Oh Well (song)
Encyclopedia
"Oh Well" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac
in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green
. It first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1969, subsequently appearing on the Greatest Hits
album in 1971. It later featured on the 1992 boxed set 25 Years - The Chain
, and on the 2002 compilation album The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
. A slightly different version of the song was included on the 1998 compilation The Vaudeville Years
.
album, fused together to form one long track of nearly nine minutes. At concerts, only the first part was played, and live versions of the song have been released on many Fleetwood Mac live albums throughout their career such as Live
and Live at the BBC
, as well on the B-sides of singles. After Green's departure, the song was sung by various other members, including Bob Welch
, Lindsey Buckingham
and Rick Vito
.
The first part of the song features a fast blues
guitar riff played by Green, joined subsequently by Danny Kirwan
and bassist John McVie
, before a musical silence, punctuated only by Mick Fleetwood
's cowbell percussion. Green sings a brief verse with no musical accompaniment, before the riff begins again and Kirwan takes a solo. Another silence precedes a second verse, and a replay of the riff. Where the second part follows, there is a brief pause before Green's sombre, Spanish-style acoustic guitar and low electric guitar, leading to further instrumental passages of recorder
, cello
and piano
, the latter played by Jeremy Spencer
. This was Spencer's only contribution to the song, as he was absent from the recording of "Part 1", and Green played all the other instruments heard during "Part 2".
The first minute or so of "Part 2" was usually included as a fade-out coda to the A-side and then begun again on the B-side of the single. The Then Play On album edit of "Oh Well" simply joined the two sides of the single as it stood, so that "Part 2"'s beginning is heard twice, otherwise the whole piece would run for only 7:58, rather than the resulting 8:56.
"Oh Well, Part 1" has been viewed by some critics as one of the early crossovers between blues rock and heavy metal
, along with songs by others such as Led Zeppelin
.
An excerpt from the song can be heard in the Doctor Who
story Spearhead from Space
. This was filmed around the same time the single was in the charts, and transmitted in January 1970. The song was omitted from later video releases of the story, but finally reintroduced on the DVD release in 2011.
was #2 for two weeks in November 1969, spending a total of 16 weeks on the chart. In the Dutch Top 40
, it peaked at #1, staying in the chart for 11 weeks. It also reached the top 5 in Norway, New Zealand and France, and the top 10 in Germany and Switzerland.
"Oh Well" was not a big hit in the USA, reaching only #55, although its reputation has grown in the years since its release. It has been also re-released in many countries as a 'Golden Oldies' single.
, Gordon Giltrap
, Joe Jackson
, Kenny Wayne Shepherd
, The Rockets
, Big Country
, Tribe of Gypsies
and Ratt
. The song was also played live by Jimmy Page
performing with the The Black Crowes
and released on his 2000 album Live at the Greek
.
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green
Peter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
. It first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1969, subsequently appearing on the Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (1971 Fleetwood Mac album)
Greatest Hits was the first hits compilation package from the rock band Fleetwood Mac, covering the period from the band's beginning in 1968 to 1971, mostly in its original incarnation led by guitarist Peter Green...
album in 1971. It later featured on the 1992 boxed set 25 Years - The Chain
25 Years - The Chain
25 Years – The Chain is a compilation album by British-American band Fleetwood Mac originally released in 1992. It consists of four CDs, covering the entire history of the band from its formation in 1967 up to 1992...
, and on the 2002 compilation album The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
The Best Of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac is a compilation featuring tracks from Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green years. The album serves as a digitally remastered replacement for the band's 1971 Greatest Hits album, with the remastering and cover art taken from the 1999 box set The Complete Blue Horizon...
. A slightly different version of the song was included on the 1998 compilation The Vaudeville Years
The Vaudeville Years
The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968 to 1970 is an album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1998. It was a compilation of outtakes and unreleased tracks from the band's early line up, none of which had previously seen the light of day officially...
.
Composition
"Oh Well" was composed in two parts, the first part being released as the A-side of the single and occasionally referred to as "Oh Well, Part 1". The B-side, "Part 2", was an entirely different, much longer instrumental piece with a classical influence. Both parts were released on the Then Play OnThen Play On
Then Play On is the third studio album by blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac, first released in 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"...
album, fused together to form one long track of nearly nine minutes. At concerts, only the first part was played, and live versions of the song have been released on many Fleetwood Mac live albums throughout their career such as Live
Live (Fleetwood Mac album)
Live is a double live album released by Fleetwood Mac in 1980. It was the first live album from the then-current line-up of the band, and the next would be The Dance from 1997...
and Live at the BBC
Live at the BBC (Fleetwood Mac album)
Live at the BBC is a 2CD album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, recorded at various BBC radio sessions between 1967 and 1971. It contains many tracks by Fleetwood Mac which are otherwise unavailable.-Disc one:...
, as well on the B-sides of singles. After Green's departure, the song was sung by various other members, including Bob Welch
Bob Welch (musician)
Robert Lawrence "Bob" Welch, Jr. is a former member of Fleetwood Mac, who had a briefly successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", and "Sentimental Lady"....
, Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...
and Rick Vito
Rick Vito
Rick Vito is a guitarist and singer. He was part of the band Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991.Vito and Billy Burnette took over as guitarists after Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac....
.
The first part of the song features a fast blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitar riff played by Green, joined subsequently by Danny Kirwan
Danny Kirwan
Daniel David "Danny" Kirwan is a British musician best known for his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972.-Early career:...
and bassist John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
, before a musical silence, punctuated only by Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
's cowbell percussion. Green sings a brief verse with no musical accompaniment, before the riff begins again and Kirwan takes a solo. Another silence precedes a second verse, and a replay of the riff. Where the second part follows, there is a brief pause before Green's sombre, Spanish-style acoustic guitar and low electric guitar, leading to further instrumental passages of recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, the latter played by Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Cedric Spencer , is a British musician, best known as one of the first guitarists in Fleetwood Mac.Spencer was born in Hartlepool, County Durham. He grew up in South London and was educated at Strand School, where he became known for hilarious impressions of the headmaster and several of his...
. This was Spencer's only contribution to the song, as he was absent from the recording of "Part 1", and Green played all the other instruments heard during "Part 2".
The first minute or so of "Part 2" was usually included as a fade-out coda to the A-side and then begun again on the B-side of the single. The Then Play On album edit of "Oh Well" simply joined the two sides of the single as it stood, so that "Part 2"'s beginning is heard twice, otherwise the whole piece would run for only 7:58, rather than the resulting 8:56.
"Oh Well, Part 1" has been viewed by some critics as one of the early crossovers between blues rock and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, along with songs by others such as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
.
An excerpt from the song can be heard in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story Spearhead from Space
Spearhead from Space
Spearhead from Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1970. The serial opened Series 7 of the show and was the first to be produced in colour. The serial introduced Jon Pertwee as the...
. This was filmed around the same time the single was in the charts, and transmitted in January 1970. The song was omitted from later video releases of the story, but finally reintroduced on the DVD release in 2011.
Chart performance
The single's peak position in the UK ChartsUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
was #2 for two weeks in November 1969, spending a total of 16 weeks on the chart. In the Dutch Top 40
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...
, it peaked at #1, staying in the chart for 11 weeks. It also reached the top 5 in Norway, New Zealand and France, and the top 10 in Germany and Switzerland.
"Oh Well" was not a big hit in the USA, reaching only #55, although its reputation has grown in the years since its release. It has been also re-released in many countries as a 'Golden Oldies' single.
Cover versions
"Oh Well" has been covered on record by many other artists and groups, including Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersTom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
, Gordon Giltrap
Gordon Giltrap
Gordon Giltrap is an English acoustic and electric guitarist and composer, whose musical styles cross multiple genres, including folk, blues, folk rock, pop, classical and rock....
, Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
, Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician.-Biography:Shepherd graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana...
, The Rockets
The Rockets (band)
The Rockets are an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan founded by guitarist Jimmy McCarty and drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek, both former members of the group Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels....
, Big Country
Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...
, Tribe of Gypsies
Tribe of Gypsies
Tribe of Gypsies is a San Fernando Valley, California-based Latin rock group, best known for band leader/guitarist Roy Z who has produced, written for, and played with such well known artists as Judas Priest, Rob Halford, and Bruce Dickinson who has used various members of Tribe of Gypsies to...
and Ratt
Ratt
Ratt is an American heavy metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Slip of the Lip", "Back For More", "Dance", "Body Talk", "I Want a Woman", and "Way Cool Jr." Ratt...
. The song was also played live by Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
performing with the The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...
and released on his 2000 album Live at the Greek
Live at the Greek
Live at the Greek: Excess All Areas is a double live album by Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes, released by musicmaker.com on 29 February 2000 and later by TVT Records on 4 July 2000. In October 1999, Page teamed up with The Black Crowes for a two-night performance of material from the Led Zeppelin...
.
Personnel
- Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, recorderRecorderThe recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is... - Danny KirwanDanny KirwanDaniel David "Danny" Kirwan is a British musician best known for his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972.-Early career:...
– guitar - John McVieJohn McVieJohn Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Mick FleetwoodMick FleetwoodMichael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Jeremy SpencerJeremy SpencerJeremy Cedric Spencer , is a British musician, best known as one of the first guitarists in Fleetwood Mac.Spencer was born in Hartlepool, County Durham. He grew up in South London and was educated at Strand School, where he became known for hilarious impressions of the headmaster and several of his...
- pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(B-side only)
Release information
- Netherlands - RepriseReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
RS27000, #1 - UK - Reprise RS27000, #2
- France - Reprise RV20231, #2
- Norway - Reprise RS27000, #3
- Ireland - Reprise RS27000, #5
- New Zealand - Reprise RO.27000, #5
- Germany - Reprise RA27000, #7
- Australia - Reprise 0883, #17 (Go-SetGo-SetGo-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
chart) - USA - Reprise 0883, #55
- Also issued in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico (as "Ah Bueno"), Portugal, Spain (as "Muy Bien"), South Africa and Venezuela (as "Oh Bien") on Reprise Records; Greece on Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
and Malaysia on Jaguare Records.