The lyrics for the song are based on the poem "Fun" by Wyn Cooper. Crow's producer (Bottrell) discovered Cooper's poetry book "The Country of Here Below" in a Pasadena, California used bookstore. Crow adapted "Fun" into the lyrics for her song – earning Cooper considerable royalties, and helping to push his book, originally published in a run of only 500 copies in 1987, into multiple reprints.
The opening spoken line, "This ain't no disco", is a reference to the song "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads.When played on radio or at live performances, the line is also commonly changed to refer to the local listening area (such as "This is VA" instead of "This is LA").
The opening spoken line, "This ain't no disco", is a reference to the song "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads.When played on radio or at live performances, the line is also commonly changed to refer to the local listening area (such as "This is VA" instead of "This is LA").