One suite's obsession with "Silver Springs"

Graphic by Hanna Babek

Like many other seniors, I’ve spent a lot of my time lately reflecting. As I imagine myself walking across the stage on Taylor Field, my mind refuses to focus on that day for long, instead drifting to the other moments that define my time as a Laser. And as strange as it sounds, few things have impacted my final year at Lasell as much as the 1977 Fleetwood Mac hit “Silver Springs” has.

My roommates and I spend a lot of our downtime watching music videos. When we sit in the living room to do homework or hang out, someone opens YouTube on the TV, hits play on the first music video, and a now-familiar lineup of tunes follows. This is the story of how our suite’s most beloved song came to be.

During one of our music video marathons in the first week of classes, a live performance of Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” graced our TV screen. The 1997 live production, filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. is an iconic and well-known performance, best recognized by Stevie Nicks glaring at Lindsey Buckingham from center stage, cursing him to always remember her.

I am not exaggerating when I say that since the night we first watched it, that video has played at least five times a week on our TV, usually, more. We can recognize it from the very first note that Christine McVie plays on the piano asand from the moment the stage lights come up, even before the band becomes visible. It’s like a siren call for my roommates; the second that video comes on, everyone stops what they’re doing to sit down and watch it. Homework and conversations come to a halt, and five and a half minutes of dramatic singing ensues.

It’s gotten a bit ridiculous, but at least we’re consistent.

Our attachment to the song has only gotten more comical as the year has gone on, with our most absurd “Silver Springs” moment yet happening late one Saturday night at the very end of March. All six roommates sat together in the living room, and Mik had the bright idea of suggesting we turn on our signature song. Before the video had even reached its one minute mark, tears were flowing as we lamented the fact that we only had a month left on campus.

None of us were doing anything to stop the dramatics of it all; each roommate saying something like “I wish we’d met sooner!” and “I can’t believe it’s almost over already,” only setting each other off more and more. It would’ve been laughable to anyone looking in on us–the sight of six girls huddled together, yelling over one another and crying while Stevie Nicks sang in the background–but it was a very accurate representation of ourselves as roommates. Over-the-top and melodramatic, yes, but also a group that loves each other fiercely.

Our little Butters family.

The impact of this video can be seen far beyond the walls of our dorm building. The song has graced nearly every single roommate journey we’ve been on, whether we’re squished in the back of Mik’s Kia Soul (may Cubert rest in peace) going to Dairy Queen or driving to Hudson. “Silver Springs” has been sung on almost every holiday we’ve been together for, with our most festive performances taking place on Halloween and New Year’s Day. Whenever one of us hears the familiar tune we rush to tell the others; I’ve received texts and announcements from the dining hall, the library, the radio, bars and coffee shops, just to name a few.

I don’t know why it was this song specifically that we chose to latch onto, when it just as easily could’ve been any other tune in our music video lineup. With its vengeful and vulnerable energy, “Silver Springs” doesn’t really match the energy of our senior year, so why did we choose it? Could it be because of the emotion in Stevie Nicks’ voice or the glare she gives Lindsey Buckingham? Maybe it’s the way that Mick Fleetwood drums happily in the background, blissfully ignorant or simply ignoring the drama unfolding in front of him.

It might just be too impossible to explain. I believe that we did not choose “Silver Springs.” “Silver Springs” chose us when it first appeared on our TV screen, and because of that fateful day I will always associate this song with the five girls I lived with during my senior year of college.

To my roommates–in the most loving, nostalgic, and least threatening way possible; as Stevie Nicks once said, “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.”