Songfacts®:

• Running 6:39, this elegant song sounds like it could be directed at a lover, but the intimate relationship that inspired the song was Rufus' addiction to crystal meth, and the "stranded, alone" feeling it gave him. In October 2002, he went to rehab after taking so much meth, Special K and Ecstasy that he went blind for about an hour. During his month in rehab, he started working on his Want One album, which he completed sober.
• Wainwright layered his vocals to create a rich background wash on this track. He says there are about 300 layers of vocals that his very patient producer, Marius de Vries, had to work into the song.
• Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2020, Wainwright talked about writing this song. "At the end of a very dramatic and worrisome drug episode, I was able to compose a great piece of music," he said. "I don't recommend that, and I don't know if it was necessary to go through that to get there, but that is what happened, nonetheless. That wasn't the last time I had issues, and there weren't other songs like that afterwards, so I think it was a one-shot deal. It's about going to the limits of your physical and mental abilities with drugs and crashing into the darkness. Thankfully, I was able to come back."