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Fleetwood Mac — Gold Dust Woman
Album: Rumours
Avg rating:
7.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1592









Released: 1977
Length: 5:00
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
Take your silver spoon, dig your grave
Heartless challenge
Pick your path and I'll pray
Wake up in the morning
See your sunrise, loves to go down
Lousy lovers pick their prey
But they never cry out loud, cry out

Well, did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love?
And is it over now, do you know how?
Pick up the pieces and go home

Rock on, ancient queen
Follow those who pale in your shadow
Rulers make bad lovers
You better put your kingdom up for sale
Up for sale

Well, did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love?
And is it over now, do you know how?
Pick up the pieces and go home

But did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love?
And now tell me, is it over now?
Do you know how to pick up the pieces
And go home? Go home, go home

Pale shadow of a woman
Black widow
Pale shadow of a dragon
Dust woman

Pale shadow of a woman
Black widow
Pale shadow, she's a dragon
Gold Dust Woman
Woman, woman
Comments (61)add comment
Good tune!
It's clearly a song about the Sackville Bagginses, Lobelia Baggins specifically.

 SuperWeh wrote:

you can't convince me that they didn't notice the castagnettes were in a somewhat suggestive position on the photo

No castanets, WC flush handles (from the old high rise cistern) - https://www.fleetwoodmacnews.c...

Bill, you got me curious about what this song is about... 1000s of times never thought about it before, but the vibe matches what she has to say about it. 
Let this be a lesson to you...I heard this a few years before I married my Ex-wife; and I married her anyway!
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.
 Your comments ruin a great website.
'RUMOURS' launched them into the Rock Stratosphere.
They were so big.
Listen to Mick Fleetwood's drums on 'Go Your Own Way' . . . QUINTESSENTIAL Fleetwood Mac . . .  I was 17 and it was in my daily 'just got home from school' rotation.

link to - 'GO YOUR OWN WAY'



Brings back great memories of teenage years and one of the best albums of that time period in my opinion
I've never been a big fan of Fleetwood Mac... until...  A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to have my job reward my work with a trip to Maui. There was about 50 of us and our CEO took us to a place called Fleetwood's in Lahaina. It was a nice enough place, but we didn't think much of it until a really tall guy showed up. That was Mick Fleetwood himself! After partying with us for a while, he ushered us down into the basement where he had gathered some really talented local musicians (among them the beautiful and very talented Gretchen Rhodes). It was just our small group of people, Mick and his friends and they gave us a performance I will never forget. They did all the FM hits and Mick turned out to be a super friendly and cool guy. Since then, I turn the volume up whenever FM comes on!
 Steely_D wrote:
I've always appreciated the comparison of FM to the Beatles, as a suggestion of why they were so successful. Christine McVie had the cheerful, poppy McCartney role; the dour edgy Lennon role was played by Buckingham; and the mystic Harrison part was played by Stevie Nicks.

Of course, there are some variations you could also name to say that comparison's not true, but I think it's more accurate than it is not.
 
I understand your comparisons, but Harrison was the real deal when it comes to mysticism. He practiced. I'm not sure that could be said about Nicks - she seems more to have promoted a "mystical" image... I'm not even sure it could be called that. It reads more like dark cool hippie to me.

Aside from that, as much as I like FM, Lennon & McCartney were at a song writing level that few ever achieve - we can compare the two bands' popularity or their playing chops, but not the sheer complexity of what the Beatles managed to produce musically (and quite originally). 
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.
 

I've always appreciated the comparison of FM to the Beatles, as a suggestion of why they were so successful. Christine McVie had the cheerful, poppy McCartney role; the dour edgy Lennon role was played by Buckingham; and the mystic Harrison part was played by Stevie Nicks.

Of course, there are some variations you could also name to say that comparison's not true, but I think it's more accurate than it is not.
Oh Stevie, what a haunting love song, delivery, delivery. Couple that with the image of the Dancing hippy Pixie of MTV fame and this band has left a most indelible influence on emotive rock.
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Others would suggest she and Lindsay saved a very average and only marginally successful pop band that was going nowhere fast.
Quick, name one song off Penguin or Heroes are Hard to Find. Oh, you've never heard of those albums? Didn't think so.
For the record, I own all their albums from the Peter Green years up to Behind The Mask (1990). I enjoy all incarnations of FM, and to suggest that any one member "ruined" the band that had more personnel changes than Trump's white house, is absurd, in my humble.
 
I own Bare TreesPenguin, Heroes, and Mystery to Me.  If the only goal of Fleetwood Mac was to make money -- and that's an admirable goal -- you are spot on and the tuneless one "saved" the band. 

If the goal was to make great music, it ended when she joined and began steering.  Having read aplenty on the drugs and constantly changing sexual relationships during that time, it may have taken very little to steer the band in any particular direction.
Great song from a really fantastic album
I am transported to 1977 when I was a barefoot teenager.
Happy 70th birthday Stevie!
great arrangement on this end to end. 40 years on and it doesn't sound dated. 
 Tomasni wrote:
My rating is a VERY solid 8  almost 9
   GO RP   !
 
It's a 9 for me!  Long Live RP!!
 LaurieinTucson wrote:
There were no other bands like this.
They didn't copy other bands (not even earlier incarnations of FM). They didn't start a trend that other bands copied.
Every song was a different style.
It was their songwriting that was so unique, with talented musicians as a bonus. 

