Fleetwood Mac Friday #9: “Family Man”
Today I’m going to write about what is unequivocally the worst Fleetwood Mac song, “Family Man.” The song’s unparalleled terrible songwriting quality defies explanation, and that’s why it fascinates me.
Let’s take a listen to it first. It begins with cloying, pseudo-Caribbean percussion, that hallmark of white bands who have run out of good ideas. The first verse goes like this, “Walk down this road/ When the road gets rough/ I fall down/ I get up.” Deep stuff. The chorus is both unremarkable and the only memorable part. “I am what I am,” Lindsey sings in an atonal, sneaky cartoon cat voice, “A family man.”
Lindsey bucks the usual tradition of songs in which the speaker identifies himself as something (“I am the very model of a modern major general”) by refusing to offer any specific details as to what makes him a family man. He opts instead to just sing the words, “Mother, father, brother.” Yep, Lindsey, those are some of the main family members a person can have.
What makes great artists falter? I think, as a general rule, the less a person hears the word “no,” the more that person sucks. In art, there are a million examples. George Lucas is an obvious one. Joyce Carol Oates is a brilliant writer, who I saw read and answer questions just two years ago at City Lights and she’s very sharp and funny still, but her Twitter feed reveals a compulsion to share sophomoric, embarrassing thoughts that border on “Why is there no white history month” level. You just know no one has questioned her decision-making in person since 1966. I get the sense the Coen Brothers still hear “no” pretty often, not just because of their bleak portrayals of artistic frustration, but because of the consistent variety, experimentation, and thoughtfulness in their films.
So that’s my theory—Tango in the Night came five years after the triumphant Mirage, and its subsequent, glorious tour. “Family Man” follows the great “Little Lies” on the album. It stands as a reminder not to let yourself slip in the wake of success.
The Tusk 
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