Songfacts®:

• The Dixie Chicks got a lot of help with the songwriting on Taking The Long Way, with Keb' Mo', Neil Finn, Mike Campbell and Linda Perry among the writers who worked with them. This song was co-written by Sheryl Crow.
• The band spoke of this song in a statement released by their publicist:
  
  Martie Maguire: "I had an idea for a song where the person knows in their heart that a relationship wasn't right, but still wants the other person to look back on it as the best time in their life. I think I was wished that that's how my ex-husband looked back on our five years together, but I know that's not the case. But hey, you can make it true in a song, right?"
  
  Natalie Maines: I had just watched The Big Chill, so that's what I was visualizing. People who were so in love when they were really young, and you really think you're going to spend the rest of your lives together, but then life just takes turns. We felt an instant connection to Sheryl, she's very real and funny, easy to talk to and open about herself."
  
  Emily Robison: "Sheryl Crow worked out the chord progression. We worked on this song together when we were recording 'Home.'"