Cillian Murphy’s esteem as a tastemaker was already aloft when he blighted the entire Premier League with an infectious Peaky Blinders haircut that made up for his earlier failed attempt of trying to encourage people to add Brown Sauce to their cuppas in Intermission.
However, his most benevolent influencing gift has been his BBC Radio 6 show. His brilliant espousing of various eclectic realms and eras of music made me not only realise that we share remarkably similar music tastes but added the mellow hits of Alice Boman to my collection and endeared me to the wild relationship of the hilarious Louvin Brothers.
When speaking to Two Paddocks, the Corkman revealed the one track that stands out for him as a certified favourite. While the thought alone of champion a single track proves absolutely terrifying for many folks, Murphy proved as unflinching as Tommy Shelby and boldly proclaimed the song he holds dearest to be Fleetwood Mac’s early triumph with ‘Man of the World’.
With Rumours, Fleetwood Mac not only band secured a place on the figurative Mount Rushmore of rock ‘n’ roll legends, but they also had a brand new identity, so much so that with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks lending lyrics and licks, they were pretty much a new entity.
Ask any builder, though, and they’ll tell you that anything that springs up overnight must surely already have solid foundations in place; Fleetwood Mac’s mixed-up milieu of British blues and Californian cocaine rock was no different. Since July 1967, when Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and Jeremy Spencer formed the group, with John McVie soon following, they have been crafting out their one niche of adrenalised sonic energy.
In fact, in the years that have followed, Mick Fleetwood has made it clear that without Peter Green, there would be no Fleetwood Mac. The blues-rock guitar virtuoso is one of the most mythologised men in rock ‘n’ roll, but the short truth of the story is that he was one of the greatest guitarists of all time who simply struggled with the hedonism of the scene.
Green wrote ‘Man of the World’ about how he achieved everything he wanted to with a set of his good old pals, but despite loving his bandmates and all the good times he was having, he still felt incomplete. By his usual blistering 12-bar standards, the song is tender and mellowed, and his rare spaced-out strumming lends it a heart-wrenching sincerity. Despite the melancholy overture, the track is still equal parts an ode to his friends and good times. But despite all this brilliantly constructed duality that makes the song so beguiling, it is the simple pleasure of one of the most beautiful guitar tones in history that truly makes it soar.
Seemingly, this is something that Murphy agrees with, and no, I haven’t just stolen his opinion, as I mentioned earlier, we merely have very similar tastes thank you very much! Murphy remarks: “This is my favourite track, always makes me and everyone else dance when I play it. Energy, positivity, arrogance, youth… I’ve always loved early Fleetwood Mac before Peter Green left. I love his guitar playing and his voice.”
