Stand Back

Nicks has often told the story of how she wrote the song. She wrote it on the day of her marriage to Kim Anderson on January 29, 1983. The newlyweds were driving up to San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara when Prince's song "Little Red Corvette" came on the radio. Nicks started humming along to the melody, especially inspired by the lush synthesizers of the song, and "Stand Back" was born. They stopped and got a tape recorder and she recorded the demo in the honeymoon suite that night. Later, when Nicks went into the studio to record the song, she called Prince and told him the story of how she wrote the song to his melody. He came to the studio that night and played synthesizers on it, although his contribution is uncredited on the album. He and Nicks did agree however to split the publishing royalties on the song 50-50. Then, she says, "he just got up and left as if the whole thing happened in a dream."[2][3][4] The main intro of the song features an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer. The synth-bass is played on a Roland Jupiter-8. On the Rock a Little tour, the Oberheim is replaced with a Yamaha DX7.

There were two mixes made of the song; the generally more well-known album version (4:48) and the edited single version (4:18). Differences between the two are somewhat subtle, but the single version tends to have more of a "collapsed" or "mono" sound to it and the electronic drum programs are mixed, rather dry and flattened, especially in the song's intro bars; whereas the drum tracks on the album version are accentuated by a generous amount of reverb effect and harder compression. Acoustic drums were given a more backseat role on "Stand Back". There is a further 'polished' version of the track, with crisper percussion and louder foreground synth, featured on Nicks' 1991 compilation album Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks, remixed by Chris Lord-Alge and running at 4:59.

“Stand Back” is performed in the key of B Minor with a tempo of 116 beats per minute in common time. The song follows a chord progression of A/G – G – D/A – A – D/A – G/B – Bm – A/B – B/D – G, and Nicks’ vocals span from A₃ to B₄.[5][6]

Two videos were filmed for the single. The first, which was never aired and is referred to as the "Scarlett Version", was a lavish production directed by Brian Grant and features Nicks in a Gone with the Wind type scenario. Upon seeing the completed video, Nicks rejected it as, according to Grant, she felt she looked fat.[7] This version can now be found (with Nicks commentary) on the DVD supplement of her 2007 collection Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks.

As an alternative, a second video was made on a much lower budget than the original. Directed by choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday, it shows Nicks performing the song behind a microphone in a spotlight-filled room surrounded by glass walls and mirrors, interspersed with shots of choreographed dance sequences. This was the version aired on television and was also included on Nicks' 1986 video compilation I Can't Wait - The Video Collection as well as the aforementioned Crystal Visions compilation DVD.

Nicks performed the song as the musical guest on the December 10, 1983 Saturday Night Live episode, with Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel fame on drums and Marilyn Martin singing backup.[8]

The most recent live performance of the song in Nicks' solo shows is captured in the 2009 CD release The Soundstage Sessions, where Nicks chose the track as the opening number to her show, rather than placing it towards the climactic end of the setlist as per previous tours.

In 2003, Scottish DJ Linus Loves released a cover of "Stand Back" with vocals by Sam Obernik. The cover was a moderate club hit. Should Auld Aquentice Be Forgot, Sky Ferreira and Rod Stewart also performed live cover versions. Jillian O’ Dowd also recorded a cover on their covers album Liberties (2013). Also the song was sampled in the song "No Way To Hide" by German techno band Scooter, which was featured on their 2012 album "Music For A Big Night Out".

• Stevie Nicks – vocals
• Jimmy Iovine – producer
• David Williams – guitar
• Sandy Stewart – synthesizer
• Prince - synthesizer[2]
• Bobbye Hall – percussion
• Waddy Wachtel – guitar
• Ian Wallace – percussion
• Russ Kunkel – drum overdubs
• Steve Lukather – guitar
• Marvin Caruso – drums
• David Bluefield – OB-Xa synthesizer and DMX drum machine programming
• Sharon Celani – background vocals
• Lori Perry-Nicks – background vocals
• Shelly Yakus – engineer
• Chris Lord-Alge – mixer

"Stand Back – Remixes"
Single by Stevie Nicks
from the album Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks
Released	May 29, 2007 (digital) August 28, 2007 (physical)
Label	Reprise
Producer(s)	Jimmy Iovine
Stevie Nicks singles chronology
"Planets of the Universe" (2001) "Stand Back – Remixes" (2007) "Crash Into Me" (2009)

The song was remixed and released again as a single on August 28, 2007 to promote Nicks' compilation album Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks. This time the single went to number two on the US Dance Club Songs chart and number-one on the Hot Dance Single Sales chart.

• Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks, liner notes
• Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks, liner notes and commentary