The Epic Track: “Rhiannon”

Editor’s Note: There are certain tracks that are, well, “epic” — memorable, larger than life, carved into music history. In this series, we look at one of them.

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“This is a song about a Welsh witch…”  is how Stevie Nicks would introduce live performances of her classic, “Rhiannon.” She’d later discover the subject of the song wasn’t exactly a witch, but we’ll get to that later.

Fleetwood Mac had been around since 1967, with members coming and going. When Americans Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the British band in 1974, a respected blues-rock group soared to new levels of commercial success. Their 1975 album introduced adventurous new elements, reaching #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and selling over 7 million copies.

Before that, Nicks and Buckingham had been toiling away in L.A., living and writing together (their complicated relationship would later provide plenty of fodder for 1977’s massive Rumours album). They’d released a debut album (Buckingham Nicks) in 1973 which went nowhere. However, Mick Fleetwood would ultimately hear a track that would lead to an invitation to join his group.

Meanwhile, Stevie had been engrossed in a novel about a woman claiming to be possessed by an entity named “Rhiannon.” A cursory bit of research indicated that Rhiannon was a mystical figure who Nicks mistakenly identified as a witch; later she learned the woman was a mythological queen (her name translates to “night queen”). The mysterious origin story appealed to Nicks’ interest in the otherworldly.  In a 2013 interview, she noted, “I didn’t know who Rhiannon was, exactly, but I knew she was not of this world.”

Stevie wrote the track in ‘73, intending it for a second Buckingham Nicks album. She’d also written a few other songs about the character, noodling with creating a whole project around her, perhaps an album, maybe a movie or a ballet.

“Rhiannon” wasn’t the first single from Fleetwood Mac, but it was the breakout track. It narrowly missed the Top 10 and stayed on the charts for 18 weeks in 1976. More importantly, it introduced Nicks’ swirly, twirly stage presence. Her “witchy” style influenced female fans everywhere; by 1977, “Rhiannon” was a hugely popular name for girls.

Stevie’s interest in the otherworldly was nothing new. In a 1998 interview, she stated, “A long, long time ago, I decided I was going to have a kind of mystical presence, so I made my clothes, my boots, my hair, and my whole being go with that. But it wasn’t something I just made up at that point. It’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve always believed in good witches…and fairies and angels.”

Nicks’ song is always a crowd favorite in concert, but admittedly, she has to be selective about how often she sings it. From behind the drum kit, Fleetwood observed that at times, she’d get so into the song it would hurt her voice, describing some performances as “an exorcism.”

In their list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” Rolling Stone places “Rhiannon” at #488; however, when it comes to their list of the 50 best Fleetwood Mac songs, it comes in at #6.

No matter its earthly rankings, “Rhiannon” will never fail to cast its mystical spell on listeners.

-Cindy Grogan

Photo: Stevie Nicks (Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)