The song is a slow, leaden march in G Major, begun with David Gilmour and Roger Waters alternating calm and strident voices, respectively. Waters takes over with an extended vamp on A minor, musically similar to the album's earlier "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". Through a megaphone, he barks forceful invectives (""Waiting to put on a black shirt ... for the queens and the coons and the Reds and the Jews""). After an extended rant, Gilmour's calmer voice returns, with the promise that his followers will ""see Britannia rule again"" and ""send our coloured cousins home again,"" with Waters concluding ""All you need to do is follow the worms!""