The Big Mac : Christine McVie: Hail to the Chief Songwriter

When Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie wrote the song “Don’t Stop” 17 years ago, the English singer-songwriter thought that the cheery, upbeat tune might one day be used in a campaign.

But she pictured the song being used for something like an insurance company advertising campaign--not a U.S. presidential candidate’s theme.

So, McVie, 49, was as surprised as anyone last summer when--while watching the Democratic National Convention on television at her country home in England--she suddenly heard “Don’t Stop” at the climax of the gathering.

The image of Bill and Hillary Clinton dancing to the bouncy song amid a flurry of red-white-and-blue balloons proved an enduring and effective one throughout the fall campaign.

“I was watching the convention, not really paying attention,” McVie said during an interview this week. “I was cooking or something, and while we were eating our dinner it ended and they played the song. I couldn’t believe it and needless to say the phone was ringing off the hook all night. I was stunned.”

Considering all that has happened to the song, she chuckles now when remembering her thoughts about it someday being an insurance company commercial--though the words would fit that kind of campaign perfectly.

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here.

It’ll be better than before

Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.

McVie wrote the song, which was a Top 5 single in the U.S. in 1977, in an attempt to move past the sadness of the break-up of her marriage to fellow Fleetwood Mac member John McVie in 1976.

So she can see how people, including the Clintons, find the song a contemporary equivalent of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which for years was the unofficial Democratic Party theme.

“The words are all so positive looking for the future,” McVie said of her song. “I was very honored when I heard it at the convention.”

Underscoring the baby-boomer identification of the Clinton-Albert Gore ticket, the song--a centerpiece of the group’s massively popular 1977 “Rumours” album--continued to be played at key moments during the campaign.

In turn, Clinton invited the band to perform the song at Tuesday’s big inaugural gala, and the result will be the first appearance in more than a decade of the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” lineup that was ended when Lindsey Buckingham quit the group in 1987 for a solo career: the two McVies, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Buckingham. And, yes, McVie has heard “rumors” that Clinton himself may join in on saxophone.

Additionally, Warner Bros. Records will re-release a single of the song that is also included on the group’s recent boxed set retrospective on Inauguration Day.

McVie, a citizen of the United Kingdom, said she’s “not particularly political,” but “probably would have voted for Clinton” if she were a U.S. citizen. “It’s clearly time for a change in the White House,” she added.

As far as her career, McVie said Fleetwood Mac will return to Los Angeles the day after the inaugural performance to start preliminary work on a new album, with guitarist Billy Burnette continuing in Buckingham’s place.

The recording date resolves uncertainties that have existed since McVie and Nicks retired as full-time members after a 1990 concert tour. At the time, the two said that while they would not tour with the band, they would be on board for another album. But that has been up in the air until now.

McVie admits that there’s a certain amount of excited nervousness about resuming her work with “the Mac,” and said that she and Nicks may even appear at selected concerts with the group in the future. But that nervousness is nothing compared to her feelings about the inaugural appearance.

“This is the gig of all gigs, televised before countless people,” she said. “But it’s only one song, and I can play it with my hands tied behind my back.”