In this song, Bush remembers friends and family who have died, including her aunt Maureen, dancer Gary Hurst (Bubba), guitarist Alan Murphy (Smurph), Abbey Road sound engineer John Barrett (Teddy), film director Michael Powell, and lighting engineer Bill Duffield.

Composer and musician Michael Kamen arranged and conducted the orchestra, expanding on Bush's original piano accompaniment.

In his review of the song, Ben Thompson from The Independent remarked, "A smile and a tear from the Welling siren.

"[2] Chris Roberts from Melody Maker said, "'Moments of Pleasure' is The Big Literary Effort, Kate at her very tremble-inducing, vocal-range-like-the-Pyrenees best.

"[4] Terry Staunton from NME commented, "Her personal exorcisms reach new heights on 'Moments of Pleasure', a deceptively simple ballad with a swooping chorus and a coda where she namechecks the people who've been important to her over years.