"Going for the One" was originally written by Anderson around two or three years before the album was recorded. He had presented the song to the group at that time but the other members chose not to develop it further. When it came to selecting material for "Going for the One", Anderson presented the song once more and it was selected for the album. Its meaning was inspired from a variety of ideas, including sport, horse racing, a film he once saw about "going down the Grand Canyon river on one of those rubber dinghies", and "the cosmic mind". Howe plays a steel guitar for the entire song, a first in his tenure with the group. Some years later, he viewed the track as "a dynamic piece of music" that was underrated and an underplayed song of the band's repertoire.