A dichotomy of musical styling was featured in the album's songs. "Hotel Arizona", "Sunken Treasure", and "Misunderstood" featured personal language and more surrealism compared to alternative country songs such as "The Lonely 1" and "Far, Far Away". To enhance this dichotomy between simple and surreal, each song was practiced, recorded, and mixed in only one day. The album's name was taken from the 1979 comedy "Being There", because the band believed that Peter Sellers' character Chance had an analogous mentality to the mindset of the album. Wilco sought to incorporate influences from other bands, but not to an overbearing degree; however, they were unable to accomplish this with songs like the Rolling Stones-influenced "Monday". Unlike radio-friendly "A.M.", the band had no preference about whether "Being There" could yield radio hits.