David Gilmour told The Sun September 26, 2008 about this song, which was written by him and his wife Polly. Said Gilmour: “That song is really about the aftermath (of the fall of the totalitarian state). First, it was a joy and a release for the people with the freedom of democracy but then it became horribly marred by the ethnic cleansing and genocide, particularly in Yugoslavia.”

This song juxtaposes world events of the previous 5 years (the collapse of Communism and subsequent chaos and war in several countries) with a personal loss that turns out to have been just a bad dream.