Can't Go Back (Fleetwood Mac song)

"Can't Go Back"
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Mirage
B-side	"That's Alright"
Released	April 1983 (UK)[1]
Recorded	1982
Genre	Pop
Length	2:42
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)	Lindsey Buckingham Fleetwood Mac Ken Caillat Richard Dashut
Fleetwood Mac UK singles chronology
"Oh Diane" (1982) "Can't Go Back" (1983) "Big Love" (1987)

"Can't Go Back" is a song by British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. It was written and performed by guitarist Lindsey Buckingham for the 1982 album Mirage, the fourth issued by the band with Buckingham as main producer. An instrumental demo of "Can't Go Back" appears on the 2016 deluxe edition of Mirage under the working title "Suma's Walk".^[2]

In the UK, the track was released as the follow-up to the Top 10 hit "Oh Diane" and became the fourth single to be released from the Mirage album in April 1983. It was released on 7" and 12", with the 12" format including "Tusk" and "Over & Over" from the 1979 album Tusk, and "Rhiannon" from 1975 album Fleetwood Mac. The song peaked at number 83 on the UK Singles Chart.^[3]

Along with "Eyes of the World", "Can't Go Back" was one of the two songs that Buckingham brought into the recording studio in Hérouville, France for the Mirage sessions.^[4] The song initially began as an instrumental that was built around few interweaving guitar parts and a basic rhythm track. It was later adorned with a more extensive rhythm track from Mick Fleetwood, who multitracked drum fills and auxiliary percussion.^[5] In an interview with Classic Rock magazine, Christine McVie expressed her approval of the song and identified the salience of the song's lyrics in relation to their attempt at recreating the success of the band's Rumours album.^[6] Despite being released as a single, "Can't Go Back" is yet to be included on any retrospective of Fleetwood Mac material; thus it can only be found on its parent album Mirage.^[5]

Track listings

UK 7" Single (W 9848)

1. "Can't Go Back" – 2:42
2. "That's Alright" - 3:09

UK 12" Single (W 9848 T)

1. "Can't Go Back" – 2:42
2. "Rhiannon" – 4:13
3. "Tusk" – 3:38
4. "Over & Over" – 4:35

Personnel

• Mick Fleetwood – double tracked drums, castanets, sleigh bells, maracas
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Christine McVie – keyboards
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, vocals, keyboards

Chart performance

Chart (1983)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart[3]	83

References

1. "Fleetwood Mac - Can't Go Back". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
2. "Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Mirage: Deluxe Edition"". The Second Disc. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
3. "Fleetwood Mac - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
4. Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-316-40342-9.
5. Roubin, Olivier; Ollivier, Romuald (1 April 2025). Fleetwood Mac: All The Songs. New York: Black Dog Leventhal Publishers. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-7624-8630-4.
6. Hasted, Nick (23 June 2022). "Drugs, alcohol and goofing around: The making of Fleetwood Mac's Mirage". Louder. Retrieved 8 June 2025.

• The Great Rock Discography, 6th Edition, Martin C. Strong. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.

External links

• The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac | Fleetwood Mac Official Site.