With Fleetwood Mac lead singer and solo artist Stevie Nicks' 77th birthday having occurred recently, the event put me in the frame of mind to reminisce on some of Nicks' biggest moments from throughout her career. These include that helped Nicks heal after the death of her close friend and Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie. However, perhaps most prominent of all was the often taut relationships within her band Fleetwood Mac, particularly between Nicks and her former romantic partner, Lindsey Buckingham.

The collective drama and hurt feelings between the singer and the lead guitarist have spanned decades, reportedly right up to Buckingham's firing from the group in 2018. And while there are plenty of conflicts to highlight in the story of Buckingham and Nicks, the one I consider to be the most intense, electrically ionate, and almost uncomfortably real took place in 1997. Fleetwood Mac was recording their live album The Dance, and while many of their major catalog hits were front and center, it was a B-side from their 1977 album Rumours that ultimately stole the show.

Fleetwood Mac's 1997 Performance Of "Silver Springs" Completely Changed The Song

A Live Take Redefines What's On Record

The song "Silver Springs" was written by Nicks about her failed relationship with Buckingham, with the intention of it being placed on Fleetwood Mac's smash hit 1977 album Rumours. Despite the clear potential within the track, "Silver Springs" was ultimately left off of Rumours (over Nicks' vigorous objections) due to the song's length and slower tempo style. It was included as a 1976 B-side to the Buckingham-penned Rumours single "Go Your Own Way" (which was Buckingham's perspective on the pair's breakup), but Nicks reportedly remained upset with the "Silver Springs" decision for years, causing further unrest within the band.

While the studio version of "Silver Springs" did ultimately appear on a few releases decades later (including a 2004 Rumours deluxe remastered edition), it was 1997's live cut on The Dance that gave the song a well-deserved, long-overdue jump start. Getting another opportunity to show off the track she was so proud of writing, Nicks belts every word and every note of "Silver Springs" with every bit of her trademark tenacity. The band more than ably backs her through instruments and harmonies, but they can only watch what powerfully plays out next.

"Silver Springs" Has Become The Ultimate Breakup Song

Drama Makes Diamonds Between Nicks And Buckingham

It's one thing to write a great breakup song. In the history of recorded music, we've had no lack of tracks about the birth, life, and death of relationships in just about every genre. But "Silver Springs" has unprecedented differences. For one thing, Nicks wrote it about the man playing guitar just feet from her on stage - not the same continent, the same state, or even the same street. Nicks and Buckingham shared a stage with these feelings for decades, and I can see that emotion pour out of Nicks here with a white-hot fiery heat.

There's also the resentment in her from having "Silver Springs" put to the side for so long, finally being released. Watch how Nicks turns and sings directly at Buckingham. She looks him in the eye and approaches him to sing the stone-cold killing line "you'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you." To be fair to Buckingham, he holds her gaze throughout and takes the gut punch, but it is a lightning bolt, a righteous meteor straight out of the heavens. This is a Hall of Fame, raw, painfully pure breakup song.

While Fleetwood Mac's studio version of "Silver Springs" still holds potency and is a reminder that it never should have been shuttled to the side, you need to experience it live through The Dance. Like me, you'll likely never see it the same way ever again. It has a lingering power that will never fade with time.