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Fleetwood Mac — Sara
Album: Tusk
Avg rating:
7.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1941









Released: 1979
Length: 6:16
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Wait a minute, baby
Stay with me a while
Said you'd give me light
But you never told me about the fire

Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
But now it's gone
It doesn't matter what for
When you build your house
Then call me home

Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh

And he was just like
A great dark wing
Within the wings of a storm
I think I had met my match
He was singing
And undoing
And undoing
Ooh, the laces
Undoing the laces

Ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh

Said Sara, you're the poet in my heart
Never change, never stop
But now it's gone
It doesn't matter what for
But when you build your house
Well, then call me home

Hold on, the night is coming
And the starling flew for days
I'd stay at home at night all the time
I'd go anywhere, anywhere, anywhere
Ask me and I'm there
Yeah, ask me and I'm there
I care

In the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
But now it's gone
They say it doesn't matter anymore
If you build your house
Then please call me, call

Oh, Sara, you're the poet in my heart
Never change, and don't you ever stop
Now it's gone, no
It doesn't matter anymore
When you build your house
I'll come by

(Ah, Sara, ah)
(Ah, Sara, ah)
(Ah, Sara, ah)

All I ever wanted
Was to know that you were dreaming
There's a heartbeat
And it never really died
Never really died
Won't you swallow your pride?
All I ever wanted
Comments (104)add comment
I was only 8 when this came out. It's amazing how timeless classics like this are somehow lodged in our collective subconscious. There is a memory of it playing on the radio with Mum driving us on country roads on the south coast of NSW (Australia) 
 Segue wrote:

YUK. Lame then. Lame now.


Oh, bless your heart. 
At least you can PSD - as can the rest of us with your opinion!
Oh my Lord, what a beautiful song.
Heartfelt sadness
RIP Christine
 spetrie wrote:

One of the first albums ever to be digitally recorded and mixed.

I bought it new for that reason. Still have the vinyl which was not played a lot in the day.

 Hippostar wrote:

Jeezus, can they not afford a guitar tuner or cannot hire any competent engineers to correctly calibrate their tape machine's pitch?




Time to build yer'self a time machine! 
I cannot rate this... I would be rating my life on it. 
love this song and her voice is a bit lost in the mix… unfortunately
 Ipse_Dixit wrote:

Beautiful song.
Always thought Sara was "foreword in my heart" but just saw that the line is "poet in my heart".  Both work, but poet is better.



I always thought it was the "bullet in my heart".  And poet is better in my case as well...lol
YUK. Lame then. Lame now.
just dig Mick's drumming, he's such a sensitive soulful drummer.
Beautiful song.
Always thought Sara was "foreword in my heart" but just saw that the line is "poet in my heart".  Both work, but poet is better.
Jeezus, can they not afford a guitar tuner or cannot hire any competent engineers to correctly calibrate their tape machine's pitch?


This song reminds me of an old friend. Whenever I hear it I'm back there. Now it's many years later. She built her house and I never got the call. But I guess I wasn't sitting by the phone either.

Things change, even if in your youth you feel absolutely sure they won't. Sometimes you hear a song that's like a little slipstream back to another time, and you get a glimpse back into yourself and realise that even though you still feel the same inside, that you are so far from where you were. And it stuns you a little.



One of the first albums ever to be digitally recorded and mixed.
This album and rumors were two great back to back albums
I played this song so many times in college....as loud as my neighbors would allow!  Man did I love Stevie back then.....so so good.
 LPCity wrote:

Stevie Nicks is on tour and in Salt Lake next week.  Not a big fan of seeing her but... The Pretenders are the opening act.

This is no small dilemma in my mind.  What to do?




Hah - this was ages ago but we landed in SLC that weekend and saw this concert advertised in the paper.  I'm a bigger Stevie fan than Pretenders but wow - Chrissy was the only original member of the band performing, and it was quickly evident she is and always WAS the band.  She sounded awesome, sang her heart out, could have passed for a 70's studio recording
 gleongelpi wrote:

There is a tribute band called "Rumours of Fleetwood Mac." They are even better.



