America, the folk-rock duo formed by Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, has credited outside songwriting with reviving their fortunes in the early 1980s, after years without a hit. Following the 1977 departure of founding member Dan Peek, which reduced the band to a two-piece, the pair moved away from writing exclusively their own material and recorded "You Can Do Magic", penned by British songwriter Russ Ballard, which became a major success and reshaped the band's approach going forward.

The song, released in 1982 as the lead single from their tenth studio album, View From The Ground, marked America's first hit as a duo and came after their previous notable single, "Amber Cascades" in 1976, had performed only modestly. Beckley has said the band made minimal changes to Ballard's original composition, retaining backing vocals that echoed Crosby, Stills & Nash's style, and has described the track as "a turning point" for the group. The pair went on to record further outside material, including "The Border", co-written by Ballard and Bunnell.