The flute arrangement in "Vicious World" is a reference to Richard Wagner's opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". "Movies of Myself" mentions a "Saturday Evening Post" edition by Jesus as well as "an old piece of bacon never eaten by Elvis", referring to a story that Wainwright heard about someone who purchased a framed piece of bacon on eBay that at one time belonged to musician Elvis Presley. "Go or Go Ahead" contains celestial and mythological references, from angels, stars, planets, and Mars to vampires and Medusa (along with the phrase "Look in her eyes"), a female chthonic monster that turns onlookers to stone.