"Hold Me" was written by Christine McVie and Robbie Patton. Released in June 1982 in advance of the album itself, the song became one of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits in the United States, peaking at #4 for a then-record seven consecutive weeks, from July 24, 1982 to September 4, 1982. "Hold Me" ranked at #31 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1982. In the United Kingdom, "Hold Me" was released in July 1982, but failed to chart. It was eventually re-issued in February 1989 to promote the group's Greatest Hits package with "No Questions Asked" as the B-side. It only reached #94. The song is also included on the 2002 US version, and 2009 UK re-issue of the album The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac.
Music video
The music video for "Hold Me" features the band in a surreal scenario set in a desert, based on several René Magritte paintings. In the video, Christine McVie is in a room surrounded by paintings, using a telescope to search for Lindsey Buckingham in the desert. Buckingham discovers Stevie Nicks lying on a chaise longue and paints a portrait of her. In other scenes, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are archaeologists, dressed in khaki shorts and pith helmets. They find the desert littered with broken mirrors, which serve as a motif in the video, along with partially buried pianos, electric guitars, bass guitars and other instruments. Due to the band members' strained relationships at the time, the video shoot in the Mojave Desert was a "nightmare," according to producer Simon Fields. " were, um, not easy to work with," agrees Steve Barron, who directed the clip. Most scenes feature only one or two band members at a time. The entire band is never seen together. "It was so hot, and we weren't getting along," recalls Stevie Nicks. Lindsey Buckingham was still not over their breakup six years earlier, nor her subsequent affair with Mick Fleetwood. Further, she elaborates, the rest of the band was angry with Fleetwood because he had then begun an affair with Nicks's best friend, who left her husband as a result, causing serious issues for Nicks. "Four of them, I can't recall which four, couldn't be together in the same room for very long. They didn't want to be there," says Barron. "Christine McVie was about ten hours out of the makeup trailer. By which time it was getting dark." According to Fields, "John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn't want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn't talk to her."
