Breaking from the band's previous new wave sound, the song opens with a ska-reggae hook (that repeats at the close of the much longer album version).[6] However, the song itself is a more mainstream piece musically. The 'banana republic' which the song describes is actually a deliberately scathing portrait of the Republic of Ireland, the band's country of origin, and was written in response to the band being banned from performing there.[7] This in turn was reputedly because of Geldof's "denunciation of nationalism, medieval-minded clerics and corrupt politicians" in a memorably controversial 1977 interview/performance on Ireland's The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne.[8][9]
