Songfacts®:

• This song is about Cornershop frontman Tjinder Singh's childhood and about his mother, who passed away around the time he made the song. The line, "When we let it up, let it breathe" is a reference to his mother's funeral pyre. The spoken-word part of the song is about his childhood summers spent racing friends through the alleys.
• The "green goddess" is a reference to the army. In 1976, the Wolverhampton, England fire department was on strike, so the army was put in charge of fighting fires.
• "Local dignitaries and labor counselors" refers to Singh's father, who was a counselor to the Labour Party.
• Singh didn't pick "the 7th time" for his reincarnation total for any particular reason, but afterwards he discovered that the number seven is a sign for completeness.
• Much of the song is an amalgamation of religious imagery. "Keep the sword hand free" refers to kirpan, which is one of the "five Ks" of the Sikh religion. A kirpan is a dagger. When a person takes on a Sikh initation/Baptist, they take on the five Ks (the other four being uncut hair, a wooden comb, an iron bracelet, and a cotton undergarment). Though he calls himself a Darwinist, Singh came from a family of Sikhs.