Never Going Back Again

When Lindsey Buckingham sat down to compose Never Going Back Again, the personal context was intense. The breakup with Stevie Nicks, a bandmate in Fleetwood Mac, was a recent wound that was reflected in the lyrics, although he himself described it as a "sweet and a little naive" song. The central idea was not wanting to go through the same thing again, a kind of declaration of intent for life after a complicated relationship, even as he was starting to get to know someone else. Despite its apparent simplicity, the piece was built with very careful guitar technique. Buckingham used the D (Drop D) tuning with a capo on the fourth fret, and his playing style, partly inspired by Ry Cooder, utilized "Travis picking" so that the acoustic guitar could support the entire structure of the song on its own.

The recording of Never Going Back Again, which took place in 1976 at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, required almost obsessive attention to detail. Producer Ken Caillat suggested an uncommon method to ensure the best sound for the acoustic guitar: changing the strings every twenty minutes. This involved constant work for the guitar technician, but Buckingham was determined to achieve the perfect sound. In fact, there was a moment when, while recording the vocals, Buckingham realized he had played the guitar part in the wrong key, forcing him to start from scratch the next day. Originally, the song was conceived with a working title, Brushes, and featured Mick Fleetwood on drums, using brushes on a snare drum. Although this drum part was removed from the final version that appeared on the album Rumours (1977), it was recovered and included in later editions, adding an extra layer to the piece.