Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, six years before the chaos of recording Rumours. She dealt with several lineup changes and then the dissolution of her marriage. While recording Rumours, McVie ended her marriage with bassist John McVie just as Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were ending their relationship. Band dynamics were endlessly chaotic, and McVie wrote a song hoping they could ever get a moment of peace.

Christine McVie wrote one Fleetwood Mac song hoping her bandmates would be happy

As Fleetwood Mac recorded Rumours, the relationships between the band’s two couples ended. Mick Fleetwood was also going through marital strife after discovering his wife was having an affair. Still, he did his best to hold the band together through the turbulence. McVie said they were also able to bond over the music.

“Mick was sort of holding everything together,” she told Rolling Stone in 1997. “But the music was, also. The music was very rewarding. It was very powerful to be there recording these songs.”

Despite the music and Fleetwood’s efforts, though, the band members were constantly at odds. Nicks and McVie sequestered themselves in their hotel rooms to avoid their exes. Nicks and Buckingham also frequently shouted at each other in between recordings. The dynamic started to wear on everyone, and McVie wrote the song “Songbird” while hoping for solace.

“I wrote it in half an hour,” she said. “Just stayed up late one night. I think I just was thinking of all the band members – ‘God, wouldn’t it be nice just to be happy?’”

The band frequently closed out their concerts with the song.