Songfacts®:

• According to its press release, this song's inspiration came from Steve Hogarth's visit to the doctor during a bout of mid-tour stress exhaustion. The Dutch doctor prescribed not drugs, but a book called The Power of Now by the German/Canadian spiritual teacher and writer Eckhart Tolle. The book's message is the importance of not obsessing with the past and future, instead stressing the importance of the present moment. This, Tolle teaches, is the only path to happiness. The Power of Now's philosophy proved to be the creative core for the lyric content of not only this song but also the rest of the album.
• Back in the 1990s Marillion were one of the first bands to release records through their own website, and the band have continued to innovate in the way they distribute their music. The Happiness Is The Road album was made available for free to fans by means of the band legally using peer-to-peer internet networks for distribution. It was funded initially by 12,000 fans who pre-ordered the set a year before its release, then subsequently by Marillion sending messages about their tour and merchandise to people who download it.
  
  Vocalist Steve Hogarth explained about the latter to The Banbury Guardian: "When you download our album a video pops up with us saying 'hello, we recorded this. We're not sending the police round but please take a look at these links and see if you like anything.' The idea is that they go to our website, have a look around and like what they see and so become more involved in the band. It's not all about money though. We're not a pop band, we don't sit around and think 'how can we write a hit song,' we sit around and become creative. It's very spiritual and this is about spreading that."