Stevie Nicks wrote "Silver Springs" after her breakup with Lindsey Buckingham, the band's guitarist and her longtime boyfriend. She wanted to make sure he would never forget about her: "I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you." In 2009, she told Rolling Stone: "It was me realizing that Lindsey was going to haunt me for the rest of my life, and he has." You can hear Buckingham's message to Nicks on the "Go Your Own Way," written around the same time.

Nicks got the idea for the title when she saw a sign for Silver Spring, Maryland (just north of Washington, DC) while driving with Buckingham. The name was, to her, so beautiful that she wrote it into the song. Note that the song title adds an "s" to the city, so it's "Silver Springs."

"Silver Springs" is one of Fleetwood Mac's classic songs, but it was banished to a B-side when it was released in 1977. The song was recorded for their Rumours album but didn't make the cut. Back then albums had to be carefully culled because there was only so much space on a vinyl record, and Rumours was overflowing with great songs - it became one of the best selling albums in history. So "Silver Springs" was available only as the B-side of the singles "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop." It got some FM radio play and the band played it on the European leg of their 1977 tour, but it really gained traction when they put it in the setlist for their 1997 The Dance tour, which reunited their classic lineup, bringing Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham back to the fold. The song has grown more popular with time, reaching a new audience through streaming. Fleetwood Mac continued to play it live into the 2010s.