Eric Clapton wrote “Golden Ring” during the recording of his 1978 album *Backless*, using the song to process the complicated relationship between himself, Pattie Boyd and George Harrison. The song reflected Boyd’s distress after learning that Harrison was remarrying, and Clapton later described it as the strongest and most emotionally genuine track on the album.

Clapton had pursued Boyd while she was married to Harrison; after their divorce in 1977, Boyd and Clapton became a couple and married in 1979. Although the song reminded Clapton of a painful period, he eventually gained enough distance to perform it again: before 2024, it had been played live only three times, all in 1978, but it has since become a regular part of his setlist.