Song 2: S.6 Ep.4: Fleetwood Mac - Dreams, 06/11/2026
Some songs become so familiar that we forget just how extraordinary they are. Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is one of them.
Released in 1977 on Rumours, an album fuelled by romantic breakups and considerable tension within the band, Dreams was written by Stevie Nicks during her separation from Lindsey Buckingham.
And here's what makes it particularly interesting for this podcast: it's track two.
Rumours opens with Buckingham's upbeat Second Hand News, before Dreams completely changes the mood. That hypnotic rhythm, Nicks' beautiful vocal and the quiet bitterness beneath it reveal the emotional heart of the album.
Which brings us to my Song 2 theory. Track one introduces the record, but track two has to convince you to stay.
It became Fleetwood Mac's only US number-one single and one of their most enduring songs.
A brilliant piece of album sequencing, or a great song that would have worked anywhere?
This is Song 2, and today we're looking at Fleetwood Mac's Dreams.
30 Oct 2026
Song 2: S.6 Ep.3 - La Roux 30.10.26, 30/10/2026
"maybe it's more important than I realised. Narratively, it's very important on this record I'm about to put out.” Elly Jackson
Is the second track on an album really its most important? La Roux joins Stephen ‘Steps’ Lowe to put the theory to the test, and ends up questioning a few of her own decisions along the way.
Best known for hits including Bulletproof and In for the Kill, Elly Jackson, aka La Roux, has spent much of her career doing things her own way. But when presented with the Song 2 theory, that the opening track introduces an album, while the second has to convince you to stay, she admits it's something she's never really considered.
As the conversation develops, however, she begins to see the argument differently. Discussing her forthcoming album, Jackson explains how she's moved away from sequencing songs primarily by key and tempo towards building a narrative, with Cabin Fever occupying a particularly important position.
“Yeah, maybe it's more important than I realised. Narratively, it's very important on this record I'm about to put out.”
From the art of album sequencing to the danger of putting all your biggest songs at the beginning, it's a revealing, entertaining conversation about how records are put together, and whether track two deserves a little more credit.
Listen to the latest episode of Song 2 and find out whether La Roux agrees with the theory, or manages to pull it apart.
26 Oct 2026
Song 2: S.6 Ep.2 - Wishy, 26/10/2026
“Once we got the final track list down, we were like, let’s listen back and see if it feels right.” - Wishy
Does track two really deserve its special status? Wishy's Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites take on the Song 2 theory, make a surprisingly strong case for Covergirl, and talk about why, even in the age of streaming and shuffle, getting an album's running order right still matters.
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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
64
Social presence
97
YouTube
0
Engagement
76
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