PETER GREEN & FLEETWOOD MAC - BEFORE THE BEGINNING

BEFORE THE BEGINNING

PETER GREEN & FLEETWOOD MAC

SONGWRITER: PETER GREEN

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: THEN PLAY ON

LABEL: REPRISE RECORDS

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 1969

Then Play On is the third studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 September 1969. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan and the last with Peter Green. Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things" (according to Mick Fleetwood in Q magazine in 1990). The album, appearing after the group's sudden success in the pop charts, offered a broader stylistic range than the classic blues of the group's first two albums. The album went on to reach #6 in the UK, subsequently becoming the band's fourth Top 20 hit in a row, as well as their third album to reach the Top 10. The title is taken from the opening line of William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night — "If music be the food of love, play on".

This was the band's first release with Warner/Reprise after being lured away from Blue Horizon and a one-off with Immediate Records. All subsequent Fleetwood Mac albums have been released on Warner. The album, which at its original UK release had an unusually long running time, has been released with four different song line-ups. The original CD compiled all songs from the two US LP versions, both of which omitted tracks from the original UK version. In August 2013, a remastered edition of the album was reissued on vinyl and CD, restoring its original 1969 UK track listing. This version reached No. 112 on the UK Albums chart.

So many nights I lay awake

Can't sleep

I lay here thinkin' 'bout a woman

I used to love

Can't sleep but no good to count sheep

I'll just count the worries

That I've got plenty of

And how many times

Must I be the fool

Before I can make it

Oh Make it on home

I've got to find a place to sing my words

Is there nobody listening to my song?

You talk about a life

Been searching for the key

But can't find an answer

To comfort me

I ask myself about love

Can't even find the door

To take me to a place

I've never seen before

But how many times

Must I be the fool

Before I can make it

Oh make it on home

I've got to find a place to sing my words

Is there nobody listening to my song?