Breaking up in Hi-Fi

- One minute read - 145 words

I remember the first time I heard the backstory to “You Can Go Your Own Way:” Lindsey Buckingham (greatest name, EVAR) wrote it about Stevie Nicks and, effectively, made her sing it, with him, night after night. It’s such a great song, and it’s so truthful about breaking up, and it is so completely brutal that it surely will transcend a few generations.

I’m fascinated by this dynamic, where people still smarting from the wounds of relationship dissolution manage to make great art. It seems masochistic and exploitative, I wonder if it works? The only analog to this implosion would perhaps be ABBA’s “Winner Takes it All.” Perhaps only it can rival the Buckingham / Nicks implosion because both male-female dyads were being rent asunder at the same time.

Perhaps fitting to the “times two” nature of ABBA, “Knowing Me, Knowing You” enhances the sentiment.