Over My Head (Fleetwood Mac song)


"Over My Head" is a soft rock song performed by British/American music group Fleetwood Mac. The song was written by group keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie. It was the band's first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100 since "Oh Well", ending a six-year dry spell on American charts.

Background

In the U.S., Reprise Records selected "Over My Head" as the lead single from the 1975 LP Fleetwood Mac, a decision that surprised the band, who believed that the song was the "least likely track on Fleetwood Mac to be released as a single." Nevertheless, it reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1976. The single's success helped the group's eponymous 1975 album shift eight million units.
Christine McVie composed the song using a portable Hohner electric piano in a small apartment in Malibu, California, where she and then-husband John McVie resided after completing a concert tour to promote the previous album, Heroes Are Hard to Find. The original rhythm track consisted of just vocals, drums and a Dobro. Other instruments were later added to embellish the song, including McVie's Vox Continental organ. Billboard described McVie's vocal performance as "a completely distinctive voice, with a sexy huskiness that is unique in pop today."
The 45 RPM single version of the song released for radio airplay was a remixed, edited version that differed from the mix on the Fleetwood Mac album. The single version is distinguished by a cold start, louder guitar strums in the choruses and less ensemble vocal work overall. In addition, whereas the single version fades during its three-bar instrumental outro, the album version tape-loops it to six bars upon fade-out. Finally, while the album version has a relatively wide stereo spectrum, the single version is mixed very narrowly with stereo reverberation effects on some bongo passages and select guitar flourishes. It is this remixed/edited version that is included on the compilation album The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. The single version is also available as a bonus track on the 2004 remastered CD release of the Fleetwood Mac album.

Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts