Songfacts®:

• By the mid-1980s, every Fleetwood Mac member had dealt with, or was dealing with, drug and/or alcohol problems. Stevie Nicks went through the worst – she was doing a lot of cocaine and a plastic surgeon warned her of severe health problems if she did not stop. After Nicks finished touring her solo album in 1986, she took herself into rehab to dry out. This fever dream of a drug addict hitting rock bottom was inspired by her 30-day stay at the Betty Ford Center.
  
  When you hang up that phone
  Well you cease to exist
  Welcome to the room Sara
  
  Nicks used the pseudonym "Sara Anderson" when she checked into the facility.
• "Sara" is an alter-ego of sorts for Stevie Nicks and the name of a song she wrote and sang on Fleetwood Mac's 1979 Tusk album.
• The "Tara" and "Scarlett" mentions in the lyric reference characters in the book and movie Gone with the Wind. "Tara" is the name of the plantation where the action takes place; Scarlett is the ambitious but conflicted female lead.
• "Welcome to the Room... Sara" is one of three songs Stevie Nicks brought to the table for the Tango In The Night album, along with "Seven Wonders" and "When I See You Again." She was the least involved of the five members at this time. The band took some time off after their 1982 tour, then started working together, sans Stevie, at the end of 1985. A lot of the sessions took place at the home studio of Lindsey Buckingham, the band's guitarist and her ex-boyfriend. This was combustible, so Nicks avoided it, showing up only when needed. After the album was released, the band toured, but without Buckingham, who left the group rather than hitting the road.