I would be your only dream

Nine times out of ten it's a rare delight to find one of your favourite artists has covered another, and done it well. Lykke Li's version of "Silver Springs", an absolute gem on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours could have been directly lifted from either of her albums. Antony Hegarty's sublime golden syrup vocals sweep across one of our all time Mac songs, "Landslide", while hipster-band-of-the-moment-for-some-time-now Best Coast have taken "Rhiannon" from the Welsh moors to the Californian beach. We're not usually all over tribute albums but this looks like it's gonna be a good'en.

Stuck In Our Head: "Landslide" - Fleetwood Mac

Well I've been afraid of changing,
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder,
And children get older
Well I'm getting older too

There is a time and a place for an extended piece of prose on how long we've loved, why we love and how amazing Fleetwood Mac are, however at this current time when we have an essay abstract to devise, two essays to plan and two further essays to crack on and start writing, it wouldn't seem appropriate. As much as we're itching to do so. It will arrive another time.

For now, we would like you to very briefly pause whatever you are doing and/or listening to (it's a short song), put some headphones in and press play on the video above. What you're about to listen to is a song written by Stevie Nicks in 1975 just before Fleetwood Mac hurtled towards the stratospheres of success, in which she contemplates whether to continue down this inevitable path with the band she had just joined or to leave and settle down for a life of domesticity. A theme which recurs in her song-writing (see "Storms") yet this song in particular just seems to grab us by the jugular and spin us around in a frenzy of emotion. Is it the chords? The lilting, tragedy-laden melody? The painful and somehow universally-accessible message in the lyrics? There must be a science behind it all.

So tempted to jack this essay in and write eight thousand words on why Stevie Nicks is so brilliant. Just listen.

(PS the video above is of a 2002 performance with the Dixie Chicks - don't laugh - and just so happened to occur as the storm was building over the controversy with their comments on George Bush - fierce - but the reason we picked it was because despite being performed in an enormous arena, the power of the song seems amplified despite being played with a mere three guitars. Also, the screams of adoration for Nicks and the song say more about the reverence people hold for this incredible woman than anything we can write.)