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Bleed to Love Her

"Bleed to Love Her (live)"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album The Dance
Released19 August 1997
Recorded23 May 1997
VenueWarner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California
Length3:27
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Fleetwood Mac
Elliot Scheiner
"Bleed to Love Her"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Say You Will
Recorded1995–2002
Studio
Length4:06
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Rob Cavallo

"Bleed to Love Her" is a Fleetwood Mac song written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham. It first appeared as the seventh track on the band's 1997 live album The Dance. A studio recording of the song was later included on the band's 2003 album Say You Will. In addition to the song's debut on The Dance Tour, "Bleed to Love Her" has been performed live by Buckingham as a solo artist and on Fleetwood Mac's On with the Show Tour.

Background

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The song's origins date back to the mid-1990s when Buckingham began work on his Gift of Screws album with Rob Cavallo handling production. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie joined Buckingham in the recording studio to record drums and bass respectively. One of the songs that emerged from those sessions was "Bleed to Love Her". Near the conclusion of the recording process, Buckingham was summoned to a meeting at Christine McVie's house and asked to rejoin Fleetwood Mac to film a live performance that would later become The Dance. As such, the songs from the Gift of Screws sessions were temporarily shelved, including "Bleed to Love Her".[1]

In May 1997, the Rumours era lineup of Fleetwood Mac did their first live performance since 1982 on a Warner Bros sound stage. The performance featured two then-unreleased songs from Buckingham, specifically "Bleed to Love Her" and "My Little Demon".[2] Buckingham said that "Bleed to Love Her" was not initially planned for inclusion in the setlist, although the band opted to add "Bleed to Love Her" to the set after running through the song during a rehearsal.[3] In an interview with Guitar World Buckingham mentioned that "Bleed to Love Her" was from his "new solo album" and that he was unsure if the live recording would appear on The Dance.[4] The live version of "Bleed to Love Her" was ultimately included on The Dance as one of the album's four previously unreleased songs.[5] During the filming of the live recording, Buckingham prefaced the song with an explanation on how the lineup reunited.[6]

In an October 1997 Q&A, Buckingham expressed hope that the studio version would eventually appear on his solo record. He thought that the studio version of "Bleed to Love Her" was "much better" and "more modern sounding" than the recording that appeared on The Dance. An unmastered version of the song was leaked online in 2001.[7] The studio version of "Bleed to Love Her" was ultimately included on Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will album in 2003.[5] Christine McVie, who was no longer a member of Fleetwood Mac when Say You Will was released, had already sang and played organ on "Bleed to Love Her", and her parts were retained for the final mix.[8]

When crafting the lyrics for "Bleed to Love Her", Buckingham borrowed some lines from the song "You Do or You Don't" from his 1992 solo album Out of the Cradle, specifically the stanza "Someone's go to see this through/All the world is laughing at you/Somebody's gotta sacrifice/If this whole thing's going to turn out right."[9] The fingerpicked guitar pattern on "Bleed to Love Her" is based around a variation of a forward banjo roll with a syncopated three against four polyrhythm. To play the guitar part, Buckingham used his thumb to play the bass note, his index finger for the G string, and his ring finger for the melody.[10] Some of the backwards guitar tones were achieved with a Stratocaster treated with Lexicon delay and modulated with a volume control pedal.[11]

Later appearances

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Following its inclusion on Say You Will, Buckingham has played "Bleed to Love Her" live on a few occasions both as a solo artist and as a member of Fleetwood Mac. At the request of an audience member, Buckingham played an acoustic rendition of "Bleed to Love Her" during an October 2008 performance in Northampton, Massachusetts.[12] In 2012, a live acoustic recording of "Bleed to Love Her" was included on his One Man Show album.[13] Fleetwood Mac included the song in their setlist for the Australian leg of their On with the Show Tour in 2015, which was the first time that the band played the song live since 1997.[14] That same year, Buckingham also played an acoustic rendition of "Bleed to Love Her" during a Q&A session at the USC Marshall School of Business, where he was also joined by the USC Trojan Marching Band for a performance of "Tusk".[15] The following year, Buckingham appeared as himself on episode three of the Roadies television series to perform an acoustic rendition of both "Bleed to Love Her" and "Big Love".[16]

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Lapatine, Scott (10 December 2018). "Lindsey Buckingham Reveals Stories Behind His Solo Songs And Whether He'll Ever Rejoin Fleetwood Mac". Stereogum. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  2. ^ Goodman, Dean (27 May 1997). "Fleetwood Mac Back in the Groove". New York Daily News. p. 86. Retrieved 28 July 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Selvin, Joel (12 October 1997). "Q&A With Lindsey Buckingham". San Francisco Examiner. p. 310. Retrieved 7 June 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ di Perna, Alan (September 1997). "Mac in the Saddle (Guitar World)". In Egan, Sean (ed.). Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. Chicago Review Press (published 2016). pp. 184–185. ISBN 978-161373-234-2.
  5. ^ a b Unterberger, Richie (2016). Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. pp. 138, 167. ISBN 978-0-7603-5176-5.
  6. ^ Blake, Mark (2024). The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac. New York: Pegasus Books. p. 337. ISBN 978-1-63936-732-0.
  7. ^ "The Missing 90s". Still Going Insane - A Lindsey Buckingham Resource. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  8. ^ Halbert, James (June 2003). "The Rumour Mill". In Egan, Sean (ed.). Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. Chicago Review Press (published 2016). pp. 252–253. ISBN 978-161373-234-2.
  9. ^ Roubin, Olivier; Ollivier, Romuald (1 April 2025). Fleetwood Mac: All The Songs. New York: Black Dog Leventhal Publishers. p. 573. ISBN 978-0-7624-8630-4.
  10. ^ Buk, Askold (March 1998). "Rolling Thunder". Guitar World Acoustic. p. 39. Retrieved 29 July 2025 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Thompson, Art (April 2003). "Guitar Player - The Eternal Return". Guitar Player. Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2025 – via The Blue Letter Archives.
  12. ^ O'Hare, Kevin (17 October 2008). "Talented guitarist rocks the Calvin". The Republican. p. E2. Retrieved 29 July 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ DeRiso, Nick (14 November 2012). "Lindsey Buckingham - One Man Show (2012)". Something Else!. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  14. ^ Groves, Nancy (23 October 2015). "Fleetwood Mac review – still winning over the generations in Sydney". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  15. ^ Faughnder, Ryan (30 April 2015). "Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham reunites with USC band for 'Tusk'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  16. ^ "Lindsey Buckingham to Be Featured on Latest Episode of Showtime Series "Roadies"". Classic Rock 99.5. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2025.