 The song's mention of "soft-soap" employs that slang verb in its classic sense − i.e., insincere flattery that attempts to convince someone to do or to think something, as in the case of politicians who use specious or beguiling rhetoric to quell public unrest or to propagandise unfairly.According to Robert Christgau, the song "unites Lennon unmasked with the Lennon of wordplay as it provides a rationale for" a preceding track on the album, "Jealous Guy".Lisa Wright of NME ranked it as Lennon's 5th greatest solo song, stating that in the song Lennon "tried to sift through the maelstrom of media bullshit to find the light at the end of the tunnel" and concluding that "scorn never sounded so good.