| "Station Man" | |
|---|---|
| Song byFleetwood Mac | |
| from the albumKiln House | |
| A-side | "Jewel Eyed Judy" |
| Recorded | 1970 |
| Studio | De Lane Lea, London |
| Length | 5:52 |
| Label | Reprise |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Fleetwood Mac |
"'Station Man" is a song by British rock groupFleetwood Mac, which was released as the second track from their 1970Kiln House album. The song is credited toDanny Kirwan,Jeremy Spencer, andJohn McVie,[1] although Spencer said in a 2010 interview thatChristine McVie was more responsible for the song than John McVie.[2] Kirwan, Christine McVie, and Spencer wrote the song's lyrics at the band's communal house in the English countryside, where Kirwan also developed the song's arrangement.[2][3]
"Station Man" was sung as a duet between Kirwan and Christine McVie, who at the time of the recording had yet to officially join Fleetwood Mac due to contractual reasons.[3][4] In 1971, it was issued as theB-side to "Jewel Eyed Judy, another song from theKiln House album. "Station Man" was included in the band's setlist until 1977, several years after the departure of Kirwan and Spencer.[1]
According to Fleetwood in his 2014 memoirPlay On, "Station Man" was the first song that Fleetwood Mac performed live withLindsey Buckingham andStevie Nicks, when the lineup made their live debut inEl Paso, Texas on 15 May 1975.[5] At the time, Buckingham and Nicks only had material from their 1973Buckingham Nicks album and 1975Fleetwood Mac album to pull from, which required them to cull earlier songs from the band's discography for live performances.[6] The song was also retained for the first leg of the band's 1977Rumours Tour, but it was later dropped from the setlist by the end of March.[1] "Station Man" was also performed live by theKiln House lineup of Fleetwood Mac, with a few recordings from 1970 and 1971 appearing on theMadison Blues album.[7]
In his review forNME, Nick Logan said that "Station Man" was "possibly the album's premiere track and the oneReprise are trying to persuade the group to release as a single." He further commended the song's instrumentation, including Fleetwood's percussion and Kirwan's "tasteful guitar", and called it "one of the group's foremost achievements to date."[8] In their book, Fleetwood Mac: Rumours n' Fax,Roy Carr and Steve Clarke labeled "Station Man" as "the premiere cut" onKiln House with a melody "neatly slung over the kind of dense broken riffing which has become a trademark with numerous mid-70s American West Coast band likeLittle Feat."[4]Beat Instrumental cited "Station Man" as a successful demonstration of the band's "multi-guitar work".[9]Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian identified "Station Man" as a highlight onKiln House, describing it as a "hard rocking" song.[10]
Phil Lesh said in an interview that he borrowed aspects of "Station Man" for the song "Passenger" onGrateful Dead's 1977Terrapin Station album. "What's weird about that song is I sort of did it as a joke. It's a take on a Fleetwood Mac tune called "Station Man". I just sort of sped it up and put some different chord changes in there."[11]Pete Townshend also borrowed the guitar riff from "Station Man" for his song "Won't Get Fooled Again", which was recorded byThe Who.[10] During a 2020Peter Green tribute concert organised by Fleetwood, Townshend prefaced his performance of "Station Man" by noting similarities between the two song's chord progressions.[12][13] This performance, recorded at theLondon Palladium, was later included on the albumCelebrate the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac in 2021.[14]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)