All three members of the band – Fraser, Guthrie and Raymonde – are credited as songwriters as well as producers.

Guitarist Robin Guthrie was suffering an addiction problem and spent time in and out of rehab facilities and lead singer Elizabeth Fraser was suffering from episodes of nervous breakdowns and stage fright.

To promote the song, Cocteau Twins made their debut television appearance in the United States, performing the track live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Upon the single's release, it received considerable airplay on radio across Europe where it was added to various B-list playlists to be serviced on national radio broadcasts including in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden and Denmark.

Sharon O'Connell from Melody Maker wrote, "This, though, brings back the band I gave up on at the time of "Blue Bell Knoll" in one familiar, fulsome swoon of spent dreams, impossible hopes and crushed gold leaf.

The video features lead singer Elizabeth Fraser perform the song in front of multiple backdrops that change throughout the video, including a dark background with circle patterns, a red background with brown painted trees as well as a black backdrop with stars which resembles space.

The song was covered by Chinese singer Faye Wong in 1994 as "Random Thoughts", marking the start of a collaboration that would continue through the Asian version of Milk and Kisses and Wong's 1996 album Fu Zao to her 1997 self-titled album.