“Rhiannon” is a song written by Stevie Nicks and originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac on their eponymous album in 1975; it was subsequently issued as a single the following year.
“Rhiannon” was voted #488 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. Its US chart peak was in June 1976, when it hit #11. It peaked at #46 in the UK singles chart for three weeks after re-release in February 1978.
“All your life you’ve never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?”
The song is referred to as simply “Rhiannon” on Fleetwood Mac albums, except on the 2003 and 2016 remasters of Fleetwood Mac and the 2018 compilation Don’t Stop – 50 Years, on which the title “Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)” is used. The single version also used this title when it was originally released to the European and American markets.
“Dreams unwind
Love’s a state of mind”
Live performances of the song were sometimes prefaced with Nicks saying, “This song’s about an old Welsh witch.” During 1975–1980, Fleetwood Mac’s live performances of “Rhiannon” took on a theatrical intensity not present on the FM-radio single. The song built to a climax in which Nicks’ vocals were so impassioned that, as drummer and band co-founder Mick Fleetwood recalled, “her Rhiannon in those days was like an exorcism.”
Listen to the track here.
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