Today's song of the day is Keep Me There, a classic track from Fleetwood Mac's seminal album Rumours.
What's that you say? There is no song on Rumours called Keep Me There!
Sure there is, it's just not called Keep Me There any more, it's called The Chain.
The evolution from Keep Me There to The Chain is described in Making Rumours, co-producer Ken Caillat's memoir of the drug-and-booze fuelled drama that led to the making of such beautiful music. Fortunately, Keep Me There can now also be heard, thanks to the release of deluxe (2 CD) and super-deluxe (4 CD) versions of Rumours, featuring demos, early takes and live versions of all of those well-known songs.
The most fascinating of the song progressions was for The Chain. Christine McVie brought in a demo of Keep Me There to the Rumours sessions and the band loved it immediately, recording it over the next two weeks in the studio. They then didn't return to it for almost a year, working on all of those other classic songs - Don't Stop, Go Your Own Way, Dreams, You Make Loving Fun and Gold Dust Woman.
Yet when it came time to finish the record, the bluesy Keep Me There didn't work with the other tracks anymore but the band still loved the song, especially the ending. So they took some Stevie Nicks lyrics, some Lindsey Buckingham chords, some drum licks from Mick Fleetwood and rewrote a whole new three-minute song, then attached it to the final minute of Keep Me There, starting with that iconic bass line from John McVie (DUM-dada-DUM-dada-dada-DUM-DUM) and the Buckingham guitar solo.
For those fascinated with the creative process, particularly songwriting, check out Keep Me There, the classic Fleetwood Mac song you've never heard of but have heard so many times before. You can find it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OqZj5SND-0.
