Songfacts®:

• This song is part of Vivabeat's debut album, Party In The War Zone. Marina Muhlfriedel, a keyboard player and vocalist in the group, told Songfacts the story behind it:
  
  "Working for William" grew out of a regal minor chord progression and slinky melodic synth line, set against the turbulent political climate of 1979, that I was working on. The song organically took on a reggae feel as the band worked on the arrangement, and Connie deSilva added a dreamy synth arpeggiation.
  
  At the time, Margaret Thatcher had become Prime Minister of the UK, and the Iranian Revolution incited widespread upheaval, while China and the US were forging an unlikely friendship, which I found fascinating. I gave considerable thought to the concept of power at the time. Where it comes from and how it's held onto. How it shifts and why people aspire to it. The idea of power felt foreign to me - a different emotional palette.
  
  Lyrically, William represents a political figurehead who no longer has the guts, drive, or vitality to run his country, so a deputy, a power-hungry second in command, steps up to do so, posturing that everything he does is at the bidding of the leader. All he wants is power, though, so he exercises it in the leader's name, planning to one day declare it as his own.
• In 2024 "Working For William" showed up in the "Can I Play With Madness" episode of the Peacock horror series Hysteria!
• Vivabeat was a short-lived band that made a mark in the West Coast New Wave scene. Their song "The House Is Burning (But There's No One Home)" landed in the 1984 movie Body Double, and Peter Gabriel, who helped the band get their record deal, may have been influenced by the Vivabeat song "Man From China" for the whistling in his song "Games Without Frontiers." Many of Vivabeats songs were reissued on the 2025 compilation The House Is Burning: The Best Of Vivabeat.