On the band’s website, Tim said:

I wrote this when I was driving up the west coast of America. I suspect it may have had its origins in some argument or other with my wife, but I can’t remember! But since that no doubt passed very quickly, I think the song has quite a jaunty feel to it, not too weighed down by its lyrical content! I think it’s quite Beatles-y in that respect – sad words with a very ‘happy’ melody. I like the imagery of a relationship being like a decrepit house, especially the line about boarding up the windows.

I think I only finished the song because I stumbled across the rough sketch in the studio one day and thought I’d have a quick listen – just at that moment Jesse came in and said “What’s that? I love it!”