| "What Makes You Think You're the One" | |
|---|---|
| Song byFleetwood Mac | |
| from the albumTusk | |
| Released | 1979 |
| Recorded | 1979 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:32 |
| Label | Warner Bros. |
| Songwriter | Lindsey Buckingham |
| Producers | Fleetwood Mac,Richard Dashut,Ken Caillat |
"What Makes You Think You're the One" is a song by British-American rock bandFleetwood Mac, released in 1979. Composed and sung by guitaristLindsey Buckingham, it was one of his nine songs that appeared on theTusk album. The song was also included on the US 2002 and UK 2009 editions ofThe Very Best of Fleetwood Mac.[2]
In February 1979, Buckingham entered Studio D ofThe Village Recorder with aJVCghetto blaster. After playing producersKen Caillat andRichard Dashut a demo of "What Makes You Think You're the One" through someJBL speakers in the control room, Buckingham suggested that they create a new version using the JVC deck's input as the recording device. Caillat pushed back against this, contending that the boombox would make the song excessivelycompressed, but Buckingham insisted that they use the device to emulate the distorted sounds of old rock and roll recordings.[3]
Fleetwood set up his drums in the corner of Studio D and recorded the song with Buckingham using the boombox as the recording device for the drums.[4] Fleetwood said that they "opened the mics up so that it was recording straight ontotape, and that overload and compression is straight off the ghetto blaster. It gave it that "suck and push" sound".[5] More conventional studio microphones were also placed throughout the studio to give Caillat and Dashut further options during the mixing process.[3]
Buckingham and Fleetwood stated that they created "What Makes You Think You're the One" as a two-piece without any other band members,[4][6] although Caillat recalled thatJohn McVie was also present in the studio during the song's recording sessions. For the song's original tracking, Buckingham was on piano and Fleetwood used an 18-inchPaisteChina cymbal in his drum set. Caillat posited that the song was directed atStevie Nicks and that Buckingham "imitate[d] Stevie's distinctive vibrato, giving it a bleating, goat like quality, and her rudimentary piano quality, which he knew made her self conscious".[3]
Ed Harrison ofBillboard identified "What Makes You Think You're the One" as a "sarcastic and light-hearted" song with "steady" instrumentation.[7]Nick Kent ofNew Musical Express called the song "an effective, lightweight and jokey slice of raucousness, not unlike some ofThe BeatlesWhite Album frivolities."[8]Paste ranked the song number 26 on its list of the 30 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs, commenting that it sounds "like a demo, [which] is perfect for Buckingham’s ragged, drug-addled vocals".[9]Rolling Stone said that "Buckingham rocks out with the raw spirit of a freewheeling garage band" on "What Makes You Think You're the One" and also placed the song at number 36 on its list of the 50 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.[6]
"What Makes You Think You're the One" was played on theTusk Tour.[3] A November 1979 live recording fromSt. Louis was included on the 5-disc deluxe edition ofTusk.[10]Christine McVie played piano for live performances of "What Make Makes You Think You're the One" despite not appearing in any capacity on the song's studio version. She remarked that "'What Makes You Think You're The One' fromTusk is especially tough to play. You have to keep crashing away at chords through the whole thing. By the time it's finished my wrists are like spaghetti."[11] These renditions began with a series ofrimshots played by Fleetwood on a snare drum a pianoglissando from Christine McVie.[12] In a review of Fleetwood Mac's performance on 25 September 1979 at theCapital Centre, Richard Harrington ofThe Washington Post said that the song demonstrated Buckingham's "vibrantly inventive guitar leads and exhausting vocal extremes."[13]
...catchy tunes like "The Ledge", "What Makes You Think You're the One", and "Not That Funny", New Wave earworms that sound more like Nick Lowe...
