Oh Daddy

The song Oh Daddy, born from the pen of Christine McVie, immerses itself in an atmosphere that producer Ken Caillat described as "beautiful and ethereal". Capturing the right tempo was a particular challenge; if it went too fast it sounded rushed, and if it was slow, it became languid. The recording, made in 1976 for the album Rumours, included the use of an imposing nine-foot Bösendorfer piano at Davlen Studios in North Hollywood. To achieve a brighter sound from this instrument, U-47 tube microphones were employed and equalization was applied. McVie, holding down the sustain pedal, played long notes on the downbeat of the verses, creating a dramatic effect that was extended by the gradual increase in microphone sensitivity, causing the chords to resonate for up to thirty seconds. On electric guitars, Lindsey Buckingham used a Fender Stratocaster connected to a Leslie speaker and a volume pedal, in addition to a device called a Stratoblaster to increase its power. Reverb and delay effects were added, and Buckingham enhanced specific passages with acoustic guitar harmonics. Interestingly, during the Rumours sessions, a technical mishap when rewinding a tape caused the word "Daddy" to be cut off, leaving only "addy", and the band jokingly called it 'Addy'.

The inspiration behind Oh Daddy, as revealed by Christine McVie in 1977, was Mick Fleetwood's separation from his then-wife, Jenny Boyd. At the time, Fleetwood was the only father in the band, with two daughters. The lyrics, which include the line "And I can't walk away from you baby if I tried", featured the collaboration of Stevie Nicks. The song became a recurring piece on the Rumours and Tusk tours, and resurfaced for The Dance tour in 1997. Producer Ken Caillat also applied a delay effect at the beginning of the recording process so that the musicians would have a better idea of the final result with effects. In one of the takes, Christine McVie played random notes on her keyboard to capture the engineers' attention, and the band decided to keep these spontaneous additions in the final version. Mick Fleetwood, years later, in 2012, included Oh Daddy among his favorite recordings.