Both Ends Burning

This shimmering disco song is about the pressure Roxy Music were under while making their fifth album, Siren. The band recorded the album in the summer of 1975, having recently completed a world tour in support of Country Life (1974). In an interview with The Mail on Sunday in 2009, Bryan Ferry remembered: "It was a punishing schedule and there were a lot of late nights in order to get this record finished on time. I guess this was the true to life inspiration behind the song title and lyric."

"Both Ends Burning" was one of the final songs completed for Siren because Ferry was struggling to write lyrics at the time. "Toward the end of recording, we were compromised as we had been on Stranded (1973) and other albums by Bryan not having finished lyrics so that tracks got overworked as instrumentals while we were working as it were in the dark," saxophonist Andy Mackay told The Quietus on September 28, 2015. "'Both Ends Burning' is a case in point. It has always been better live because we know where the singing comes in!"

John Gustafson based his bassline for this song on "Dancing in the Street" by Martha & the Vandellas. Written by Motown songwriters Marvin Gaye, Ivy Jo Hunter, and William "Mickey" Stevenson, "Dancing in the Street" was later covered by Van Halen and David Bowie and Mick Jagger.