The lyrics are based on a child's dream where ghostly voices lure the child outside to a world where everything is bright and happy, but the child resists. Characters, Superman and Captain Kidd are referenced in the lyrics. The close of the song features a nursery rhyme narrated by Abby Kimber, who was the 11-year-old daughter of Bill Kimber, an executive of RCA Records. This was an original piece penned by Sinfield. At the time, radio stations were instructed to fade the song before the narration. Sinfield said that the song "Beneath its tra-la-la's is a virulent anti-Thatcher song" and went on to say "it is ten-times more difficult to write a three-minute hit song, with a veneer of integrity, than it is to write anything for King Crimson or ELP".