One of the things reported, in retrospect, about Green Manalishi is that when Peter Green set it to music, he knew exactly what he wanted to hear from the band; not in a position to write things down, he schooled the other players on what they were to play. Mick Fleetwood -- who has said of Peter Green musically speaking, "Oh! He'd come over and hit me! 'It ain't ***** swingin'! You ain't puttin' it where it should be!" -- was already used to this kind of thing. Not so much John McVie.

Peter Green told Mojo Magazine about telling McVie what his bass line was on Green Manalishi:
"I taught them [the band] it. I taught them their lines. I said, 'It goes like this.' Which was hard for John, because he's a tough customer to please, because he's played with Eric Clapton."

Mojo Magazine, in turn, queried Mick Fleetwood: "The Green Manalishi? ...no clue that something was really badly wrong?"

Fleetwood: Not really. We were just making music. Now I do. My God, yes! And it makes me shiver.