Over My Head (Fleetwood Mac song)
| "Over My Head" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Fleetwood Mac | ||||
| from the album Fleetwood Mac (The White Album) | ||||
| B-side | "I'm So Afraid" | |||
| Released | September 1975 (USA) / Feb. 1976 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | February 1975 | |||
| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 3:38 (Album version) 3:09 (Single version) | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Christine McVie | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Fleetwood Mac singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Over My Head" is a soft rock song performed by British/American music group Fleetwood Mac. The song was written by group keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie. It was the band's first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100 since "Oh Well", ending a six-year dry spell on American charts.
Background
In the U.S., Reprise Records selected "Over My Head" as the lead single from the 1975 LP Fleetwood Mac, a decision that surprised the band, who believed that the song was the "least likely track on Fleetwood Mac to be released as a single."[1] Nevertheless, it reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1976. The single's success helped the group's eponymous 1975 album shift eight million units.[2]
Christine McVie composed the song using a portable Hohner electric piano in a small apartment in Malibu, California, where she and then-husband John McVie (Fleetwood Mac's bassist) resided after completing a concert tour to promote the previous album, Heroes Are Hard to Find.[3] The original rhythm track consisted of just vocals, drums and a Dobro. Other instruments were later added to embellish the song, including McVie's Vox Continental organ.[1] Billboard described McVie's vocal performance as "a completely distinctive voice, with a sexy huskiness that is unique in pop today."[4]
The 45 RPM single version of the song released for radio airplay was a remixed, edited version that differed from the mix on the Fleetwood Mac album. The single version is distinguished by a cold start (rather than the fade-in intro on the LP version), louder guitar strums in the choruses and less ensemble vocal work overall. In addition, whereas the single version fades during its three-bar instrumental outro,[5] the album version tape-loops it to six bars upon fade-out. Finally, while the album version has a relatively wide stereo spectrum, the single version is mixed very narrowly (essentially mono) with stereo reverberation effects on some bongo passages and select guitar flourishes. It is this remixed/edited version that is included on the compilation album The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. The single version is also available as a bonus track on the 2004 remastered CD release of the Fleetwood Mac album.
Personnel
- Christine McVie – Vox Continental organ, electric piano, lead vocals
- Lindsey Buckingham – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
- Stevie Nicks – backing vocals
- John McVie – bass guitar
- Mick Fleetwood – drums, bongos, shaker
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- ^ a b "From the Archive: Christine McVie - KeyboardMag". www.keyboardmag.com. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
- ^ "News". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ Martin E. Adelson. "The McVie Story". Fleetwoodmac.net. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. October 11, 1975. p. 78. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
- ^ Everett, Walter (May 2010). "'If you're gonna have a hit': intratextual mixes and edits of pop recordings". Popular Music. 29 (2): 239. JSTOR 40926920.
- ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1976-02-14. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, January 10, 1976". Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ^ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 978-0-89820-142-0.
Bibliography
The Great Rock Discography. Martin C. Strong. Page 378. ISBN 1-84195-312-1
