Songfacts®:

• Robbie Williams described this song as a "mini gangster opera," citing the Guy Ritchie-directed mob movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and snatch as the two main inspirations behind the lyrics. It appears to be written from the perspective of a novice gang member who feels out of his depth in such a brutal underworld, with Williams singing in the chorus: "I know it's coming, there's gonna be violence. I've taken as much as I'm willing to take."
• This song opens with the line: "First they ignore you, then laugh at you and hate you, then they fight you, then you win." This quote is frequently misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi. According to The Associated Press, it can actually be traced back to Nicholas Klein, a trade union activist, who said something similar during a speech in 1918: "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."
• "Tripping" was one of the first songs Williams wrote with Stephen Duffy after parting ways with his original collaborator, Guy Chambers. Chambers had helped pen some of Williams' most successful singles, including "Angels," "Rock DJ," and "Feel," but the pair fell out during the making of Williams' fifth album, Escapology. Consequently, Williams formed a new songwriting partnership with Duffy, who was previously a member of the British synth-pop band Duran Duran but left before Simon Le Bon and company made their breakthrough in the early '80s.
• The press frequently referred to "Tripping" as a "reggae song," although Williams disagreed with this categorization. The rolling rhythm, for example, owes a lot to the work of The Clash's Topper Headon. Williams also reaches for an extremely high falsetto in the chorus, as is often heard in disco music.
• Directed by Johan Renck, the music video for "Tripping" is based on the nightmares Williams was having at the time. Filmed over two days in Los Angeles, the video places Williams in a number of surreal scenarios. At one point, for example, he is seen running on the spot in what looks like an old hotel corridor. Later, a baby starts singing to him in the passenger seat of a Saab 95. For the recurring scene of Williams in bed, Renck shifted the room 90 degrees so the British singer was standing up as opposed to lying down. This makes it appear as though Williams is floating above the mattress.
• This was the first single released from Williams' sixth album, Intensive Care. It was issued as a double A-side along with "Make Me Pure," also from Intensive Care. "Tripping" peaked at #2 in the UK, where it was also the 19th best-selling single of 2005.