With Florence and the Machine set to release a new album, for the first time in a few years, at the end of this month, I decided to explore some of their older videos and performances online. I came across a video of them performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2010, arguably at the height of their indie fame, so the crowd watching their set is massive.
The song they’re about to play is a cover, and lead singer Florence Welch is explaining that since it’s such a special show for them, they are going to play her favorite song of all time. She says she was hoping Fleetwood Mac would be playing the festival along with them, but since they aren’t, she wanted to do a one-time cover of their song “The Chain” for the attendees.
“The Chain” was the only song off the album Rumors where every member received a writing credit. This is because the song was a bit of a “Frankenstein” song, made up of various parts from old songs or throwaway songs from the writing sessions for Rumours and from the years prior. A true collaborative effort in an unconventional way. The members contributed parts from other songs they’d been demoing, often manually splicing tape together with a razor blade to create some semblance of a new piece.
For example, the big shift at the end of the song, with the repeated bassline and build-up from the drums exploding into the fierce guitar shrieking jam that closes the track out, was largely improvised while in the middle of the third take of a song called “Keep Me There,” written by Christine McVie. John McVie began playing the bassline halfway through that take, which they would later cut and splice into “The Chain.”
That was a magical time for the band. Writing together and apart in the lead-up to Rumors’ release, they created some of their most memorable songs, including “The Chain.”
After discovering this live cover of the song performed by Florence and the Machine, I realized how much sense it makes that they would be deeply influenced by Fleetwood Mac. It fits their style of playing seamlessly, lending to the vaguely “retro” experimental sound so many indie bands in the 2010s were known for. Bands like Grizzly Bear, including Beach Boys-esque harmonies, or do-wap rhythms that explode into art rock masterpieces, or Florence’s hugely powerful and soulful voice created a nostalgic homage to so many artists that came before them, as well as created a sound for the indie artists of that era.
The point being that this cover is a great choice for Florence and the Machine to make, specifically at that point in time. It’s obviously not going to be note-for-note the same as the original, which is a huge part of what makes this take so interesting to happen upon. Florence’s voice is so different from anyone from Fleetwood Mac, in the sense that it’s a bit of a lower register than Nick’s, but holds so much more soul and power than Buckingham’s.
No shade to either of them, obviously, but Florence can belt out a damn song in a way that Fleetwood could never. It’s almost jarringly different than the vocal stylings of the original, but once it settles in, we go on a wild ride with the band, transitioning from big section to big section. It feels like a special moment that we are lucky to have logged into the ethers of music history, floating around the internet.
My favorite part may be the big build-up to the ending. It’s just so epic to see such a talented and large band creating that sound, voices intertwining over the whining of the bending guitar notes. It’s like a freight train barreling through a tunnel, reaching a beautifully sunny day at the other end.