"'I Can't Own Her' was a realization that you don't own people," XTC lead singer Andy Partridge told SFGate. "I'd just been divorced somewhat against my will, and somebody just walked out of my life, and I couldn't own them. And somebody was just walking into my life, and I couldn't own them, either. And it's that realization that you can't own people. You can love them, but it is an amazingly solitary feeling. You can love them and try to express that you love them, but there's nothing to stop them from wandering off or dying or... well, do you see what I mean? You just can't own people. Love is an incredibly solitary sensation, I think. So that was that one. And I always wanted to write a song that had kind of Burt Bacharach chords, and 'I Can't Own Her' is a little bit Bacharach in chords."

Another song on the album, "Your Dictionary," was also inspired by Partridge's divorce.