was one of six demos first recorded for Third Eye Blind. Jenkins recorded five iterations of the song before settling on the final version, as he faced difficulty in getting the "groove" right. Bassist Arion Salazar described one of the earlier iterations as a "one-dimensional, acoustic guitar troubadour-y first position thing with basic guitar chords and some bohemian rapping," crediting Cadogan's contributions as having sonically balanced out the song. The song features multi-layered guitar textures using an Epiphone Casino, Hamer electric, Gibson J-200 acoustic, and a Gretsch Country Gentleman, all of which were centrally provided by Cadogan. An assortment of amps were also used in the recording process, including a Matchless 30 into a Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet, a Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker head, a Vox AC30 and a 69 Marshall plexi Super Lead head into a Marshall 4x12 loaded with 25-watt Greenback speakers. Brad Hargreaves used a Pearl Export snare drum in the composition of the track. Jenkins later claimed that the drum loops present in the final recording are the same ones used in the initial iteration of the song. A demo version of "Semi-Charmed Life" was later released on the 2017 reissue of Third Eye Blind. Composition "Semi-Charmed Life" is an alternative rock and power pop song, composed with a rap-influenced singing style. However, when writing the composition, Jenkins contends that he was more broadly influenced by hip hop music. The song incorporates "shoegazer and big guitar-chord soundscape musicality," as described by bassist Arion Salazar. Other musical instruments used are brushes and a drum machine. Reverb, wah-wah, tremolo and flange are also employed throughout the song in order to add "extra texture and sonic diversity." In "Semi-Charmed Life", Jenkins sings a refrain consisting of "doo, doo, doot" that was inspired by Lou Reed's 1972 single "Walk on the Wild Side", with Jenkins referring to "Semi-Charmed Life" as an answer song. "Semi-Charmed Life" opens with "loud guitars and a thudding rhythm section," which persists throughout the song. The verses are sung with a "hip-hop cadence," while the chorus is "[belted] out in [an] anthemic style." According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is written in the key of G major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 104 beats per minute. Jenkins's vocal range spans three octaves, from G3 to C6. The song has a sequence of G–D–C in