“Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 (updated repost)

Fleetwood Mac's best known record is Rumors, their 1977 album featuring the vocals of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. However, these members had been recent additions. Formed in 1967 in the UK with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John "Mac" McVie, the band went through numerous iterations before arriving on the pop charts with their most well-known line up. The subject matter of the hit album is the relationship drama behind the scenes with the band. It's truly a fascinating story of change and rock 'n' roll development that saw the band change from a '60s blues rock band to a late '70s hitmaker, with a guitarist who left due to schizophrenia, another guitarist abandoning the group while on tour to join a California sex-evangelism cult, a turbulent marriage between the keyboardist Christine McVie and bass player, and then there's Stevie Nick.

WE CAN CALL IT ANOTHER LONELY DAY. I don't have much memory of “Go Your Own Way” when I was growing up. Released 10 years before I was born, it would have been played on classic rock stations, but even when my mom started listening to classic rock in the car, I don't remember hearing this song. However, I do remember both my mom and dad changed the channel whenever Fleetwood Mac came on the radio. They said they heard too much of this album back in the late '70s. My mom's friend listened to it on repeat, so she had heard it enough for a lifetime. My first memory of this song is from the Forest Gump soundtrack. But the memory of this song is about a trip to Florida in mid-July 2012. I was going down to Florida by myself for the first time. I was going to stay with my grandfather and visit my friends. River was getting married, and it was a kind of a college reunion of a lot of my friends. My college was fed by many Adventist high schools, and many of my friends had graduated from the Adventist high school in Orlando, which coincidentally was my mom's hometown. Several occasions over summer vacation I visited my Orlando friends, and this would be the last of these trips before going to Korea.

IF I COULD, MAYBE I'D GIVE YOU MY WORLD. “Go Your Own Way” is a break up song sung by two members in a band who hooked up, dated, then went their own way. Fleetwood Mac continued with their classic lineup into the ‘80s. They’d fight, threaten to break up, someone would leave, then come back again. The band was more like a dysfunctional family with a bond that kept them together. I think about the reasons I chose to “Go My Own Way” and what my family may think about it. Today, I'm departing from London. It's been a great trip, and I'll certainly write more later. Until then go your own way, and meet me back when I get back on the land!