The song tells the story of an unnamed narrator travelling on his own who enters a
London Underground tube station at midnight to get the last train home, where he is attacked by a gang of men who 'smell like pubs, and
Wormwood Scrubs, and too many right-wing meetings' as he buys a ticket from an automated machine. The song starts with the atmospheric sounds of a London Underground station, then a tense, syncopated beat carried by the bass guitar. The lyrics are sentimental, contrasting the warmth of home and domestic life with the dangers of 1970s London's
urban decay and casual late-night violence. Tension is heightened by a heartbeat audio effect in the left stereo channel at points during the song. The sound of an Underground train at the beginning and end of the song was recorded at
St John's Wood Station. ==Cover art==