Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon (lyrics in descrip)

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4th track from Fleetwood Mac (1975). This iconic song "about an old Welsh witch" peaked at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1976. It was voted #488 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Nicks discovered Rhiannon in the early '70s through a novel called Triad, by Mary Bartlet Leader. The novel is about a woman named Branwen, who is possessed by another woman named Rhiannon. There is mention of the Welsh legend of Rhiannon in the novel, but the characters in the novel bear little resemblance to their original Welsh namesakes (both Rhiannon and Branwen are major female characters in the medieval Welsh prose tales of the Mabinogion).

After writing the song, Nicks learned that Rhiannon originated from a Welsh goddess, and was amazed that the haunting song lyrics applied to the Welsh Rhiannon as well. Nicks researched the Mabinogion story and began work on a Rhiannon project, unsure of whether it would become a movie, a musical, a cartoon, or a ballet. There are several "Rhiannon Songs" from this unfinished project including "Stay Away" and "Maker of Birds." Nicks wrote the Fleetwood Mac song "Angel" based on the Rhiannon story.

Live performances of the song were sometimes prefaced with Nicks saying, "This song's about an old Welsh witch." During 1975–1980, Fleetwood Mac's live performances of "Rhiannon" took on a theatrical intensity not present on the FM-radio single. The song built to a climax in which Nicks' vocals were so impassioned that, as drummer and band co-founder Mick Fleetwood said, "her Rhiannon in those days was like an exorcism."

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Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?

She is like a cat in the dark
And then she is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless
All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

She rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

Taken by, taken by the sky
Taken by, taken by the sky
Taken by, taken by the sky

Dreams unwind, love's a state of mind
Dreams unwind, love's a state of mind

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Song written by Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks – lead vocals
Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, background vocals
Christine McVie – keyboards, background vocals
John McVie – bass guitar
Mick Fleetwood – drums

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Stuff I found interesting at SongFacts.com:

Stevie Nicks wrote this on a piano with help from her boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham. At the time, they were recording as Buckingham-Nicks and about to release the track on their second album, but they joined Fleetwood Mac instead and recorded it with them.

The goddess Rhiannon rode a white horse and traveled with three birds that had healing powers. The birds appear in various Celtic symbols.

This song was a huge influence on the image of Stevie Nicks, inspiring her flowing shawls and black outfits she began wearing on stage. It gave her a mystical look that caught on with her fans, who often dress like her.

The drum pattern on this song proved especially challenging. Lindsey Buckingham had a syncopated, textured rhythm in mind that didn't suit Mick Fleetwood's drumming style, which was better suited for blues and rock. After pounding away for two days trying to get it right, producer Keith Olsen did some editing, splicing the drum track together from two of his takes to create a loop. This was an analog process, done with tape and a razor blade.

After this song was released, some parents named their daughters Rhiannon, introducing it into the lexicon of girls' names. 1977 was the most popular year for the name, when it ranked #418 of among girls' names (the singer Rhiannon Giddens was born that year). In 1999, coinciding with a re-formed Fleetwood Mac, there was another surge in Rhiannons: the name ranked #423 that year.

The name itself means either "night queen" or "great queen."

When Nicks sang this in concert, she did so with a lot of passion. At times, she strained her voice singing it to the point that Fleetwood Mac had to cancel shows so she could recover. It was always a crowd favorite.

The lyrics contain both a simile ("She is like a cat in the dark") and a metaphor ("And then she is the darkness").