Song

Rhiannon

Fleetwood Mac

Album:

Fleetwood Mac

Song meaning of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac

During her live performances, Nicks would frequently begin the song by stating, "This is a song about an old Welsh witch."

Early in the 1970s, Nicks came across the Rhiannon character in Mary Bartlet Leader's book Triad. The protagonist of the book is a witch named Rhiannon who has taken possession of a woman named Branwen. The book mentions the Welsh legend of Rhiannon, although its characters are not at all like their original Welsh namesakes (Rhinogion's mediaeval Welsh prose tales have both Rhiannon and Branwen as prominent female characters).

When Nicks discovered in early 1978 that Rhiannon was descended from a Welsh goddess, she was astounded to find that the eerie lyrics from her song also applied to the Welsh Rhiannon. This was after she had written the song.

The song peaked at number eleven on the U.S. chart in June 1976. Re-released in February 1978, the song spent three weeks on the UK singles chart, where it peaked at number 46.

Lyrics of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night

And wouldn't you love to love her?

Takes to the sky like a bird in flight

And who will be her lover?

All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind

Would you stay if she promised you heaven?

Will you ever win?

She is like a cat in the dark

And then she is the darkness

She rules her life like a fine skylark

And when the sky is starless