Drummer Bill Berry begins the song with a four-to-the-floor beat, and then the rest of the band enters. Berry plays a steady backbeat throughout the song. During the verses, Mills plays a fast eighth note bassline pulse, characteristic of punk rock and new wave. Guitarist Peter Buck plays the palm-muted lower strings of his guitar, marking the end of a four-bar repetition with an upstroke strummed chord. During the prechorus refrain, Buck switches to playing arpeggios, ending each four bar phrase with a full chord downstroke. Mills accompanies this section by performing independent melody lines with syncopated rhythms. Mills' last note of the refrain is doubled by a piano.