Funny you mention them - I found them on YouTube while searching for something else (that's always how it works) and they are a really good, tight band. Excellent musicianship. 
I used to listen to this song with my first love, we were 16. So beautiful, and now i realise, this song flow like life, you think it will never end, but finally it's already past. 
 ziakut wrote:

This, my friend, is filler on this album.


I find your judgement on this highly suspect.
This, my friend, is filler on this album.
 LizK wrote:


Except Tusk.

 

Tusk is probably by Lindsey.
There is a tribute band called "Rumours of Fleetwood Mac." They are even better.
don't rescue me
baby
I'm drowning
{#Dancingbanana_2}
 LPCity wrote:
... The Pretenders are the opening act.

This is no small dilemma in my mind.  What to do?

treatment_bound wrote:

Just stay home and throw on "Pretenders".  It never got any better than that for Ms. Hynde.

 
See... this is the problem.  OP posts their love for the Pretenders and then you just have to h8 on the band.  Why?

Additionally their latest album, produced by and featuring Dan Auerbach, is excellent so you were wrong in the first place.  That is not to mention their equally good previous release Break Up The Concrete.  Chrissie is in rare form and writing good songs right now, which is also evidenced by her recent solo album Stockholm which has at least one track featured here on RP.  It gets better all the time for Ms. Hynde.
 (former member) wrote:


Everybody in my hotel room loves this song...  and this whole album...

 

 
While not in that hotel room with you...I do enjoy this tune...esp. the drumming.  Long Live RP!!
 LPCity wrote:
... The Pretenders are the opening act.

This is no small dilemma in my mind.  What to do?

 
Just stay home and throw on "Pretenders".  It never got any better than that for Ms. Hynde.
Stevie Nicks is on tour and in Salt Lake next week.  Not a big fan of seeing her but... The Pretenders are the opening act.

This is no small dilemma in my mind.  What to do?
So glad to hear this on here! One of my long time favourites.
 LizK wrote:
Anything by Stevie.....

 

Except Tusk.

beautiful song.  Timeless.
 sirdroseph wrote:
I know I am going against the grain but I think when it comes to Fleetwood Mac all of their popular songs are their best! This one included!

 
Yes Sir!
This song just flows so nicely. As does the vocals.
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Seconded.

 

Thirded
 ncollingridge wrote:
Well I love their early stuff as much as anyone, but I think it is very narrow-minded to dismiss their later stuff in the way you do. It is very definitely not crap - it may not be to your taste but it is extremely good of its type.
 
Seconded.
I should hate Fleetwood Mac.  

Probably due to early imprinting. 
 misterbearbaby wrote:
Anything by FM from Penguin on (post Danny Kirwan) is overcommercialized pop crap- they had stuck their heads into the machine fully at that point. Bare Trees was probably their masterwork. You gotta climb into the WayBack Machine and compare and contrast to the Peter Green blues era, especially Then Play On and Kiln House. The Good Stuff.

 
Well I love their early stuff as much as anyone, but I think it is very narrow-minded to dismiss their later stuff in the way you do. It is very definitely not crap - it may not be to your taste but it is extremely good of its type.

This brings back such wonderful memories of carefree summers in my early teens

 

I loved the piano part to this so much I bought the sheet music and sang along with it.


 misterbearbaby wrote:
Anything by FM from Penguin on (post Danny Kirwan) is overcommercialized pop crap- they had stuck their heads into the machine fully at that point. Bare Trees was probably their masterwork. You gotta climb into the WayBack Machine and compare and contrast to the Peter Green blues era, especially Then Play On and Kiln House. The Good Stuff.
 
OK, I think we've pretty much run the "only Peter Green Era Fleetwood Mac is Acceptable" bullshit into the ground now.  Another way of saying the same thing without the hackneyed arrogance might be something like "I prefer the blues."  And that's fine.  I would add a couple things, though.  First, a lot of the Peter Green era blues you extoll had roots in 50s (and earlier) R&B songs that themselves were the pop of their eras, and some of it was crap, too.  Blues and pop are genres that have sometimes walked hand in hand.  It is enough, I think, simply to reject the crap regardless of its genre.

