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WEBMISTRESS speculates:
As Lindsey told Rolling Stone, this song is about Stevie. In his words: "She always had to fight for everything. She was coming off a solo album and was in the process of reintegrating herself mentally in the band, and we're all warriors with a sword in one sort or another. She and I have known each other since high school. So I just wrote, 'Sad Angel have you come to fight the war/We fall to earth together, the crowd calling out for more.'" Once again, the pet name angel is used; once again, there's the themes of battles and dreams. The first lines reminded me of a line from Stevie's Trouble in Shangri-La: "you can consume all the beauty in the room." I wonder if Lindsey was deliberately countering it - that he's the one being consumed?
There'a a lot of tension in this song. The tune is catchy and upbeat, but the "sad angel" is obviously conflicted, as is he. The silence is a result of their shared history, I imagine, and the "words that we break" can be hurtful things said in the past, broken promises, sharp words... such things are hard to forget, especially when there is the fear that they might start all over again. The idea that he approaches the situation "with a prayer and a curse" also communicates that. Prayers typically indicate hope and desire for the best, but curses are the opposite. He's full of trepidation, even dread, but he still believes it's worth it to "fight the war" together because of the possibility that things just might turn out right.
The use of "the war" here intrigues me. At first, one might thing it simply refers to the battles between Lindsey and Stevie. However, I think the "war" might also expand to working together. The drums and the fife, the idea of being called to march... these are aspects of soldiers being called to fight, to do their duty. In this case, music is their "calling" - not just music, but being a part of Fleetwood Mac, which both of them have referred to as like the army. Here, Lindsey talks about crowds calling out for more - an obvious reference to the audience - and perhaps in that sense, performing for the audience is the battle. It's painful to relive their relationship onstage and "fall to earth together" but they do it anyway. (They're paid handsomely for their troubles, but still.) Hopefully, Lindsey and Stevie will always want to "come to fight the war" onstage for us.