The song features slow, mournful music and lyrics describing the narrator's struggle with destructive habits and personality traits: "The beast in me / Is caged by frail and fragile bars".
Lowe's first recording of the song appeared in his album The Impossible Bird, released in November 1994.
In 2025 Netflix will release a limited series called “The Beast in Me” created by Gabe Rotter, starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys.
The Lowe studio version of the song features over the closing credits of the pilot episode of US television show The Sopranos.
Melwood Cutlery's version of the song features over the closing credits of Project Grizzly, a 1996 National Film Board documentary about Canadian inventor, Troy Hurtubise and his quest to create a suit in which to meet a Grizzly Bear.