As to the rest of Mac's catalogue, I would note that only some post-Green Mac was pop crap.  To be sure, "Sara" is arguably the paradigm of such crappiness — I personally think it belongs in everyone's secret list of songs that you actually question Bill's judgment for ever playing.  But Lindsay Buckingham actually had many non-Stevie moments of tuneful songwriting and accomplished guitar playing (Bill might suggest that "Bleed to Love Her" is a good example), and I never get tired of that.
I know I am going against the grain but I think when it comes to Fleetwood Mac all of their popular songs are their best! This one included!
Anything by Stevie.....
Not the best song ever guys, I agree.
But not too shabby at 5:30am, while I sip on coffee and try to snap out of it.
Nice job Bill!
I was just reading about The Night of a Thousand Stevies!
Anything by FM from Penguin on (post Danny Kirwan) is overcommercialized pop crap- they had stuck their heads into the machine fully at that point. Bare Trees was probably their masterwork. You gotta climb into the WayBack Machine and compare and contrast to the Peter Green blues era, especially Then Play On and Kiln House. The Good Stuff.
 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Seems like Bill's on a FM kick lately. Don't care for Stevie. 3
 
She destroyed a great band, and this song's all the evidence anyone needs.

 peter_james_bond wrote:

I finished your sentence. {#Wink}

 
Point taken. I'm just not a fan of this era of FM.

 Steve wrote:
This is a patently absurd comment.
 
I finished your sentence. {#Wink}

 jagdriver wrote:
B-O-R-I-N-G
 
This.

 Cynaera wrote:
It was a winter morning - snow on the ground, clear sky, and glitter in the air. I was with my friend, and we took a turnoff just before the overpass almost on the outskirts of this small town.  The road went down and around, stopping by the edge of a frozen stream that once ran through the center of town but was rerouted years ago. She parked the car, turned up the stereo, and skated on that frozen pond to this song.  It was a peaceful, magical interlude that will never happen again. I can't listen to "Sara" without remembering that snapshot in time...{#Sunny}
 
Very nice visual
Man this is a great song!
Timeless classic.  Solid thumbs up,... maybe both thumbs!
I remember buying the piano sheetmusic to this when it came out, and spending a whole afternoon learning how to play AND sing at the same time. {#Good-vibes} Good times.
 jagdriver wrote:
B-O-R-I-N-G
 
Couldn't have said it better myself. Fleetwood Mac has their place in R & R history...but no thanks.
{#Puke}
 stratrjb wrote:
Simply Beautiful!
 
Yuppers
Might just be a dreamy kinda morning.  CJ and da Fish, to this.  Might be worthy of an unscheduled wake and bake.
B-O-R-I-N-G
 ROSSinDETROIT wrote:
We saw them in 1979 when they were touring to support this release.  Got lost on the way to Cobo Hall & missed seeing Men at Work open.  
  
I think you got lost in your time machine as well, since Men at Work's first album didn't come out until April of '82 (& you heard "Who Can It Be Now" non-stop that summer).  They then went out on tour supporting Fleetwood Mac, who were promoting Mirage.



 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Seems like Bill's on a FM kick lately. Don't care for Stevie. 3
 

Yeah.
Simply Beautiful!
Fleetwood F***ing Mac. {#Arghhh}{#Ass}{#Fight}{#Fire}{#Skull}{#Frustrated}{#Wall}
An all time favorite song.  I love this one and always will.  Very pleasant to hear today. 

It was a winter morning - snow on the ground, clear sky, and glitter in the air. I was with my friend, and we took a turnoff just before the overpass almost on the outskirts of this small town.  The road went down and around, stopping by the edge of a frozen stream that once ran through the center of town but was rerouted years ago. She parked the car, turned up the stereo, and skated on that frozen pond to this song.  It was a peaceful, magical interlude that will never happen again. I can't listen to "Sara" without remembering that snapshot in time...{#Sunny}
Seems like Bill's on a FM kick lately. Don't care for Stevie. 3
Oh man, this is soooooo good!!!!{#Notworthy} 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never a real FM fan, but wonderful tune here.
Positively timeless.
Drowning in a sea of love...where everyone would love to drown...{#Notworthy}
 BigPete wrote:
An absolutely beautiful piece of music from a hugely underrated album. I think that if Tusk was released as a two record set rather than three it would have been a much bigger record. However, I don't think that it has a single weak song.
 
