Waters felt they were not putting a full effort into the recording sessions and the song reflected the feeling of the band while they were recording the album.
The album contains images relating to the theme of absence. The cover image shows 2 men shaking hands, with one of them on fire. This represents a common slang term at the time “being burned”, meaning to be undercut in some way, usually by the system or oppressive industry. In all of the images, there is something missing, like the diver who does not make a splash.