 
When I first heard the popular incarnation of FM, I loved the Stevie Nicks songs but over the years I have begun to appreciate the Christine McVie and Buckingham written ones more to the extent that I now find her voice a bit irritating. In my opinion not the best one she sung either. 
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.

 
I'm sure THEY (Mick and John) cried all the way to the bank...
Don't y'all even start up with that hating-on-Stevie-Nicks utter nonsense. This song is gold. 
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.
 
Others would suggest she and Lindsay saved a very average and only marginally successful pop band that was going nowhere fast.
Quick, name one song off Penguin or Heroes are Hard to Find
For the record, I own all their albums from the Peter Green years up to Behind The Mask (1990). I enjoy all incarnations of FM, and to suggest that any one member "ruined" the band that had more personnel changes than Trump's white house, is absurd, in my humble.
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.

 
Uncle, Could not agree more. She's right there on top of my PSD>> list with Bob Dylan. 
 unclehud wrote:
SHE ruined a great band.

 
How could THEY  have been so stupid?
Yes, this like all the other songs on this album were certainly overplayed, and I had to take a sabbatical from this album for a few decades.  But there is no denying that they were overplayed because they were so damn good.
Love Stevie {#Roflol}
 Proclivities wrote:

Maybe "just a reminder" but not a fair comparison - one of the most elaborately recorded albums of its time, by an enormously successful band, compared to a relatively simple recording by a nominally successful, Swedish folk duo. Whether or not this was originally an analog recording, it's been digitally remastered.  Anyhow, it also depends on who's doing the engineering and producing. 

 
Always.  period, end of story ...
SHE ruined a great band.
Going from a hard-edged blues group to a polished, slick pop/rock band is a gargantuan leap. They did it. Their albums post Green and Spencer were interesting (ex. "Bare Trees") if not that successful from a commercial standpoint.{#Yes}
All 60's and 70's music critics should read up on the Blue Meanies...
yeah you - I mean you (all of you) below...
{#Naughty} 
Umm, another mediocre Fleetwood Mac song I guess (joking)! How on earth do RP get 320k tracks to sound this excellent?{#Bananajam}
 jnesser wrote:
I appreciate Fleetwood Mac, but without her voice. 

 
Hard to imagine this song sung by anyone else.
 rascal wrote:
This song (1977) is so much more sonically pure than the last cut (First Aid Kit 2012)....just a reminder of how much detail has been lost in the digital world.

 
Maybe "just a reminder" but not a fair comparison - one of the most elaborately recorded albums of its time, by an enormously successful band, compared to a relatively simple recording by a nominally successful, Swedish folk duo. Whether or not this was originally an analog recording, it's been digitally remastered.  Anyhow, it also depends on who's doing the engineering and producing. 
 idiot_wind wrote:
We need more male/female rock bands....
 
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/20/90/17/2090179697f05cc8350e2c94fc82f2fa.jpg
There were no other bands like this.
They didn't copy other bands (not even earlier incarnations of FM). They didn't start a trend that other bands copied.
Every song was a different style.
It was their songwriting that was so unique, with talented musicians as a bonus. 
We need more male/female rock bands....
I appreciate Fleetwood Mac, but without her voice. 
This song (1977) is so much more sonically pure than the last cut (First Aid Kit 2012)....just a reminder of how much detail has been lost in the digital world.
Ah ... nostalgia.
always a pleasure{#Bananajam}
Dark, nostalgic, lovely. My opinion of this piece has remained unchanged over the years. How can one song contain so much sadness and beauty?  Truly iconic. 
 SuperWeh wrote:
you can't convince me that they didn't notice the castagnettes were in a somewhat suggestive position on the photo
 

great guitar right? still, kooky pop piece 
you can't convince me that they didn't notice the castagnettes were in a somewhat suggestive position on the photo
Like an old worn beautiful jumper from the bottom drawer 

Very nice 
 MilesW wrote:
Odd, this song seems to be tuned 5-10 Hz too high...

 
You're right, buddy!
Odd, this song seems to be tuned 5-10 Hz too high...
 LowPhreak wrote:

Yep Rumours was a great album.

 

Gold star for you.
 Fiji5555 wrote:
Ahh yes the depressing era of FM.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 
When this came out I used to go to a burger and steak joint in Bristol called "The Great American Depression".  Best burgers I've ever had to this day.  Used to play this album there a lot, too.  Place burnt to the ground and was never reopened. Shame.
Ahh yes the depressing era of FM.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
 bseib wrote:
I know there are a lot of folk who remind us of the love for the Peter Green era FM and their roots. Still, Rumors is still an awesome piece of work, even if it is a "different" band.

 
Yep Rumours was a great album.
Ya mean there was a time when men and women played in RnR bands? And each of them had very good "chops"? 

  
Pretty and classical mode👍
Lovely clackers
been a fav of mine since my teens. saw them in concert in 1982 in Detroit.
one of all times favs
LOVE her voice.
and lyrics too!!
Wow, knowing Bill's penchant for covers
I'm struck by the original popping up
and that this hasn't been part of the library already. 
I know there are a lot of folk who remind us of the love for the Peter Green era FM and their roots. Still, Rumors is still an awesome piece of work, even if it is a "different" band.
one of my favs of all time
I LOVE this voice!!!
and lyrics too, of course.