Hold Me (Fleetwood Mac song)

"Hold Me"
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Mirage
B-side "Eyes of the World"
Released June 1982 (US)
July 1982 (UK)
Format 7"
Recorded 1981
Genre Pop rock
Length 3:44
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s) Christine McVie, Robbie Patton
Producer(s) Lindsey Buckingham
Fleetwood Mac
Ken Caillat
Richard Dashut
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology
"Fireflies"
(1981)		 "Hold Me"
(1982)		 "Gypsy"
(1982)

"Hold Me" is a single by British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. The song was the first track to be released from the 1982 album Mirage, the fourth album by the band with Lindsey Buckingham acting as main producer with Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat.

Background

"Hold Me" was written by Christine McVie and Robbie Patton and sung by McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. Released in June 1982 in advance of the album itself, the song became one of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits in the USA, peaking at #4 for seven consecutive weeks[1] and ranking at #31 on the Hot 100 year-end chart for 1982.[2]

It is alleged that the song was about McVie's turbulent 3 year relationship with Dennis Wilson who struggled with alcoholism throughout their time together.

In the UK, "Hold Me" was not a successful single. It was first released there in July 1982 and failed to chart. It became a quite popular radio hit however, and it was eventually re-issued in February 1989 to promote the group's 1988 Greatest Hits package with "No Questions Asked" as the B-side. It only reached #94.[3]

The song is also included on the 2002 US version, and 2009 UK re-issue of the album The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac.

Music video

The music video for Hold Me features the band in a surreal scenario set in a desert based on several René Magritte paintings. In the video, Christine is in a room with many paintings, searching for Lindsey in the desert with a telescope. Lindsey discovers Stevie lying on a chaise longue and paints her, while in other scenes John and Mick are archaeologists. The desert itself is littered with broken mirrors, which serve as a motif in the video, and with violins and the electric guitars and other instruments.

Due to the band members' strained relationships at the time, the video shoot in the Mojave Desert was "a fucking nightmare" according to producer Simon Fields. "[They] were, um, not easy to work with" agrees Steve Barron, who directed the clip. "It was so hot, and we weren't getting along" recalls Stevie Nicks. Lindsey Buckingham was still not over their breakup six years earlier, nor her subsequent affair with Mick Fleetwood. Further, she elaborates, the rest of the band was angry with Fleetwood because he had then begun an affair with Nicks' best friend, who left her husband as a result, causing serious issues for Nicks.[4]

"Four of them—I can't recall which four—couldn't be together in the same room for very long. They didn't want to be there", says Barron. "Christine McVie was about ten hours out of the makeup trailer. By which time it was getting dark." According to Fields, "John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn't want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn't talk to her."[4]

Track listing and formats

"Hold Me" 12" US promotional single (PRO-A-1040)

  1. "Hold Me" (Christine McVie, Robbie Patton) – 3:42 (both sides)

Credits

References

  1. ↑ "Billboard". Billboard_Hot_100. September 4, 1982. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ Billboard Year End Chart of 1982
  3. ↑ "Official Charts - Fleetwood Mac". UK_Singles_Chart. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Marks, Craig; Tannenbaum, Rob (2011). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. New York, NY: Dutton. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-525-95230-5.
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