Songbird

There are songs that, because of their simplicity and the emotion they convey, remain etched in our memories. *Songbird* is one of them. Christine McVie wrote it in a very short time—barely half an hour—just before midnight. To make sure she didn’t forget the chord progression or the melody, she stayed up all night. The next day, she went to the Sausalito Record Plant to play it for producer Ken Caillat. He was so captivated that he suggested recording it as a solo performance, as if it were a concert. They looked for a special venue, and although the theater they wanted wasn’t available, they secured the Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, California, for March 3, 1976. To create the right atmosphere, Caillat placed a bouquet of flowers on McVie’s piano and illuminated the scene with three spotlights. When she arrived, the auditorium lights were dimmed, drawing all attention to the flowers and the piano. Fifteen microphones were set up throughout the venue to capture every nuance of the performance. The recording session lasted until the next morning, as they sought to achieve the perfect take in a single run-through. Lindsey Buckingham, offstage, strummed an acoustic guitar to keep the beat.

This track, which is part of the 1977 album *Rumours*, is one of four songs on that album written solely by Christine McVie. John McVie, her ex-husband, recalled that when she performed *Songbird*, “grown men would cry. I did every night.” The song was also released as the B-side to the single “Dreams.” Over time, it has been reinterpreted in various ways. In 2022, Vince Mendoza created an orchestral arrangement for McVie’s compilation *Songbird (A Solo Collection)*, a version that won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. In 1998, Eva Cassidy included her own version on a posthumous album that, following its release, reached number 1 in the United Kingdom in 2001. Later, in 2006, Willie Nelson titled one of his albums *Songbird*, and in 2011, Naya Rivera performed it in an episode of the series *Glee*. Even Mick Fleetwood collaborated with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro on a cover released in 2023, coinciding with what would have been McVie’s 80th birthday.