“Second Hand News” by Fleetwood Mac

"Second Hand News" opens Rumours, Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, and Lindsey Buckingham wrote every word and note of it. He first brought it to the band as a wordless guitar piece with the working title "Strummer", and it was a strong contender to lead off the record, which it did.

Like much of Rumours, it's about Buckingham's breakup with Stevie Nicks, specifically the comfort he was finding with other women afterward, and it catches him torn between not trusting a lover and not being able to do without her. The irony is baked in, since Nicks is singing right there alongside him and Christine McVie. Buckingham said he was pulling from Scottish and Irish folk songs, and the track skips along on his guitar, John McVie's bass, Christine's keyboards and synthesizer and Mick Fleetwood's drums and percussion, a bright, jittery strum hiding a bruise. Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut recorded it and co-produced with the band.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.