Lindsey Buckingham has always enjoyed the auditory sensations of a well-crafted record. There was no denying his sense of melody when creating a Fleetwood Mac record. Typically counterbalancing his inner demons with some of the best hooks of the 1970s. Even if he couldn’t match the intensity of those guitarists who played with a pick. The Rolling Stones would have amazed any rock star of Buckingham’s caliber. But his affection for Jagger and Richards stemmed from one of their peculiar side trips.
When you get down to it, though, almost all of The Stones’ music from the 1960s seemed to be the blues at its rawest. The Stones were never merely a band hoping to capitalize on the Fab Four. Despite the press’s insistence that they and The Beatles were at war. They typically made their marks in rock history with songs like “Satisfaction” and “Paint It Black.”
They produced some of the most bizarre pieces in their catalog when they finally decided to go eclectic like their Liverpool counterparts. There’s no denying that a song like Sgt Pepper is a rock classic. Equally, many people reported having an odd deja vu when they watched Their Satanic Majesties Request.
But this was where things started to get a little more interesting for Buckingham. He was only beginning to understand what The Beach Boys had been doing with records like Pet Sounds. So hearing one of the greatest rock groups ever utilize the studio as an instrument on songs like “I Am Waiting” was extremely fascinating to him.
Buckingham recalled covering the song for his solo album. He stated, “It’s funny—there was a point in time a few years ago when I was completely enamored with all these obscure Jagger/Richards tunes.” Buckingham was an avid fan of the group’s sophisticated side. Along with “She Smiled Sweetly,” “The Singer Not the Song,” and “Blue Turns to Grey,” there was that one. “I Am Waiting” appeared to be very abstract. I nearly believed that the original meaning of the song was to be more menacing about the status of the world. It’s as if we should be waiting for something disastrous to happen at any moment.
However, that reading might seem to capture Buckingham’s personality more accurately than he does. Many of his songs seem to have a more somber tone when compared to his Fleetwood Mac performances. This is likely why Stevie Nicks was necessary to counterbalance him. She would typically pair a song like “Second Hand News” with “Dreams.”
Buckingham continued to focus on the pessimistic aspects of life, even while working on some of Fleetwood Mac’s most recent songs. “Say You Will’s” “Murrow Turning Over In His Grave” sounds like the rootsy rock and roll we’ve come to expect. But it doesn’t exactly sound like a song that will make the audience laugh when they press PLAY.
But in the 1960s, that was all The Stones had to offer fans like Lindsey Buckingham. The Stones always seemed to speak to the punks of the world, looking to say something a little jaded when they stepped up front. But The Beatles said that all we needed was love to get us through the bad times.
