[2][3] As with all Creed songs, the lyrics were composed by Stapp and the music was written entirely by guitarist Mark Tremonti.

"[6] Stapp also said in his memoir that his Christian upbringing played a huge part in inspiring him to write the song due to the guilt that he felt from not measuring up to the God presented to him by his father and the rebellion that followed in his teenage years.

Logical in that his view, music is rebellious in its very nature, and that rock is rooted in challenging the rules and social norms of the previous generation.

But amazing because in spite of this rebellion, the song confirmed to Stapp that it was "the Man on the cross, the Lion of Judah, who held the key to my freedom".

[7] Stapp felt that the song was the most significant metaphor for his life in that it was with the band from the beginning and would prove prophetic in the decades that followed.

[2] The song is written in the key of F major, and begins with a somber tone led by guitarist Tremonti, who plays in drop D tuning.

The song ends with Stapp singing the lyrics to the chorus once again as the music begins to slow down in tempo and slowly fade out following the final note.

The cover art for the single is simply a recoloured version of the album artwork, with the only difference being the title placement now appearing at the bottom within a black bar instead of just under and to the right of the band's wordmark logo.

The music video was produced by Toronto-based production company Black Walk, and was directed by Stephen Scott.

"[12] Soon after the release of My Own Prison, the title track began being played on the locals-only radio show in Tallahassee, Florida.

Another radio station in a nearby city in Georgia started playing the album's song "Pity for a Dime".

[3] The song was made available as downloadable content for the video game Rocksmith 2014 on September 16, 2014, as part of the "Creed 5-Song Pack".