Dreams Rhetorical Analysis

In 1977, following the mainstream success of their 1976 self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac began recording the legendary, Grammy winning Rumors album. Fleetwood Mac recorded the album at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles in the midst of relationship turmoil and the peak of the band’s drug abuse. Bassist John McVie and keyboardist Christine McVie divorced after six years of marriage, drummer Mick Fleetwood separated from his wife after she had an affair with his best friend, but the most drama and arguably best songs came from the end of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stevie Nicks’s volatile relationship. Buckingham and Nicks’s breakup resulted in iconic and tragic songs like “Gold Dust Woman”, “Go Your Own Way”, and the group’s only number one single, “Dreams”. (Keens 1) Nicks wrote “Dreams” during the Rumors sessions during a brief escape from the hostile recording environment after hearing “Go Your Own Way”. In the song Nicks uses apostrophe, repetition, and diction to show that men, like Buckingham may be momentarily happy to end their relationship, but will eventually regret what they lost. Throughout …show more content…
Throughout the song, Nicks reinforces that Buckingham only seeks the fleeting joy of “freedom” but one day he will look back and realize that he lost something powerful between them. The poetic lyrics combined with the backing track, especially Buckingham’s heavily modulated guitar playing, create an ethereal and melancholy effect that shows exactly how Nicks feels in the moment and how Buckingham will feel in the future. Nicks’s lyrics may specifically address Lindsey Buckingham but the song still continues to resonate with audiences due to her wisdom of relationship dynamics and the differences between men and