Dragonfly is from the early days of Fleetwood Mac, before the arrival of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and the resulting soap opera that made the band a boomer favorite. Instead, Dragonfly is a far more psychedelic song that Fleetwood Mac’s later work and the music video reflects that psychedelic feel.
Written by the band’s then-guitarist Danny Kirwan, Dragonfly features lyrics adapted from W.H. Davies’s 1927 poem, The Dragonfly, and it was the first single that the band recorded after the band’s original frontman, Peter Green, had let the group. By the time the single was released, guitarist Jeremy Spencer had also left the group. Even before the arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, Fleetwood Mac was a band known for its backstage drama.
This single failed to chart when it was originally released in the UK, though the members of the band felt it was one of their best songs. The psychedelic video, which was obviously made in the days before MTV caused bands to consider that people should be able to watch a music video without burning out their retinas, probably didn’t help. The song is better than the video. It was finally given a belated U.S. release in 2014 and managed to make it to 9th place on the Hot Singles Sales Chart.
Enjoy!