After turns as a neo-cabaret/slow ballad crooner in previous works (represented by her 1990s works with Hal Willner, Angelo Badalamenti and the interpretation of Brecht/Weill standards), Faithfull was eager to collaborate with contemporary musicians. She co-wrote almost all the songs, and worked with several notable musicians who produced the tracks.
The song "Kissin Time" is the result of a collaboration between her and Blur, and is, according to Faithfull, "sort of about Damon (Albarn) and sort of about me." Beck, who worked with her in Los Angeles, is responsible for the tracks "Sex With Strangers", "Like Being Born" and "Nobody's Fault". While the first one is an electro-funk sprechstimme track, influenced by Serge Gainsbourg and Beck's Midnite Vultures, the other two tend to a more folk/country/Leonard Cohen path. 'Nobody's Fault' previously appeared on Beck's album Mutations under the title "Nobody's Fault but My Own" in 1999. Beck's collaborations were co-produced by Tony Hoffer.
"The Pleasure Song", which was included on the soundtrack of the cable television series The L Word, was written in Paris with Les Valentines (the duo Edith Fambuena and Jean Louis Pierot) and French singer Étienne Daho. Billy Corgan contributed to three songs: the reworking of the 1960s Goffin/King success "Something Good", the hymnal and synth-layered "I'm On Fire", and the reflective acoustic pop of "Wherever I Go", about which Faithfull declared "that's Billy trying to sit down and write Marianne a hit."
The "Song For Nico" was written by Faithfull and Dave Stewart after reading a biography of the German singer/songwriter/actress/model, who Faithfull identified with even though, as she said, "Nico had tremendous injustice in her life, and I've had tremendous luck." The singer also declared that this tune "is one of the best things I've ever written."[citation needed]
About the biographical "Sliding Through Life on Charm", Faithfull said, "I'd been trying to write this song for 20 years, always getting stuck because I couldn't find a fucking rhyme. And I thought, when I see that Jarvis Cocker — so I grabbed him in this television studio one day and said 'Now, look, I want you to take this title and go and write a song from it'. And off he went. And then he took another year and a half before I got it — and then it took another year and a half before I understood it enough to record it."
