According to Albert Mackie's The Scotch Comedians (1973), Fyffe got the inspiration for the song from a drunk he met at Glasgow Central Station.
The drunk was "genial and demonstrative" and "laying off about Karl Marx and John Barleycorn with equal enthusiasm".
"[1] The song speaks of drink in a period where temperance campaigns were prevalent, and it shows a typical music hall attitude to the supposedly tyrannical wife.
The monologue accompanying the song is the origin of several popular humorous catch phrases, including "under the affluence of incohol".
As a result of this song, Will Fyffe became forever associated with Glasgow, but he was born 70 miles (110 km) away in the east coast city of Dundee.