Three-record set? You musta had some really good drugs back in the day!  ; )

 bairdc wrote:
yes - just did the same thing - hypnotic 
A stop-and-listen song for me.
 

 

totally agree - dancing at home and singing along, makes me happy and very alive
yes - just did the same thing - hypnotic 
A stop-and-listen song for me.
 

An absolutely beautiful piece of music from a hugely underrated album. I think that if Tusk was released as a two record set rather than three it would have been a much bigger record. However, I don't think that it has a single weak song.


Great to hear this again...
Saweeeetness !!!!
 a2 wrote:
A stop-and-listen song for me.
 
Me too, one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac tunes.

Just recently grew to like this song. Before it was just FM radio background flatness. I appreciate it more now. It's a good one.
This album, and this song have been favorites of mine since it was released.
It brings back good memories for me.  Thank you Bill.  {#Smile}
 Buzzardcheater wrote:
my wife calls her the Goat Girl.  She does kinda bleat.
 

I used to have a fear-fantasy of Stevie and Julio Igleses singing a duet...'Of all the goats I've luhhhhhhved before...."
Gorgeous classic. So is Stevie.
A stop-and-listen song for me.

8.  Stevie just kills me with this.

Interesting ... one of the early tunes playlisted, then hardly ever played.

If I have one beef about RP's programming metholology, it's that ... there are a lot of great tunes like this one buried in the library that get played too rarely or not at all.


my wife calls her the Goat Girl.  She does kinda bleat.
 ROSSinDETROIT wrote:
We saw them in 1979 when they were touring to support this release.  Got lost on the way to Cobo Hall & missed seeing Men at Work open. 
Always a favorite band and always will be.
 
Who, Men @ Work?{#Doh}  JK...its late and I'm punchy.  Great music from FM during this era...for sure.


my grandma said if ya can't say anything good about someone don't say anything well really like some Fleetwood Macs songs with Ms. Nicks, this ain't one of them, sorry grandma
 ROSSinDETROIT wrote:
We saw them in 1979 when they were touring to support this release.  Got lost on the way to Cobo Hall & missed seeing Men at Work open. 
Always a favorite band and always will be.
 

How wasted were you?
Just last week I capitulated & augmented my vinyl 12" copy of Tusk with a CD.

It's just too good not to have available "on demand"

 

beautiful voice of Ms. Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks in song "Sara", include in double album "Tusk" (1979)

** 9 **




We saw them in 1979 when they were touring to support this release.  Got lost on the way to Cobo Hall & missed seeing Men at Work open. 
Always a favorite band and always will be.
 russellkanning wrote:
I could here this song every once in a while on RP. :)
 
Not me.  Just reminds me of all the GOOD old FM.  Never liked this version of them.  Nope.  {#Snooty}{#Naughty}

Fleetwood Mac is always a welcome break from the norm. {#Clap}

favourite fleetwood mac song.  just back from hanging out in trinity bellwood park in toronto, enjoying the spectaular fall weather but i am looking over the playlist i can't believe all the great songs i missed, spider and the fly! 


Bill, you are doing a fantastic job creating such an excellent mix—Billie Holiday, Death Cab, Cracker, JJ Cale, the Dead, the Stones, and then all the indies. I like the when you play good classic stuff once in a while from Top 40 like Fleetwood Mac (for that matter, all phases of Fleetwood Mac is a winner).
Beautiful song. Really brings me back.{#Yes}
typical stevie nicks boringness.  surprised this one came with the mac.
 russellkanning wrote:
I could here this song every once in a while on RP. :)
 
I could here it hear as well!  ;-)

Yeah, me too! :-)
I could here this song every once in a while on RP. :)