[2][3] Vocalist Paul Heaton had been working on the lyrics for some time, with the song originally being called "French England".

[5] Guitarist Stan Cullimore had a chord progression planned for the verses, but wanted to finish the song quickly in order to go and buy some cakes, so he reused the same chords for the chorus and a quick demo was recorded, the whole process taking less than ten minutes.

[4] The lyrics are centred on the expectations of male office workers to participate in social conventions such as happy hour.

[7] Rolling Stone noted that despite "irrepressibly giddy music hooks", the song's "sobering" lyrics "hammer away at the hypocrisy and sexism of young British business types on the move.

[10] The video for the song, set in a pub, featured animated plasticine figures of the band members.