Most of the lyrical content of "Apple Venus" is centred on themes of paganism, including the songs "River of Orchids", "Easter Theatre", "Greenman" and "Harvest Festival". Partridge thought the new material was "some of the best stuff, if not the best stuff" that he had ever written, calling it "more intensely passionate than before." In particular, he viewed "Easter Theatre" as one of the few "perfect songs" of his career, feeling that he had "exorcized a lot of those kind of Lennon-and-McCartney, Bacharach-and-David, Brian Wilson type ghosts out of my system by doing all that." "Greenman" was inspired by Green Men sculptures and pagan-derived nursery rhymes he saw Martin Carthy perform on a children's television program. He denied that the song was supposed to be Middle Eastern-sounding. "Harvest Festival" is Partridge's reflection on the harvest festivals from his youth.