"Go Insane" is the title track of Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album. Released as a single in July 1984, it became Buckingham's second top-40 hit in the United States after "Trouble", three years earlier. "Go Insane" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at No. 23 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart). In the UK, the single was released in August on Mercury Records and received airplay from 20 playlists across the country by early September.[3][4]
When asked about the lyrics of "Go Insane", Buckingham explained that the song was about being on the verge of insanity. "That song is not about going insane for all time but for the fact that we all go insane from time to time. There are times when we tend to go out a little bit and you're walking on that edge."[6] Buckingham said that the "I lost my power in this world" lyric refers to the "power of discipline" and "the power to progress".[7]
In later years, Buckingham stated that the song, "Go Insane", was actually written about his post-break up relationship with former lover, Stevie Nicks.
"We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time."[8]
Critical reception
Billboard described the song as "aggressive, electronic dance-rock" and predicted that the song would "reestablish [Buckingham's] prominence as a soloist."[2] Chris Morris of Musician magazine thought that the title track possessed "nervous undercurrents".[9]The Washington Post commented that the song's "punchy mid-tempo rhythm, catchy guitar riff, melody hook and the chorus harmonies all make this reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, even if there are some odd effects in the background and an unsettling theme in the lyrics."[10]AllMusic likened "Go Insane" to Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac and highlighted the song's "massed choral sounds."[11]
In concerts, notably on The Dance, Buckingham did an acoustic fingerstyle version of "Go Insane", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar. He first performed the song in this style on his 1992–1993 tour promoting the Out of the Cradle album.[17]
During the 2008 Gift of Screws tour, as well as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 Unleashed Tour, he played the full-band arrangement of the song.[18][19] He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 Seeds We Sow tour.
↑ Wasahla, Steve (May 1985). "Lindsey Buckingham". Song Hits. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2023– via The Blue Letter Archives.
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