Songfacts®:

• This is about the Elizabethan period in England in the second half of the 16th century. In an interview with The Cuckoo Press, frontman Jack Burnett explained the original inspiration for this song: "I think influence is a far more intangible thing than most people realize - maybe I'll write a sentence that sparks off a song, or overhear someone saying something that might later become a lyric. For example, 'London, the epitome of the protean dream-city' was a sentence that sparked off our song 'C. 16th.' These New Puritans should sound like an overheard conversation, or even be an overheard conversation."
• Barnett told Drowned In Sound why they named the album Beat Pyramid: "There are lots of ideas, I could go on. The reason why we called it that is that we wanted to construct a pyramid with its secrets and geometry. There are themes running throughout; mirroring, cycles, silver. I think it's important there's an overriding theme to it, because songs like 'Doppelganger' and 'Elvis' don't fit together at all. When I was doing it I was thinking of electronic sounds, literally electronic waves. It's probably too pop for an intellectual audience and too intellectual for a pop audience. Not intellectual... maybe just self indulgent."