Go Your Own Way (1976)

"Go Your Own Way" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their eleventh studio album, Rumours (1977). The song was released as the album's lead single on 20 December 1976 in the United States and on 11 February 1977 in the United Kingdom. Written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham, it became the band's first top-ten hit in the United States. "Go Your Own Way" has been well received by music critics and was ranked number 120 by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of 500 greatest songs of all time in 2010, and re-ranked number 401 in 2021. They also ranked the song second on their list of the 50 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs.

Recorded in three separate studios, the track was developed over a period of four months. As with most tracks on the Rumours album, none of the instruments were recorded live together; the tracks were instead completed through a series of overdubs. Lyrically, "Go Your Own Way" is about Buckingham's breakup with his bandmate Stevie Nicks.

Composition

"Go Your Own Way" was written at a house the band rented in Florida between legs of their Fleetwood Mac Tour and was the first song Buckingham presented to the band for the Rumours album. Mick Fleetwood, the band's drummer, remembered that the house had a "distinctly bad vibe to it, as if it were haunted, which did nothing to help matters". The lyrics at this stage had yet to be fleshed out, so Buckingham sang musical notes as placeholders in certain locations.

Buckingham wrote "Go Your Own Way" in what he described as "a stream of consciousness" that focused on his raw emotions. Ken Caillat, who produced Rumours, was unsure if the song had potential when Buckingham presented it to him. Buckingham had prepared a demo of "Go Your Own Way" on a cassette, which he played for Caillat and the rest of the band through room monitors in the control room. "Lindsey was beating his acoustic guitar as hard as he could and screaming his lungs out. The first time I heard it, I thought, What the heck is going on? It sounded so nonmusical. I didn’t know if anything would come from it."

Sheryl Crow, who would later work with Stevie Nicks, remarked: "When I was seventeen, I remember listening to 'Go Your Own Way' and feeling like that song was written for me."

Recording

"Go Your Own Way" was the second song that Fleetwood Mac worked on for the Rumours album. To familiarize John McVie with the song structure, Buckingham guided McVie through the chord changes in the control room. Early tracking was done with Mick Fleetwood using an eight-inch Ludwig snare in his drum kit, John McVie on a Fender bass, Christine McVie on Hammond organ, Stevie Nicks on tambourine, and Lindsey Buckingham on a 1959 Fender Stratocaster. Buckingham played an electric guitar instead of an acoustic during these sessions so he could be in the same room as the rest of the band without worrying about audio leakage. None of Nicks' tambourine parts were used for the final recording.

Buckingham was inspired by the drum feel of "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones and sought to incorporate a variation of the groove in "Go Your Own Way". Caillat took notice of Buckingham's enthusiasm as he demonstrated the drum part to Fleetwood. "I remember watching him guide Mick (Fleetwood) as to what he wanted – he'd be so animated, like a little kid, playing these air tom fills with his curly hair flying. Mick wasn't so sure he could do what Lindsey wanted, but he did a great job, and the song took off." Fleetwood ultimately came up with his own variation of the "Street Fighting Man" groove by playing across the tom-toms and hitting the bass drum on the middle beat. To achieve an open drum sound, Caillat and Richard Dashut situated the drum kit next to plywood and hard backing walls; additional plywood was also placed on the ground. Fleetwood's drum kit was miked with AKG 451s for overheads and the snare drum, an M-88 Beyerdynamic microphone for the bass drum, and a Neumann U 87 for other components of the kit.

Initially, John McVie tracked a busier and bouncier bass part that gave the song "a country feel". To prevent the verses from becoming too bloated, Buckingham asked him to play straight eighth notes. Buckingham granted McVie more artistic liberty on the choruses, which he opened up with a more melodic bass line. Overdubs of Hammond B3 organ, electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, and assorted percussion such as the bell of a cymbal and maracas were also added to the mix. Buckingham wanted the electric rhythm guitars to sound like one instrument, so to fulfill that objective, he played a distorted guitar with little transience and layered it over a cleaner guitar. He believed that this recording technique created a thicker guitar sound that provided "a richer landscape to work with". The song follows a cyclic I-V-IV chord progression in the verses and a vi-IV-V chord progression in the chorus.