The song was said to be inspired by wrestling legend Ric Flair who Tom Chaplin described as a personal hero for his try hard mentality in the ring.
William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress (1732–33) displays in a series of paintings the spiralling fortunes of a wealthy but spendthrift son and heir who loses his money, and who as a consequence is imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately Bedlam.