The Chain
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| "The Chain" | ||
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| Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Rumours |
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| Released | February 4, 1977 | |
| Recorded | 1976 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:28 | |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |
| Writer | Lindsey Buckingham Mick Fleetwood Christine McVie John McVie Stevie Nicks |
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| Producer | Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat & Richard Dashut | |
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"The Chain" is a song from Fleetwood Mac's best-selling album Rumours. "The Chain" is unique in being the only song credited to all five members of the Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac lineup: Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks; this is partly due to the fact that John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are generally not songwriters. The band has used the song as a signature, citing the lyric, "Never break the chain."
According to interviews on the writing of Rumours, the final section of "The Chain"—beginning with a bass progression—was created by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. It seemed like an ending, not a beginning. Stevie Nicks had written the lyrics separately and thought they would be a good match; she and Christine McVie did some reworking to create the first section of the tune. To complete the song, Lindsey Buckingham recycled the intro from an earlier song from his duo with Nicks, "Lola (My Love)", originally released on their self-titled 1973 album. Thanks to its use as an incredibly popular TV theme tune (for the BBC's Formula One coverage), the ending bass line is one of the most recognizable in the world, and although not released as a single, it does get air play.
The song itself has a basic rock structure, although it has two distinct portions: the main verse and chorus, and the outro. The song would be classified as rock, but shows the influence of hard rock, folk, and country.
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[edit] Personnel
- Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocals
- Stevie Nicks – vocals
- Christine McVie – keyboards, background vocals
- John McVie – bass
- Mick Fleetwood – drums
[edit] Re-releases
- In 1992, Warner Bros released a 4-CD Fleetwood Mac retrospective boxed set titled 25 Years - The Chain.
- In 1997, Fleetwood Mac released a live concert CD/DVD package called The Dance, which featured the reunion of the Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac members. The rendition of "The Chain" reached number 30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
- In 2002, Warner Bros. released the 2-CD set The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, including "The Chain".
- On 29 March 2009, The Chain entered the UK Chart at #94 through downloads, following confirmation from the BBC that it would be used in the title sequence of their Formula One coverage, having regained broadcasting rights from ITV.
[edit] Television
- Motorsport composed by Roger Barsotti, which included the ending bass line and guitar solo of "The Chain",[1] was used as the theme song for the BBC's Formula One coverage (the programme was called Grand Prix) from 1978 until the BBC's loss of TV rights to ITV Sport in 1997. ITV did not continue its use as the opening theme. However, "The Chain" returned in 2009 as the F1 theme song after the BBC regained the broadcasting rights to Formula One from ITV.[2] The full programme of Grand Prix was broadcast worldwide, and thus "The Chain" is associated with F1 not just in Britain but across the world.
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- The ending bass line was also featured in a British advertisement for the Fiat Supermirafiori in 1982, perhaps in recognition of the popularity of the song on BBC Sports programmes.[3]
- The BBC has continued to use it on several factual programmes and news items whenever fast cars or sports cars are mentioned.
- This song was the opening song sung on the December 2, 2006 edition of CMT's Crossroads featuring Fleetwood Mac band member Buckingham and country music group Little Big Town.
- The song was also used in the Heroes episode Exposed. In the UK, this episode was aired on the BBC the same week of the 2009 Australian Grand Prix (the first use of the theme tune for their regained TV rights).
- The same bassline was featured in an episode of The Apprentice (UK) during series 5, week 8.
[edit] Other Uses
This song was sampled by rap artists Bone Thugs-n-Harmony in the song "Wind Blow" off their album Strength and Loyalty, and rapper Project Pat used the bass line in the last section of the song on his song "Don't Save Her" off his album Mista Don't Play.
"The Chain" is also sampled in Sway DaSafo's debut single titled "Up Your Speed"
Shawn Colvin performed a cover of the song for Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.
Rock band Tantric covered this on their second album After We Go. It was also released as one of their singles.
Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie have a feature on their BBC Radio 2 show called The Chain which is a long list of songs, each track has something in common with the one before it (whether it be a legitimate or tenuous), which began with "The Chain". They also use this as the theme music for the feature.
Hurt included a short reference to the song in their single Ten Ton Brick by including the lyrics "I could never break the chain" and a melody nearly identical to the original.
80s rock band Shark Island included a cover of "The Chain" on their 1989 album Law of the Order, notable for not including the famous bass solo in the song.
Canadian Heavy metal band Kick Axe performed a cover of "The Chain" on Rock the World, their third studio album, released in 1986.
A song heavily based on the ending bass line (and BBC F1 theme song) was used in Formula One Grand Prix (video game)
[edit] References
- ^ BBC h2g2. "BBC Sporting Theme Tunes". http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A8623884.
- ^ "BBC unveils 2009 F1 coverage – and return of The Chain". crash.net. 2009-02-24. http://www.crash.net/Formula+One/News/143325/1/bbc_unveils_2009_f1_coverage__and_return_of_the_chain.html. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ http://gramourshots.com/2008/12/28/timing-chain-keep-us-together/
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