacts:
This is the only Fleetwood Mac song credited to all five members of their 1977 Rumours line-up. Since various pieces were assembled to make the song, they all had some contribution.
Stevie Nicks wrote the lyrics about Lindsey Buckingham as their relationship was falling apart. Buckingham and Nicks share lead vocals on the song.
The bass line that comes in at about the 3-minute mark through the song was written independently by John McVie, who was originally planning to use it in a different song.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/fleetwood-mac/the-chain
Lyrics:
Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies
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 (never break the chain)
Click for full lyrics
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
BONUS CLIP
This excellent cover from Josh Turner Guitar features Josh Turner, Elle Cordova, Toni Lindgren, Damon Smith and Jason Burger. Recorded live: all instruments, then all vocals.
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