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Isn't It Midnight

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"Isn't It Midnight"
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Tango in the Night
B-side"Mystified"
Released6 June 1988 (UK)[1]
Recorded1987
Genre
Length4:09
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Christine McVie, Eddie Quintela, Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology
"Everywhere"
(1987) 		"Isn't It Midnight"
(1988) 		"As Long as You Follow"
(1988)

"Isn't It Midnight" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, from their 1987 studio album Tango in the Night. The song was co-written and sung by Christine McVie, with contributions from Lindsey Buckingham and McVie's then-husband Eddie Quintela. "Isn't It Midnight" was the sixth and final single to be released from Tango in the Night in 1988. The cover art for the single features the portrait of Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière, which was created in 1805 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who was a French neoclassical artist.[2] The verse is in E Aeolian with a i-bVII-i-i progression, while the chorus is in B Aeolian, with a i-bVI-bVII-i progression.[3]

Composition and release

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The lyrics to "Isn't it Midnight" relate to difficulties in establishing a bond with a romantic partner, who is described in the song as "cool, calm and collected".[2] Christine McVie explained that the song "goes back directly to a guy that I met a long time ago; it was a concrete situation that didn't work out."[4] Musically, the song is built around a guitar riff played by Lindsey Buckingham, a bass guitar played by John McVie, and drumming from Mick Fleetwood. Synthesisers are used comparitively sparingly on the album version, which primarily provide additional chordal accompaniment along with a melodic sequence found on the chorus.[2]

In the United Kingdom, "Isn't It Midnight" was released as the follow-up to "Everywhere"; it charted at a peak position of number 60 on 18 June 1988.[5] The song performed better in Ireland, where it reached the top 30, peaking at number 23.[6] The song was also released as a promotional single in the United States as an original album cut. The album version reached number 14 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.[7]

"Isn't It Midnight" was the second official Fleetwood Mac song to be released on the 3-inch CD single format as well being issued on 7" and 12" vinyl. All of the formats included the Tango in the Night track "Mystified", and the CD and 12-inch included the bonus tracks "Say You Love Me" (from 1975; it had previously been included as a bonus track on the "Everywhere" CD single) and "Gypsy" (from the 1982 album Mirage).

"Isn't it Midnight" was featured consistently throughout Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night and Behind the Mask concert tours,[8][9] though it was not played after 1990 until 2018 during the An Evening with Fleetwood Mac tour.[10][11]

Critical reception

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In a retrospective review, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described "Isn't It Midnight" as an example of McVie's "bullet-proof" songwriting, a "confection of booming drums, precise, tinkly synth and wailing guitar solos that sounds as if it’s just waiting to appear in the background of a film starring Ally Sheedy."[12] David Bowling of Blogcritics Magazine also grouped it as one of Christine McVie's strongest songs, noting that McVie delivers an atypical vocal in a song "about as hard as this incarnation of Fleetwood Mac gets".[13] Upon reflection, Stevie Nicks considers the track, along with Buckingham's own songs on the album, as a representative of his best contributions to any Fleetwood Mac album.[14]

Track listings

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UK 7-inch single – Warner: W 7860

  • A1. "Isn't It Midnight" – 4:06
  • B1. "Mystified" – 3:06

UK 12-inch single – Warner: W 7860 (T)

  • A1. "Isn't It Midnight" – 4:06
  • A2. "Mystified" – 3:06
  • B1. "Say You Love Me" – 4:11
  • B2. "Gypsy" – 4:24

Personnel

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Chart positions

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Chart performance for "Isn't It Midnight"
Chart (1988) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[15] 35
Ireland (IRMA)[6] 23
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)[16] 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 32
UK Singles Chart[18] 60
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[7] 14

References

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  1. ^ "Fleetwood Mac : Isn't It Midnight". Dutchcharts.nl.
  2. ^ a b c Roubin, Olivier; Ollivier, Romuald (1 April 2025). Fleetwood Mac: All The Songs. New York: Black Dog Leventhal Publishers. p. 488. ISBN 978-0-7624-8630-4.
  3. ^ Moore, Alan (January 1992). "Patterns of Harmony". Popular Music. 11 (1). Cambridge University Press: 82–3. doi:10.1017/S0261143000004852. S2CID 162086782.
  4. ^ White, Timothy (February 1989). "New Beginnings: The Fleetwood Mac Nobody Knows" (PDF). Musician. p. 82. Retrieved 4 June 2025 – via World Radio History.
  5. ^ "The Official Charts Company - Isn't It Midnight by Fleetwood Mac Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.
  6. ^ a b The Irish Charts (November 9, 2009). "The Irish Charts - All there is to know : Search by Artist (Fleetwood Mac)". Irish Charts / IRMA - Irish Recorded Music Association. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21.
  7. ^ a b "Fleetwood Mac Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  8. ^ Bishop, Pete (15 October 1987). "Fleetwood Mac attack still strong". The Pittsburgh Press. p. D5. Retrieved 5 June 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Darrow, Chuck (11 November 1990). "Fleetwood Mac has weak link". Asbury Park Press. pp. E17. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
  10. ^ "Live Review: Fleetwood Mac Revisit History and Try to Move On at Chicago's United Center (10/6)". Consequence of Sound. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  11. ^ Bracelin, Jason (14 November 2019). "5 set-list twists as Fleetwood Mac hits Las Vegas". Neon. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
  12. ^ Petridis, Alexis (23 March 2017). "Fleetwood Mac: Tango in the Night review – timely reissue coasts from gloss to gloom". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  13. ^ Bowling, David (20 November 2010). "Music Review: Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night". Blogcritics Magazine. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  14. ^ Cohen, Howard (9 March 2017). "Stevie Nicks: Recording 'Tango' in my ex-boyfriend's bedroom was 'extremely strange'". Miami Herald. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Fleetwood Mac – Isn't It Midnight" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  16. ^ "Tipparade-lijst van week 34, 1988" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Fleetwood Mac – Isn't It Midnight" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Fleetwood Mac: Artist Discography". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
[edit]
  • Fleetwood Mac Legacy [1]
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