Williams himself calls the song "something like a mini gangster opera" and "kind of cabaret act reggae". The rolling rhythm of the song owes much to the early work of The Clash. During the chorus Williams reaches an extremely high disco-like head voice. Lyrically the song is a bit darker than previous songs. It tells the tale of gangsters and how they "don't kill their own and they all love their mothers", before an anguished chorus of "I've taken as much as I'm willing to take". The opening lyrics "First they ignore you, then laugh at you and hate you. Then they fight you, then you win" is a paraphrase from a quote commonly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.