Stand Back is the sixth track on Stevie Nicks' second solo album The Wild Heart, and, three weeks before the album’s release, Stand Back was released as the album’s first single. In 2007, the Stand Back single was re-released, containing several new remixes of the track. Prince appears on the song playing keyboards (uncredited). It is not exactly clear, but it seems most likely he only played the bass-keyboard part. Prince was given co-writing credit as that keyboard line was heavily inspired by Prince’s own song Little Red Corvette, but he had no direct input in writing the song.
Stevie Nicks has recounted the story of the song’s origin, saying that on her wedding day (29 January 1983), she and her new husband Kim Anderson were driving to Santa Barbara for their honeymoon when they heard Little Red Corvette for the first time, "so we pulled over somewhere and got the tape. It just gave me an incredible idea, so I spent many hours that night writing a song about some kind of crazy argument, and it was to become one of the most important of my songs." When she later went to record the song, she called Prince to tell him the story and twenty minutes later Prince showed up at her studio. He "walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about 25 minutes and then left," she later told rock music journalist Timothy White. "He spoiled me for every band I’ve ever had because nobody can exactly recreate – not even with two piano players – what Prince did all by his little self."
While a specific recording date of basic tracking is not known, it was written and cut by Stevie Nicks within a week of her 29 January wedding. Prince contributed his keyboard part on 8 February 1983 at Studio 55, Los Angeles, California
|