Murrow Turning Over in His Grave

"Murrow Turning Over in His Grave" is the second track on Fleetwood Mac's 2003 album Say You Will. It was written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham.^[1][2]

Structure

The song features Buckingham singing the two verses in a falsetto with the chorus being composed of many overdubbed vocals. There appears to be considerable studio production manipulation to give the song a synthetic and technological mood. The song's closing section features a distorted guitar solo of over 90 seconds while three separate guitars accompany.

During a live performance for a SoundStage DVD in 2004, the song was performed with only two guitars, while Lindsey Buckingham sang in his normal vocal range.

Lindsey Buckingham reworked the chorus of "Black Betty". For the "Black Betty had a child" line, Buckingham substituted the name of the reporter Ed Murrow.

Meaning

Lindsey Buckingham has said that the song was written to reflect his belief that Edward R. Murrow, an iconic journalist in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, would be greatly dismayed by the present-day media.^[3] Murrow was a great believer of honesty and integrity in delivering news to the people of the world. He said "to be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful."

Personnel

• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, keyboards, vocals
• Mick Fleetwood – percussion, drums
• John McVie – bass guitar

References