The Fleetwood Mac Song Lindsey Buckingham Called “Dark” and Thought Was About Him

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have written many songs about one another. From love songs to hits filled with hate, you could assume at one time that every lyric written by either party was directed at the other. But that wasn’t always the case. Learn more about one song that was definitely not written about Nicks’ breakup with Buckingham, though the guitarist was guilty of thinking otherwise.

[RELATED: How Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham’s Unlikely Creative Partnership Created a Fleetwood Mac Staple in 1987]

The “Dark” Fleetwood Mac Hit That Lindsey Buckingham Thought Was About Him

Nicks spent a lot of her side of Rumours taking shots at Buckingham. Most of the songs on that record are of the breakup persuasion. One that is not, however, is “Gold Dust Woman”. This atmospheric thesis statement of sorts from Nicks bottled up her witchy, ethereal personality. There are noticeable references to drugs, digging in deep to Nicks’ personal battles.

“Rock on, gold dust woman / Take your silver spoon, dig your grave,” Nicks sings in the opening lines. These lyrics have been interpreted many ways over the years, but according to the songwriter herself, this track is about drug addiction.

“Well, the gold dust refers to cocaine,” Nicks once said. “But it’s not completely about that because there wasn’t that much cocaine around then. Everybody was doing a little bit. We never bought it or anything; it was just around. I think I had a real serious flash of what this stuff could be, of what it could do to you.”

“The whole thing about how we love the ritual of it, the little bottle, the diamond-studded spoons, the fabulous velvet bags,” she continued. “For me, it fit right into the candles and incense and all that stuff. And I really imagined that it could overtake everything, never thinking in a million years it would overtake me.”

Why Buckingham Thought “Gold Dust Woman” Was About Him

Despite that explanation, Buckingham still thought this song was about him. “The song is very dark, it’s quite loose and somewhat acrimonious,” Buckingham once said. “I’m guessing that the acrimony was directed at me at the time.”

You could interpret this song as a dig at Buckingham. Lyrics like “Lousy lovers pick their prey / But they never cry out loud, cry out” point to the idea that Nicks was sneaking in remarks about her ex and bandmate. But if we take a look at this song in the big picture, it seems to point to drug addiction and personal reflection more. Revisit “Gold Dust Woman” above, with Nicks’ explanation in mind.

(Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

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