How Lindsey Buckingham Revealed 'Rhiannon' Started with Just 2 Notes
How Lindsey Buckingham Revealed 'Rhiannon' Started with Just 2 Notes
Jacqueline Burt CoteSat, April 18, 2026 at 12:57 AM UTC
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While the classic Eagles tune "Witchy Woman" wasn't actually written about Stevie Nicks, as many fans have assumed over the years, that doesn't mean Nicks won't always be the most wonderfully witchy woman in all of rock and roll (just check her out on American Horror Story if you need proof). So it makes sense that her signature song, "Rhiannon," was inspired by an "old Welsh witch" — but how did the tune come about?
As Nicks' Fleetwood Mac bandmate and former love interest Lindsey Buckingham revealed in a new TikTok video, the song started with just two notes.
"It's interesting, when Stevie wrote this, she wrote it on the piano, and it was just two notes, it was kind of like a music box," Buckingham explained.
"And obviously, I wanted to make it into something with a little more lilt and rhythm, so I came up with this...this is basically just two chords, an A minor to an F, and it goes something like this," he continued before demonstrating the song's intro on a guitar.
Recorded for Fleetwood Mac's eponymous debut album and released in 1976 as a single, "Rhiannon" went on to become a highlight of the band's live performances and a fan-favorite for generations. Upon its release, Billboard praised the "haunting song" for its "infectious melody."
Lyrically, Nicks took inspiration from a "stupid little paperback that I found somewhere at somebody's house, lying on the couch," she told Classic Rock in 2023.
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“It was called Triad [written by Mary Leader] and it was all about this girl who becomes possessed by a spirit named Rhiannon," she continued. "I read the book, but I was so taken with that name that I thought: ‘I’ve got to write something about this.’ So I sat down at the piano and started this song about a woman that was all involved with these birds and magic."
Nicks went on to say that she still has the cassette tape from when she was first writing "Rhiannon."
“Lindsey came in and I said: ‘We have to go to a park and record the sound of birds rising.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy. And I said: ‘Don’t you think Rhiannon is a beautiful name?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, it is a beautiful name,'" she recalled, adding, “I come to find out, after I’ve written the song, that in fact Rhiannon was the goddess of steeds, maker of birds. Her three birds sang music, and when something was happening in war you would see Rhiannon come riding in on a horse."
All these years later, Fleetwood Mac fans are still listening to the band's most ethereal hit: At the time of this writing, "Rhiannon" has been streamed 632,438,518 times on Spotify alone.
Related: 1977 Hit Ranked Among 'Most Depressing Rock Songs Ever' Became a Timeless Ode to Lost Love
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
