The track opens with Harrison playing the fuzztone guitar riff, Barham stayed at Harrison's new home, Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, and created the scores for "What Is Life" and other songs from melodies that Harrison sang or played to him on piano or guitar. Barham says that, for inspiration, Harrison also played him Spector productions such as Checkmates, Ltd.'s "Proud Mary". In MacFarlane's description, the strings provide a complementary countermelody to the guitar riff, while the horns' combination of "uptown soul and mariachi" heightens and expands the track's musical colour.