I'm a big Lindsey Buckingham fan, and fingerpicky, gangly Buckingham guitar bits have ended up in all my songs since about forever. I had been playing the front end of the chorus on guitar for a while before any other part of the song was written. It was nice to play; the energy of it was sweet but kind beat up and sad.

Originally, the tempo was twice as fast and I cut the track live with a band at this faster tempo. I experimented and brought it way back and found the pace there. It felt more stumbling to me, like the person in the tune and better matched the anger of the verses. It was less sun - more grease and dirt. Also, it fattened up Peter Kaufmann's drums.

"Friends will laugh like lovers, then war like gangs in the heat" is something everyone can probably relate to. "So duck or run for covers, before he's talking sweet" is all about when someone acting nice becomes a signal for you to run for the hills. And it must be noted that I say "run for 'covers' not "cover" because it felt really ridiculous to sing that and mean the blankets, like "run for covers!"