B-side "That's Enough for Me" Format 7" single Genre Pop, Rock | Released December 5, 1979 Recorded 1978–79 Length 6:22
4:41 (Edit) | |
"Sara" is a song written by singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks by British-American pop/rock band Fleetwood Mac as a single from the 1979 Tusk double LP. The album version is 6:22 minutes and the edited version is 4:41 minutes. The song peaked at No. 7 in the US for three weeks, No. 37 in the UK for two weeks, No. 11 in Australia and No. 12 in Canada. Its success has led to it being included in various later best-of albums such as 2002's The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac.
Contents
Origin
There are many sources of inspiration for "Sara", according to Nicks.
There were persistent rumors that the song is about an abortion Nicks had after getting pregnant from then boyfriend Don Henley. Henley himself has suggested this to be the meaning of the song. In a 1979 interview Nicks said “If I ever have a little girl, I will name her Sara. It's a very special name to me.” Nicks later confirmed the rumor to be true in a September 2014 interview with Billboard magazine: "Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara...It's accurate, but not the entirety of it."
In his 2014 autobiography, Mick Fleetwood suggested that the song referred to an affair which ended his own relationship with Nicks. Fleetwood and Nicks had been involved in a romantic relationship for some time. Although the relationship was not exclusive on either side, Fleetwood states that Nicks became upset when Fleetwood began a relationship with her best friend, Sara. This relationship effectively ended the romance between Nicks and Fleetwood.
The lyrics, "and he was just like a great dark wing/within the wings of a storm" refer to Fleetwood being an emotional comfort zone for Nicks following her breakup with Lindsey Buckingham.
Stevie Nicks wrote the track on a piano, but it was hard for Mick Fleetwood to put a drum track together for it and as a result, he used brushes to make it work.
Plagiarism suit
In 1980, the year after the song was released, Stevie Nicks was sued for plagiarism by a songwriter who had submitted a song called "Sara", which she had sent to Warner Bros., Fleetwood Mac's recording label, in 1978. Stevie Nicks defended the lawsuit by proving that she had written and recorded a demo version of the song in July 1978, before the lyrics were sent to Warner. The case was dropped and the complainant accepted that no plagiarism had occurred.
Versions
The version of the song featured on the original vinyl release of Tusk was the unedited 6:22 version, but when Tusk was originally released as a single compact disc in 1987 it featured the edited version which leaves out the middle verse and musical bridge. It was not until the 1988 Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits compilation was released that the 6:22 version of the song became available on compact disc.
There is also a version known as "the cleaning lady" edit, so-called as Nicks is clearly heard to say at the beginning of the demo recording, "I don't want to be a cleaning lady!" This version lasts almost nine minutes and was released on the 2-disc remastered version Tusk in March 2004. It contains an extended vamp, which includes excised lines previously only heard in live performances, such as, "and the wind became crazy," "no sorrow for sorrow, you can have no more," and "swallow all your pride, don't you ever change—never change."
On November 5, 2015, a live version was released as part of a remastered Tusk. This recording features a heavier hitting drum beat from Fleetwood, and an electric guitar that prefigures the style of The Edge.