The Penguin: Lyric Interpretations: Little Lies

Little Lies

Written by Christine McVie and Eddie Quintela.

Contributors to this interpretation included: Phil Hof, Erik, Carlene, Janice, Lis, dc, Villavic, K.E. Gil, and Marty.

The Rumours-era band reunited for the Tango In The Night effort in 1986/87, but they did not tour to support it. This final album with Lindsey Buckingham (until The Dance) produced several hits, including Little Lies.
Little Lies isn’t necessarily a description of Christine’s love life at that time, but certainly there is an undercurrent of her breakup with ex-husband John McVie. In fact, there was a conversation between Christine and John on the subject:
In a joint interview, John asked her sheepishly, "You writin' that about me?" , as if to say he still often feels as if her lyrics are concerning him. Her response (said with a chuckle) was, "No John...it's not our song!" He laughed and said, "That's what I figured!" There was a weird moment of awkwardness as he mumbled a few lines about how he doesn't know...he's just heard it.... then silence. Very sweet but sad in a way. Perhaps Christine thought he meant was she still writing romantic-type songs about him, while John meant that he feels that her lyrics about bad relationships might still be about him after all these years.
Some think Christine wrote Little Lies about her relationship with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Her frustration with his habits could have fueled the wishful regret that continues throughout Little Lies.
Perhaps she was moved by both these experiences. At the time she wrote Little Lies, Christine had just married Eddy Quintela; they are still married, so he’s off the hook!
Incidentally, many fans hadn’t realized the Little Lies was a Fleetwood Mac song when they first heard it!
Simplified, Little Lies is about recognizing that a relationship is failed but (at least) one of the two is unwilling to see it go. She’s saying something like, "If you'd just go on lying to me (telling me it is OK), then maybe I'll believe it (just to postpone the heartache), at least for today."
"If I could turn the page in time, I’d rearrange just a day or two." Christine wishes she could change something in their history that is causing the breakup of her relationship. But since she can't change the past, she'll instead take a day in the present where she can make believe in her love: "I'll settle for one day to believe in you; Tell me, tell me, tell me lies."
Another interpretation of the "tell me lies" chorus holds that she's being sarcastic. Perhaps she is saying, "Go ahead, try to tell me sweet little lies." In this view, the target of the song is trying to hide these lies, but Christine sees through them, as in " … Oh no, no you can’t disguise."
She has finally had enough of the wishing, and realizes it’s over: "No more broken hearts; we're better off apart, let's give it a try."
She still retains a hint of optimism, though -- "a try" suggests that the breakup may not be permanent.
Christine’s songwriting is inspired by her own experiences, but she does not necessarily write her songs as literal reflections of them (unlike Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who seem to put their diaries to music). Christine often says that she steps into other people's shoes when she writes songs, so many are not about her personal life at all.

Transcribed to HTML by Marty Adelson.