Sara (Fleetwood Mac song)

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"Sara"
Sarafleetwoodmac.jpg
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Tusk
B-side"That's Enough for Me"
Released5 December 1979
Recorded1978–1979
Length6:22 (Full Album Version)
4:37 (Single Edit)[1]
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology
"Tusk"
(1979) 		"Sara"
(1979) 		"Not That Funny"
(1980)

"Sara" is a song written by singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks of the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, which was released as a single from the 1979 Tusk double LP. The vinyl album version length is 6 minutes 22 seconds, and the edited single version length is 4 minutes 37 seconds. The song peaked at No. 7 in the U.S. for three weeks, No. 37 in the UK for two weeks, No. 11 in Australia, and No. 12 in Canada.

Origin[]

Speaking in a radio interview for the Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance in the early 1990s, Stevie Nicks said the song was partially written about her good friend, Sara, who married Nicks' ex and bandmate, Mick Fleetwood.[2]

However, Nicks' former boyfriend Don Henley claimed that the song is about their unborn child.[3] In 1979, Nicks said, "If I ever have a little girl, I will name her Sara. It's a very special name to me." In a 2014 Billboard Magazine interview Nicks said, "Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara... It's accurate, but not the entirety of it."[4]

In his 2014 autobiography, Mick Fleetwood agreed with the suggestion that the song referred to an affair with a friend named Sara which ended his own relationship with Nicks. Fleetwood and Nicks had been involved in a romantic relationship in the late 1970s. The lyrics, "and he was just like a great dark wing/within the wings of a storm" refer to Fleetwood being an emotional comfort zone for Nicks following her breakup with fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham.[5] Although the relationship was not exclusive on either side, Fleetwood states that Nicks became upset when she learned of Fleetwood's relationship with her best friend, Sara. This relationship effectively ended the romance between Nicks and Fleetwood.[6]

Versions[]

The version of the song featured on the original vinyl release of Tusk was the unedited 6:22 version, but when Tusk was originally released as a single Compact Disc in 1987 it featured the edited version, which leaves out the middle verse and musical bridge. It was not until the 1988 Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits compilation was released that the 6:22 version of the song became available on compact disc.[7]

There is also a version known as "the cleaning lady" edit, so-called as Nicks is heard at the beginning of the demo recording, "I don't want to be a cleaning lady!" This version lasts almost nine minutes and was released on the 2-disc remastered version Tusk in March 2004. The song contains an extended vamp, which includes excised lines previously only heard in live performances, such as, "and the wind became crazy," "no sorrow for sorrow, you can have no more," and "swallow all your pride, don't you ever change—never change."

On 5 November 2015, a live version was released as part of a remastered Tusk. This recording features a heavier hitting drum beat from Fleetwood.[8]

On the 2018 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years - Don't Stop album, there's a remastered single version of the song that runs 4:37.

Personnel[]

Chart positions[]

Charts (1979/1980) Position
Australian (Kent Music Report) 11
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[9] 14
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] 12
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[11] 3
German Singles Chart 44
French Singles Chart 31
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[12] 14
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 12
South African Singles Chart 18
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 37
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 7
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[16] 13
Year-end chart (1980) Rank
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[17] 87

Plagiarism suit[]

In 1980, the year after the song was released, Nicks was sued for plagiarism by a songwriter who had submitted a song called "Sara", which she had sent to Warner Bros., Fleetwood Mac's recording label, in 1978. Nicks defended the lawsuit by proving that she had written and recorded a demo version of the song in July 1978, before the lyrics were sent to Warner. The case was dropped and the complainant accepted that no plagiarism had occurred.[18]

References[]

  1. ^ Everett, Walter (May 2010). "'If you're gonna have a hit': Intratextual mixes and edits of pop recordings". Popular Music. 29 (2): 244. doi:10.1017/S026114301000005X. JSTOR 40926920.
  2. ^ Nicks, Stevie (May 1994). "Stevie Nicks on Sara". www.inherownwords.com. Interviewed by Tommy Vance. Friday Rock Show. Retrieved 16 March 2021. 'I sat up with a very good friend of mine whose name is Sara, who was married to Mick Fleetwood. She likes to think it's completely about her, but it's really not completely about her. It's about me, about her, about Mick, about Fleetwood Mac. Its about all of us at that point. There's little bits about each one of us in that song and when it had all the other verses it really covered a vast bunch of people. Sara was the kind of song you could fall in love with, because I fell in love with it...
  3. ^ "Fleetwood Mac". Bla.fleetwoodmac.net. Retrieved 24 May 2014. Years later, Henley had this to say about his affair with Nicks: "[Stevie had] named the unborn kid Sara, and she had an abortion." She then wrote the song of the same name (which became a huge hit for her) and, according to Henley, dedicated it "to the spirit of the aborted baby"
  4. ^ "Stevie Nicks on Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, and Don Henley – Billboard". Billboard.
  5. ^ Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (2014). Play On: Now, Then & Fleetwood Mac: The Autobiography. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-444-75325-7.
  6. ^ Brown, Mick (7 September 2007). "Stevie Nicks: a survivor's story". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Sara – Fleetwood Mac | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. ^ Grow, Kory (5 November 2015). "Hear Fleetwood Mac's 'Real Pretty' Live 'Sara' From New 'Tusk' Box Set". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Ultratop.be – Fleetwood Mac – Sara" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  10. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9470a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  11. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 9489." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  12. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Fleetwood Mac – Sara" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  13. ^ "Charts.nz – Fleetwood Mac – Sara". Top 40 Singles.
  14. ^ "Fleetwood Mac: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  15. ^ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  16. ^ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  17. ^ "1980 Talent in Action – Year End Charts : Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 92 no. 51. 20 December 1980. p. TIA-10. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  18. ^ White, Timothy (3 September 1981). "With Her New Solo Album, Fleetwood Mac's Good Fairy Tries to Balance Two Careers – and Two Personalities". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2014.

External links[]

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