He began the journey in First Class, surrounded by people he found to be uninteresting—as he described it, they were all "ladies with blue hair."

He decided the compartment was "completely fucking boring," so left his seat to explore the other train carriages, and was fascinated by what he saw.

"[8] The instrumentation of the song seeks to embody Nash's lyrics through an Eastern vibe and a "buoyant" flow carried by Jim Gordon's drumming, to resemble a train ride.

Stephen Stills was responsible for much of the creative musicianship, adding a distinctive, unique sounding riff played on two overdubbed electric guitars.

The song was rounded out by Nash's acoustic guitar, and the group's trademark three-part vocal harmony on the choruses.

"[14] In a 2003 Rolling Stone article, Iggy Pop mentions the song in response to a discussion of the Stooges’ creation acting as a counter against the "hippie movement”.