Fleetwood Mac - Say you love me Live 1977

Footage from the Rosebud documentary When looking at Christine McVie’s attempts at love in life, she does not have a perfect record. A lot of Christine’s songs reflect the love she is feeling despite the pain of loneliness and rejection. “Say You Love Me“ is a perfect example. Christine’s relationship with her husband John McVie is starting to get rocky and she is beginning to wonder if she is gaining as much as she is losing. All she really needs is for John to tell her he loves her. Have mercy, baby, on a poor girl like me You know I’m falling, falling, falling at your feet I’m tingling right from my head to my toes So help me, help me, help me make the feeling go Christine knows she loves John, to such an extent that she’d do anything for him. Christine has a feeling of uneasiness and anger because John is not expressing his love for her. She wants John to use his love to make the feelings go. Cause when the loving starts and the lights go down And there’s not another living soul around Then you woo me up till the sun comes up And you say that you love me Christine needed John to tell her he loved her. No one needed to be around. Pressures within the band were growing and John was changing and treating Chris differently and not in a way she liked. Christine felt they both had to put the band aside and focus on each other. Have pity, baby Just when I thought it was over Now you got me running, running, running for cover I’m begging you for a little sympathy Cause if you use me again it will be the end of me Christine wants John to see what he’s doing to her and love her. She doesn’t want to have to deal with hurt and rejection. She needs John to see that and love her and not treat her badly. She is beginning to lose the strength that keeps her loving John. Baby, baby hope you’re gonna stay away Cause I’m getting weaker, weaker, weaker everyday I guess I’m not as strong as I used to be And if you use me again it’ll be the end of me Christine is, in a way, giving John a warning. She is basically telling him that she can’t take him anymore and their relationship won’t last much longer if John doesn’t erase the hurt he has caused. Fallin’, fallin’, fallin’ Fallin’, fallin’, fallin’ This can be looked at in two ways. Christine is continuing to fall in love with John. She is also falling out of love with John. The way this is sung seems to say that it isn’t exactly a bad thing, but it’s a thing she is sure of. “Say You Love Me“ sets the tone for many of Christine’s upcoming songs. In many ways it is like “Over My Head“, a song of a person in a hurtful relationship. Songs such as “Never Make Me Cry,“ “Never Forget,“ and “Over and Over“ have the same theme as well. The title of this song is the message in many of Christine’s songs. Say you love me!