[1][2] Its lyrics vividly tell the tale of a "nightmare", which was the title of the song when it was first introduced in Floyd's The Man and The Journey Tour shows.
The lyrics include a reference to the character Doctor Strange, who was popular at the time due to the psychedelic nature of his adventures and who had appeared on the cover of their previous album A Saucerful of Secrets.
[3] The lyrics are also different in one place,[3] changing the line, "will the tightrope reach the end, will the final couplet rhyme," to, "standing by with a book in his hand, and it's P.C.
"[citation needed] The song features a sparse arrangement of nylon-string guitar, bass, piano, drums, bongos, and Farfisa organ entering when Gilmour does a scat solo.
[5] It was dropped from their act along with "Fat Old Sun" and "Embryo" when they began performing Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, an early version of The Dark Side of the Moon.